🏒 March 7, 1954. USSR —Canada — 7:2 World Championship. Stockholm, Sweden

Just over seven years had passed since the first official ice hockey matches in the USSR when the national team made its debut at the World Championships—and it turned out to be a golden one.The tournament, featuring eight teams in the Swedish capital, was held in around-robin format. The Soviet team, led by coach Arkady Chernyshev, had already dropped one point in a draw with the hosts (1:1), meaning only a victory would suffice in the decisive match against Canada. And they achieved it with a dominant performance—7:2. Although Canada was represented by the amateur team "East York Lyndhursts" from Toronto, they had scored 57 goals in their six previous tournament games and had crushed the defending world champions, Sweden, 8:0.

For the first time in World Championship history, the best players of the tournament were named by position, and Vsevolod Bobrov (was born on December 1, 1922, in Morshansk, Tambov Governorate, RSFSR) was recognized as the top forward, having scored eight goals.

The success in Stockholm established the Soviet team as one of the leaders in worldhockey. The national teams of USSR/Russia and Canada continue to hold the record for the most World Championship victories—27 titles each (we don't count the latest 2023 championship where Canada won its 28th title in Russia's absence). From 1954 to 1990, the Soviet team won the World Championships 22 times, and the number of players in the country who became multiple-time world champions reaches dozens. 🏑

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👑 We are starting a new column dedicated to a pastime, game, and sport that is very popular in Russia. We are talking about chess.

👑 Chess in Russia has a history of more than a thousand years. It did not enter Ancient Rus from Europe, but directly from the East, where this game was born, via the Caspian–Volga route. This is evident, in particular, from the Russian names of the chess pieces. Thus, queen in Russian is ferz, from a Persian word meaning commander-in-chief, related to the Arabic vizier—the first minister. Rook in Russian is ladya, i.e., a boat. Bishop is slon, i.e., an elephant. These were the names of these pieces in India, and later in Persia and Arab countries. And the very Russian word shakhmaty (chess) comes from the Persian words shah and mat, meaning “the sovereign is dead” (as we know, checkmating the king is the goal of the chess game).

🤴 Chess pieces have been found in archaeological excavations in many ancient Russian towns: Kiev, Polotsk, Novgorod, and many others. Chess was especially popular in Novgorod, where pieces are found in excavations at many estates.

👑Chess found its reflection in Russian epic poetry, in byliny. The bogatyrs play chess before a battle. In one of the byliny, a woman who has disguised herself as a man—the wife of the bogatyr Stavr, who fell out of Prince Vladimir’s favor—plays chess with Vladimir and, winning, frees her husband from prison.

♟Chess, despite the church’s disapproval, which extended to chess its opposition to gambling, was loved by Russian tsars as well, including Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov. At that time, chess was apparently played according to the rules of shatranj. By the end of the 17th century, there was a transition to the standard European rules.

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