Republic of Buryatia

This series of short cartoons is brought to you by the Russian Geographical Society. Each clip introduces one of Russia’s 89 regions.

Today’s issue is about the Republic of Buryatia. The world's deepest lake is located there. More than 30 datsans (Buddhist monasteries) and the only Buddhist University in Russia perform their activities on the territory of Buryatia. Besides, it’s Russia's sunniest region.

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🏆Chess in the USSR and Science Fiction

The revolution and the civil war that followed were a terrible shock for the country. Many people died and many emigrated. In 1919 Alekhine left. Efim Bogoljubow was interned by the Germans in 1914 and lived in Germany until 1923. He came back to the USSR in 1924, but in 1926 he left it again.

But most people, and most chess players, remained living in the new country that arose on the ruins of the collapsed Russian Empire—the Soviet Union. And they continued to play chess.

In 1923, the first USSR Championship was held, with the participation of the strongest Russian masters. It was won by Pyotr Romanovsky, with Grigory Levenfish taking second place. Both belonged to the pre-revolutionary generation of chess players: Romanovsky was born in 1892—the same year as Alekhine. Levenfish was born three years earlier, one year after Capablanca.

From the late 1920s, Romanovsky stopped to play actively on the top level and devoted much time to coaching. One of his disciples, Grigory Ravinsky, later became a well known chess trainer himself, working at the Moscow Palace of Pioneers. Among others, he taught chess there to the author of these lines. As for Levenfish, he continued to play actively and in the 1920s and 1930s was one of the strongest Soviet chess players. In particular, in 1937 he shared first place in the USSR Championship with Botvinnik (the future world champion) and then played a match against him that ended in a draw (five wins, five losses, and three draws). He was the author of many chess books.

And now something completely different.
Isaac Asimov wrote the science fiction novel Pebble in the Sky in 1950. In one of its chapters, a chess game between characters in the novel is described, one of whom, after brain surgery, acquires extraordinary intellectual abilities. The game is described in great detail—move by move—so that it can easily be reconstructed on a board. When I read this book in my youth, I did just that and was impressed by the high chess level of the game. It ended with a brilliant combination carried out by the operated character, who was playing Black.

At the time, I did not understand where Asimov had gotten this game from—he himself was not a strong chess player. But many years later I came across this game in the materials of the Second USSR Championship of 1924. Levenfish played Black, and Verlinsky played White. The game received a beauty prize. Chess players can take pleasure in replaying it. The combination begins with a rook sacrifice on the 19th move.

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