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 ...

Commentators choosing the greatest player in the history of chess, never mention Mikhail Botvinnik. Yet he led the Soviet Union’s domination of world chess in the 20th century. In doing so, he became ...

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 ...

The games of yesteryear which are considered elegant masterpieces were contested without the assistance of computers. When we re-examine them with assistance of technology we realize they are ...

In the championships of Russia’s national indoor game some 700,000 competed in 1936. The game: chess. This week, with short-wave radio bridging Moscow and Manhattan, the Russians tried their hand at ...