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 ...

Genius has its own logic. In 1963, at the age of 12, Anatoly Karpov made his debut at the famous Botvinnik chess school in Moscow — a landmark initiation for many future champions. But Mikhail ...

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 ...

Chess, unlike popular notion, is not only brains. There is a fair bit of brawn. It is a non-contact sport, but players fight it out tooth and nail. Over the years, the Chess World Championships have ...