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>.
Few tournaments brought as much stake to its host nation as Moscow 1925 did to Russia. The event brought a Russian into world title contention, but, more importantly, it proved vital to Russia’s rise as dominant force in chess. Eugene Manlapao takes a look at the tournament and its history. | Photo: Tournament winner Efim Bogoljubov (left) and Akiba Rubinstein during their game | Photo: Wikipedia
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).