On 14 May 1937 Grigory Levenfish won the 10th Soviet Championship, defending the title he had won two years earlier at the 9th Soviet Championship in 1935. In 1937 Levenfish also drew a match against Botvinnik and hoped to play in the 1938 AVRO tournament. At that time Levenfish was probably one of the best players in the world, but the Soviet authorities stifled his career. To mark the 86th anniversary of Levenfish's victory that made him a two-time Soviet Champion Eugene Manlapao looks at the tragic life and career of this fascinating player. | Photo source: <a href="https://dgriffinchess.wordpress.com/">Douglas Griffin</a>.
Early this year GM Yuri Averbakh turned 100 and set a world record. He became the oldest ever grandmaster in chess history. Sadly, he passed away in May. Averbakh led a rich and extraordinary life that he narrated himself in his autobiography, "Centre-stage and Behind the Scenes". In the series here our columnist draws on this important work and also explains much that was left unsaid. | Photo: Averbakh at the match USA vs. USSR, New York City, 1954 (via D. Griffith)
How the Soviets made a GIANT chess board on the Palace Square (PHOTOS) Alexander Bulla In 1924, the main landmark of Leningrad turned in the huge chess board and gathered thousands of locals to observe the legendary performance. Alexander Bulla
In Russia, chess has always been a very popular game dating back to the times of Catherine the Great (here’s why), and in the Soviet Union, every schoolkid played it. One of the most unusual versions of the game took place on July 20, 1924, on the Palace Square (then - Uritsky Square) in St. Petersburg (then - Leningrad). It was the day the FIDE World Chess Federation was officially established (and from 1966, International Chess Day also began to be celebrated on this day).