Chess remains strong in Russia

Chess By Shelby Lyman
on November 8, 2014 – 12:01 AM

Today, a quarter of a century after the end of state support, chess remains strong in Russia.

This is not a surprise.

In 1772, an English visitor wrote:

“Chess is so common in Russia that during our continuance in Moscow, I scarcely entered into any company where parties were not engaged in that diversion; and I very frequently observed in my passages through the streets, the tradesmen and common people playing it before the doors of their shops or houses.”

With chess seen as a training ground for the “New Soviet Man,” the post-revolutionary Soviet Union allocated large resources for the already popular game.

The resulting expansion of chess culture was astonishing by Western standards. A telltale indication was the publication of select books in editions of more than 200,000 copies.

I was told during a visit to Moscow in 1977 that a less ambitious printing of 100,000 would be sold out in a week.

During a follow-up trip, I found that chess instruction was ubiquitous. A prize jewel of the Pioneer Palaces, it was also available elsewhere from a cadre of teachers – more than 200 strong in the Odessa region alone.

In Moscow I visited a chess club for subway workers, more spacious and with a larger library by far – albeit considerably shabbier – than the elite Marshall and Manhattan chess clubs of New York.

The game seemed to be played at every conceivable site ranging from park tables and benches to an alley behind my hotel.

Source: http://www.buffalonews.com