How the Early Soviet State Turned Chess Into a Tool
A look inside the origins of Soviet chess culture. These articles trace how early USSR institutions and political leaders transformed chess into a tool for education, discipline, and national development, setting the foundation for decades of dominance in world chess.
Sergei Dolmatov
Sergei Dolmatov rose from a Siberian mining town to become World Junior Champion, a World Championship candidate, and an Olympiad gold medallist. A leading student of Mark Dvoretsky, he later worked with Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik while training a new generation of Russian chess players.