Russian chess photos (pre-1960)

[Christopher Kreuzer]

As mentioned in another thread, I did a search within the RIA Novosti (a Russian press agency) photo library, and found 44 chess photos pre-1961. I'm going to post links to the ones I found most interesting. Didn't find any British chess players.

Tolstoy first (chess set - first two links - and him playing - third and fourth links):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/100986
http://visualrian.com/images/item/100896
http://visualrian.com/images/item/682202
http://visualrian.com/images/item/7465

Russian soldiers playing chess during World War II:

http://visualrian.com/images/item/483

A non-chess Botvinnik photo (defending his thesis):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/6365

Lasker playing Botvinnik (I like the way Lasker's body language has been captured in this photo):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/59353

Here, you can see the fine chairs used at one of the Soviet venues:

http://visualrian.com/images/item/53608

This is probably quite a famous photo (the 1914 St Petersburg tournament):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/58998

Is there a copy anywhere on the internet annotated with who is in this picture? Or can anyone here identify more than the three mentioned there? I could try with a list of the participants, but I doubt I'd be able to identify more than a few.

Another nice group photo is here (all identified: Mark Taimanov, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasili Smyslov, Paul Keres, captain Alexander Kotov, Yefim Geller and David Bronstein):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/100893

A really nice photo of Botvinnik sharing a joke with FIDE Vice-President Lindstrom:

http://visualrian.com/images/item/100395

Probably already known, but this is Capablanca at 14:

http://visualrian.com/images/item/37606

Lenin "playing chess with Alexander Bogdanov at Maxim Gorky's residence in Capri, Italy" (1908):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/9360

[worth looking at for Bogdanov as well, who was a rival of Lenin. I wonder if that is Gorky at far left?]

Another case of a missing identity:

http://visualrian.com/images/item/56091

Artworks from 1889, Steinitz on the left. The guy on the right - is that Lasker?

Some lesser-known Russian and Soviet and other chess players (Kotov, Yudovich, Rubtsova, Teschner, Bondarevsky, Reshevsky). I've not linked to these photos, but mentioned them in case they are of interest.

Finally, several people famous for other things playing chess:

Sergei Martinson: http://visualrian.com/images/item/5707
David Oistrakh: http://visualrian.com/images/item/86519
Nikolai Ostrovsky: http://visualrian.com/images/item/96607
Anatoly Lunacharsky: http://visualrian.com/images/item/5190
Sergei Prokofiev (young): http://visualrian.com/images/item/68252

Lunacharsky was "the first Soviet People's Commissar of Enlightenment responsible for culture and education". I wonder if he had anything to do with chess policy in the USSR, or if anything more is known about his chess interests?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

This is probably quite a famous photo (the 1914 St Petersburg tournament):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/58998

Is there a copy anywhere on the internet annotated with who is in this picture? Or can anyone here identify more than the three mentioned there? I could try with a list of the participants, but I doubt I'd be able to identify more than a few.

I found a copy online on two similar blog posts (same person offering the tournament book for sale):

http://aljechin4.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html
http://blog.chess.com/aljechinthegreat/ ... rsburg1914

The blog posts each give 23 names, though the photo (larger version available on the first blog) gives 24 names but the photo available at a readable size cuts off some of the names. There are 24 people in the picture. The following is a transcription of the caption in that photo:

"Front row, left to right: I. Gunsberg, J. H. Blackburne, Dr. E. Lasker, Dr. S. Tarrasch, A. Burn, Prof. Dr. R. [name missing] ([President?] of the German Chess Association), A. K. Rubinstein, Dr. O. S. Bernstein, J. R. Capablanca, and D. Janowsky.

Second row: S. O. Wainstein, F. J. Marshall, A. A. Alechin, N. J. Maxinow*, B. E. Maljutin* (President of the St. [Petersburg Chess?] Society), P. P. Sabonroff*, E. Talwik*, J. O. Sossnitzky*, (Vice-President of the St. Petersburg Chess Society), W. [name missing] ([Vice?]-President of the German Chess Association), N. N. Lochwitzky, and E. A. Snosko-Borowsky.

Back row: A. Niemzowitsch, N. A. Snosko-Borowsky*, and D. D. Korolew (President of the Financial and Commercial [Society?]).

