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Why chess was so popular in the Soviet Union: Moscow 1925
In this second episode of Masters and Matches, Peter Doggers and Arne Moll dive into the Moscow 1925 tournament which took place exactly a hundred years ago. Apart from discussing what was Efim Bogoljubov's biggest success, the podcast explains why chess was so popular in the Soviet Union and where it all started.
1925 turns out to be a fascinating year in both chess history and history in general. Aron Nimzowitsch's My System started to get published alongside Emanuel Lasker's Manual of Chess. In the same year, Benito Mussolini came into power in Italy, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf came out and in art, we saw the first exhibitions in Art Deco and Surrealism and Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
Another reason that Moscow 1925 was special was that it was likely the first-ever chess event where a camera was present that filmed the players. This was because scenes from the movie Chess Fever were shot there, which has cameos of different participants, most notably Jose Capablanca. You can find it on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXmtc56rsM
Speaking of Capablanca, after the tournament, the reigning world champion talked about a topic that is still relevant to this day: whether too many draws might be happening at the top level. A full century before Magnus Carlsen got fed up with classical chess, Capablanca wrote:
Consider the fact that the great masters of truly superior class, like Alekhine and Bogoljubow, young men, know every opening variation that has been frequently used by other masters; that Alekhine, for instance, who is only 33, knows every game played in any tournament or match in the past 25 years; that the similarity of the technical development of the majority of openings is such that even when one transposes the order of moves or plays something new or unknown, it is relatively easy to find the correct reply. Consider all this, even without taking into account other aspects more related to style, which would be difficult to explain and would make the present piece too long, and you will reach the conclusion that it is necessary to think very seriously about the question of draws if one does not wish to reach the point where there are several players who are completely invincible.
Hope you enjoyed the show! Please subscribe and spread the word about this podcast.
About the hosts:
Peter Doggers has played chess for over 30 years and written about it for almost 20. He regularly writes for Chess.com and New in Chess. He is the author of The Chess Revolution and also hosts The Chess News Podcast.
https://peterdoggers.com/
Arne Moll has played chess even longer than Peter and also loves to write about it. He contributed many thought-provoking articles to the website ChessVibes.com between 2007 and 2013 and recently published his first book as well, called The Center Game.
https://www.newinchess.com/the-center-game
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By Peter Doggers & Arne MollIn this second episode of Masters and Matches, Peter Doggers and Arne Moll dive into the Moscow 1925 tournament which took place exactly a hundred years ago. Apart from discussing what was Efim Bogoljubov's biggest success, the podcast explains why chess was so popular in the Soviet Union and where it all started.
1925 turns out to be a fascinating year in both chess history and history in general. Aron Nimzowitsch's My System started to get published alongside Emanuel Lasker's Manual of Chess. In the same year, Benito Mussolini came into power in Italy, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf came out and in art, we saw the first exhibitions in Art Deco and Surrealism and Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
Another reason that Moscow 1925 was special was that it was likely the first-ever chess event where a camera was present that filmed the players. This was because scenes from the movie Chess Fever were shot there, which has cameos of different participants, most notably Jose Capablanca. You can find it on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXmtc56rsM
Speaking of Capablanca, after the tournament, the reigning world champion talked about a topic that is still relevant to this day: whether too many draws might be happening at the top level. A full century before Magnus Carlsen got fed up with classical chess, Capablanca wrote:
Consider the fact that the great masters of truly superior class, like Alekhine and Bogoljubow, young men, know every opening variation that has been frequently used by other masters; that Alekhine, for instance, who is only 33, knows every game played in any tournament or match in the past 25 years; that the similarity of the technical development of the majority of openings is such that even when one transposes the order of moves or plays something new or unknown, it is relatively easy to find the correct reply. Consider all this, even without taking into account other aspects more related to style, which would be difficult to explain and would make the present piece too long, and you will reach the conclusion that it is necessary to think very seriously about the question of draws if one does not wish to reach the point where there are several players who are completely invincible.
Hope you enjoyed the show! Please subscribe and spread the word about this podcast.
About the hosts:
Peter Doggers has played chess for over 30 years and written about it for almost 20. He regularly writes for Chess.com and New in Chess. He is the author of The Chess Revolution and also hosts The Chess News Podcast.
https://peterdoggers.com/
Arne Moll has played chess even longer than Peter and also loves to write about it. He contributed many thought-provoking articles to the website ChessVibes.com between 2007 and 2013 and recently published his first book as well, called The Center Game.
https://www.newinchess.com/the-center-game