The obsession for chess: A Soviet atavism in the Putin era

The game for the world chess title has a special stake for Moscow. Like the USSR before it, Putin's Russia is obsessed with success at all costs in the chess arena - both on the board itself and within the International Chess Federation.

Karl reMarks: The incredible story of how Putin used secret KGB

The Vikings: Why do the seafaring warriors still intrigue us

Putin moves his chess pieces while we try not to die of hunger

BiblioVault - Books about Cultural History

Propaganda pawns. The mirage of chess in the Soviet era

The Kiev Rus

The Longer Telegram: Toward a new American China strategy

In Soviet Russia, Bishop Takes Pawn - A Classic Tal Game

Here's why chess was so EXTREMELY popular in the USSR (PHOTOS

Here's why chess was so EXTREMELY popular in the USSR (PHOTOS

Foreign Policy Martens Centre

The Longer Telegram: Toward a new American China strategy

Pawns and Power