* Members of the Tournament Committee"

So the missing names are the President and Vice-President of the German Chess Association. The first one (if the blog transcription is accurate) is "Gebhartt". The second (again from the blog transcription) is "Rubinow". "Alechin" is Alekhine. I think "Sabonoff" is Saburov. The number discrepancy is because there are two people named Snosko-Borowsky, of which the blog only names one.

Participants are here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peters ... tournament

More on the organisers here:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/saburovs.html

Of those named in the caption, four are not participants and are not named as an organiser or chess official or other official. These four are: A. Burn, S. O. Wainstein (appears the spelling should be 'Weinstein'), N. N. Lochwitzky, and E. A. Snosko-Borowsky.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Burn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Znosko-Borovsky

Can't find much about S. O. Weinstein, and drawing a complete blank on Lochwitzky. Were they chess players or just others helping to organise the event?

EDIT 1: Doh! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuil_Vainshtein

EDIT 2: Could N. N. Lochvitsky be this Russian general?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... vitsky.jpg

The person in the 1914 photograph is in uniform and looks like him and looks the right age!

[Colin Patterson]

As you say, the Russian General looks very familiar. I'd guess they were both Nikolai Lochwitzky, who was involved with the Russian expeditionary force in France (c. 1916) and highly decorated.

There were many non-players in the 1914 Saint Petersburg tourney photos, so he was probably there in a capacity of distinguished dignitary. There is no mention of him in Chess Personalia, so it's unlikely he was a player of any note.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

As you say, the Russian General looks very familiar. I'd guess they were both Nikolai Lochwitzky, who was involved with the Russian expeditionary force in France (c. 1916) and highly decorated.

There were many non-players in the 1914 Saint Petersburg tourney photos, so he was probably there in a capacity of distinguished dignitary. There is no mention of him in Chess Personalia, so it's unlikely he was a player of any note.

Well, the Russian Wikipedia article (if Google Translate can be trusted for Russian) states that the Russian general was N. A. Lochwitzky and not N. N. Lochwitzky. But the ages are about right. It does say that Lochwitzky is the name of St Petersburg aristocracy, which means that there were probably a number of Lochwitzkys in the area, so I suspect that if the initials are correct (and no reason to think otherwise), this is another Lochwitzky (if anyone would like to work out all the possible variant spellings and transliterations of the name, that would help as well). Possibly someone needs to take a closer look at the uniform. The Russian general is also the brother of a female poet as well (Lochwitskaya or something).

Lokhvitskii, Nikolai Alexandrovich
Lokhvytsky, Mirra Aleksandrovna
Nadezhda Lokhvytsky (Taffy)
And the father was A. B. Lokhvitsky.

FWIW. It's all very tenuous.

While scratching around for information on Lochwitzkys, I came across Alexander M. Lochwitzky, someone who fled to the USA from Russia in 1906 or so (quite an interesting story). I also found a reference to another Maljutin, so it seems that name was fairly common in St Petersburg as well.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Did you ever do anything about starting to write a blog Chris? You really should.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Did you ever do anything about starting to write a blog Chris? You really should.

Thanks, and no I never did get started on a blog. For stuff like that (which didn't really lead anywhere), probably not worth it, as linking to pictures is not quite the same as posting them. And I'd be far too tempted to post my own chess games... For other stuff, maybe something more might be suitable. On the general subject of digging around chess-related stuff, I have been visiting several libraries and archives in the London area (for non-chess reasons) recently. If I get the time, I might try and look up some of the obscurer chess material available. The trouble is knowing what's already been done.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

OK, it's not pre-1960, but I can't resist pointing people to this photo of Karpov enjoying himself at a film festival (chess players really are stars in Russia, aren't they, imagine the top British chess players getting a reception like that):

http://visualrian.com/images/item/404943

Some nice ones of Karpov with his wife and children as well, and engaging in leisure activities such as... wait for it, hay-making!

http://visualrian.com/images/item/56348

And two pictures of the two Ks when they were young:

Karpov (18): http://visualrian.com/images/item/99818
Kasparov (11 or 12): http://visualrian.com/images/item/594403

[Adam Raoof]

Did you ever do anything about starting to write a blog Chris? You really should.

I agree; you really should, or write for one of the existing blogs. These photographs are fantastic!