# Why Did The Soviets Lean So Hard Into Chess? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game, chess\ **Created:** [May 3, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901 "2022-05-03T21:08:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/1 "2022-05-03T21:08:34Z")
The Soviets dominated at chess for decades, presumably because it was (is?) effectively a state-sponsored sport there, with kids as young as preschool learning the game. If the Soviets’ goal was to prove their intellectual superiority over the West, they kind of failed. Bobby Fischer aside, the collective attitude of Americans towards chess at the time was a giant shrug. It would be like a Michelin-star chef dunking on some guy’s sno-cone stand. Sure, the Soviets whooped everyone’s ass at chess, but apart from Fischer, no one else was really trying to beat them. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/2 "2022-05-03T21:15:46Z")
Russia has a long love affair with chess that predates the Soviet revolution by centuries. After the revolution, Lenin, an intellectual, promoted the game and subsidized it as a relatively cheap and productive past time for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/3 "2022-05-03T21:51:34Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Russia has a long love affair with chess that predates the Soviet revolution by centuries. I wonder if this is related at some level to the tendency of Russian novelists to write - and Russian readers to read - very long and complex novels. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/4 "2022-05-03T21:54:15Z")
Maybe, but their love of chess predates the novel, an early Czar is said to have died playing chess. I lived in Russia and people were mad for it. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/5 "2022-05-04T11:50:07Z")
Chess has a number of benefits: - it’s easy to start playing - the equipment is not expensive - it’s popular world-wide - it’s easy to follow international tournaments and matches So the Soviets found it easy to set up chess schools everywhere and spot talent early. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > Sure, the Soviets whooped everyone’s ass at chess, but apart from Fischer, no one else was really trying to beat them. I’m sorry, but this seems incredibly ‘US-centric’ to me. The Chess Olympiad regularly attracts over 170 countries. There have been two USSR v Rest of the World matches, plus another with Russia v Rest of the World. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/6 "2022-05-04T11:54:53Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Russia has a long love affair with chess that predates the Soviet revolution by centuries. Oh, yeah. When a Russian says, “I really don’t play much”, that means he’s an 1800 player. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/7 "2022-05-04T13:08:36Z")
It’s just popular there; I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that. The USSR pumped effort into developing chess talent just because that’s what they do - look at how they pumped effort into winning Olympic medals - but of course they were going to emphasize pursuits that were already popular, and chess was wildly popular in Russia long before Karl Marx was born. Russians are good at chess for the same reason Canadians are good at hockey and Indians are good at cricket. Just as a trivia asides, 1. I didn’t know this until a few years ago, bur Russians don’t have all the same terms for the chess pieces as we do; they call the bishops elephants, for example. I’d presume that is likely closer to the original word for the piece. 2. As old as chess is, the modern ruleset is a bit more recent than you might assume; pawn promotion to any piece, for instance, is a 19th century idea. ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/8 "2022-05-04T13:36:20Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Maybe, but their love of chess predates the novel, an early Czar is said to have died playing chess. I lived in Russia and people were mad for it. I am not suggesting that either one caused the other. Just that they may reflect the same mentality. Both involve very complex situations with many moving pieces. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/9 "2022-05-04T14:26:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I didn’t know this until a few years ago, bur Russians don’t have all the same terms for the chess pieces as we do; they call the bishops elephants, for example. I’d presume that is likely closer to the original word for the piece. That’s also true for Germany. The rook is called Turm (tower), the bishop Läufer (runner) and the knight Pferd (horse) or Springer (jumper). ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/10 "2022-05-04T17:13:41Z")
And they talk bout matches like Americans talk about the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/11 "2022-05-04T17:15:27Z")
I wasn’t disagreeing and you make an interesting point. Chess, like their literature is just so Russian, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/12 "2022-05-04T17:19:29Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The rook is called Turm (tower), the bishop Läufer (runner) and the knight Pferd (horse) or Springer (jumper). We do also call the rook a castle so I guess that makes sense. “Runner” is a cool name for the bishop though. It seems so fitting. In Russian the queen is called a “ferz,” which I believe is not a Russian word but is borrowed from Persian or maybe India, and roughly means something like “minister” or “vizier” (well, I guess to a Russian it just means "the really powerful chess piece that sits next to the king.) The Russian word for queen is “koroleva” (or “tsarina” if being specific to Russian monarchs) but isn’t used in the sense of the chess piece. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/13 "2022-05-05T04:43:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > … Indians are good at cricket. Indians invented Chess. > [@RickJay](#): > > the queen is called a “ferz,” which I believe is not a Russian word but is borrowed from Persian or maybe India, The original Indian word is Mantri - which the Persians translated to Farzin meaning the same. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/14 "2022-05-05T12:50:15Z")
As a native speaker, when you hear Bauer for pawn, do you think farmer or something else? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/15 "2022-05-05T13:09:44Z")
Not really, I’m thinking more of historical infantry which used to be consisting mainly of farmers, or rather peasants. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/16 "2022-05-05T13:27:02Z")
If I may chime in, when I hear _Bauer_ for pawn I think [peón](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jornalero) (Spanish, where you see the close relation to pawn). _Peón_ has several meanings, one of them being [day laborer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_labor). _Bauer_ (or _Knecht_) can mean that as well, and also the lowest rank a soldier can have, like soldado raso o [soldado cabo peón](https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldado_raso) (there is the peón again), which is translated into English as _private_ (and here the pawn is lost in translation). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/17 "2022-05-05T16:10:47Z")
Thanks, makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/18 "2022-05-05T16:19:09Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Indians invented Chess. Today I learned; it also seems this is the origin of the “elephant” name for pieces. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/19 "2022-05-05T21:15:16Z")
It’s also possible that the Persians had a hand in inventing / popularising chess. ‘Checkmate’ may well come from the Persian ‘Shah Mat’ (the King is dead) and ‘Rook’ may derive from the Persian ‘Rukh’ (Chariot’.) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/20 "2022-05-05T21:30:50Z")
> [@glee](#): > > ‘Checkmate’ may well come from the Persian ‘Shah Mat’ (the King is dead) In German, the game is called Schach and “checkmate” is schachmatt. Maybe there was a transfer over German to English, but anyway I think both expressions come from Persia. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901.md?page=2)