ADecember 12 1942
The Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday, December 12, 1942
10000 WATCH CHESS TOURNEY IN RUSSIA
Players Send Greetings to Fellow Enthusiasts in Allied Lands
TOR ONTO C.C. WINS
By J. S. Morrison
News of Russian activities has just reached us. A tournament at Sverdlovsk was won by Ragozin with Petroff second and Sokolski third.
About 10,000 people visited the Sverdlovsk tournaments as spectators including men from all walks of life: Doctors, soldiers, workmen, etc., during the tournament in the premises of the chess club.
In hospitals and various “collectives” there were many mass chess meetings between March 22 to April 20. Thirty-six simultaneous displays, 10 lectures and other talks took place in which all the masters, the competitors and members of the tournament committee assisted. The success of the gathering was much enhanced by the arrival of Botvinnik (from Molotov) who assisted in the running of the tournament and gave a lecture on “International Tournaments in England,” which was particularly appreciated by the audience (according to the official bulletin) and will for long time live in the memory of Sverdlovsk men. The bulletin contained a long appreciation of Capablanca by Rokhlin, and greetings to English and USA players as translated below:
“The competitors of the Sverdlovsk tournament to the chess players of England and U.S.A.!
“The competitors of the chess tournament in the Urals, masters of U.S.S.R., send their fighting greetings to our Allies and friends—the chess players in England and U.S.A.
“Chess friendship between our three countries has become a tradition of many years standing. Talented players of England and America have always been welcome competitors and guests in the international tournaments held in the Soviet Union. The creative genius of Staunton, Morphy, Thomas, Marshall, Fine, Reshevsky and the world champion, Capablanca, has been inscribed in the history of chess art and filled its bright pages.
“The war against the most evil enemy of all cultured mankind—Hitler Germany—has still further strengthened and tightened the friendship of the fighting peoples of England, U.S.A. and the Soviet Union.
“We are convinced that the hour is near when by the joint efforts of the Allies Hitlerism will be destroyed and annihilated and the people of our friendly countries will do their utmost for the cause of development and reconstruction in the field of world culture.”
