Moscow 1925 Chess Tournament
This international super-tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. There were eleven foreign stars and ten Soviet masters. World champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecessor Emanuel Lasker were lured to Moscow by gold. A race between them, as in the New York 1924 chess tournament, was expected before the tournament, but Efim Bogoljubow won a sensational victory. Lasker finished 1½ points behind Bogoljubow and just ahead of Capablanca.
The event aroused great interest among the Soviet citizens. Hundreds of spectators followed the games in Hotel Metropol and ten of thousands watched demonstration boards downtown. Bogoljubow's win was regarded as a Soviet victory; however, shortly after this in 1926, like Alexander Alekhine he left the Soviet Union and became a German citizen. Later Bogoljubow and Alekhine were called "renegades" in the USSR.
The film Chess Fever used a number of scenes from the tournament, and even featured Capablanca playing himself.
Read more about Moscow 1925 Chess Tournament: Results
Famous quotes containing the words moscow and/or chess:
“Napoleon is a torrent which as yet we are unable to stem. Moscow will be the sponge that will suck him dry.”
—Mikhail Kutuzov (1745–1813)
“What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion. We may succeed in altering the face of the earth until it is unrecognizable even to the Creator, but if we are unaffected wherein lies the meaning?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)