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 ...

Andrew Soltis, a fellow chess columnist whom we vastly admire, found himself writing a biography of Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-95). His wife wondered why he would choose "such a cold personality." He ...

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 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 ...