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The Soviet school of chess was asserted to be a national style of play by Soviet chess players and journalists. Although chess had been a game of the bourgeoisie and upper classes before the Russian Revolution, its popularity among Bolshevik leaders, including Vladimir Lenin, contributed to it being supported by state leaders in the USSR as a national pastime. A keen sportsman, Lenin spent much of his free time outdoors or playing chess.
Worldwide references to a now-solid Soviet school of chess only occurred after World War II, when a generation of Soviet chess players, led by soon-to-be world champion Mikhail Botvinnik,[1] began a string of victories over international competitors that surprised the world.
Generally speaking, chess experts in the USSR described the Soviet school of chess as a fast-paced, daring style of play best exemplified by the young generation of postwar players like David Bronstein.[2] Not all Soviet players used this playing style; the most notable exception was Botvinnik, whom grandmaster Mark Taimanov[3] compared to the methodical Wilhelm Steinitz.[4] The main contribution of the Soviet school of chess was not the style of players but their emphasis on rigorous training and study of the game, i.e. considering chess a sport rather than an art or science.