Mikhail Botvinnik–who died earlier this month–was world chess champion and symbol of Soviet chess supremacy for most of the 15-year period from 1948 to 1963. He was also a seminal force who brought ...

Mikhail Botvinnik died at age 83 on May 5, 1995. He was an icon of Russian chess who held the world championship on and off from 1948 until 1963. Nobody else ever lost the crown twice and then ...

For many years, chess players associated winning with the Soviet Union and afterward, with Russia. The Soviets had created a hegemony on chess and world champions – except for Cuba’s Jose Raul ...

The world is enjoying a boom in chess playing following ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ TV series’ sweeping success. We’ve boiled down a list of Soviet chess legends who proved that chess is mental ...

Chess has always been a simulacrum for political and military confrontation, with its gambits and endgames, stalemate and checkmate. We imagine diplomats or generals facing each other across a board.

QUESTION: Is there any evidence that Estonian chess great Paul Keres was forced to lose the World Chess Championship to a Russian rival? This story is primarily tied to the 1948 World Chess ...

The competition isn’t particularly stiff, but Vasily Smyslov may have been the most normal person ever to capture the world championship crown in chess. In the competitive snake pit that is elite ...

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