# Why Did The Soviets Lean So Hard Into Chess?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901>\
**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:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-soviets-lean-so-hard-into-chess/963901/21 "2022-07-19T14:56:17Z")

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> [@glee](#):
>
> ‘Checkmate’ may well come from the Persian ‘Shah Mat’ (the King is dead)

I thought this was established fact.

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