TO WHAT EXTENT DID SOCIALISM INFLUENCE THE DEVELOPMENT AND WIDESPREAD OF CHESS IN THE USSR UNTIL ITS COLLAPSE IN 1992 ?

This essay is based on the research question “To what extent did socialism influence the development and widespread of chess in the USSR until its collapse in 1992?” While examining this particular question, firstly the context before the October Revolution will be analysed, when chess was a leisure activity of the wealthy upper class individuals as in Europe. Then, the period between the revolution and World War II will be investigated, in which chess was adopted by the Bolshevik government as a tool of increasing the culture of the public, and was introduced to large masses by state-sponsored campaigns. After that, the Cold War period will be investigated, in which chess was used as a socio-cultural weapon by the Soviet Government and turned into a symbol of the struggle for supremacy of the USSR and the Western Block. After this investigations, the factors which led to the USSR hegemony in chess in the 20th century, which is still continuing in the 21th century by the former Soviet countries are clearly observed. Mainly, those are the state sponsored programmes and tournaments that aided the development and widespread of chess. Another reason is the chess becoming politicised in the USSR to be used as a tool of socialist propaganda and demonstrating the Soviet excellence to the world, which exceeded its limits in the Cold War period when it also became a matter of prestige and was taken more seriously than any other kind of sports. The last reason is the self motivation of the individuals for becoming professional chess players, which had numerous advantages, since chess was seen as a very prestigious profession in the USSR, and many opportunities were involved such as travelling abroad for international tournaments, which was not possible for regular citizens