1952

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April 18, 1952

• The Ottawa Citizen Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Friday, April 18, 1952 - Page 26 — Russian Chess Training Method — London — A young Russian chess expert said yesterday Russian players train for the sport as a fighter would for a champion bout. Mark Taimanov, who is also a concert pianist, said he keeps in shape for chess by participating in tennis, volleyball and swimming. Other players train by walking, running and cycling, he added. But the strangest methods of all, Taimanov said, are practiced by the world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. “Before Botvinnik plays a match in a Western country (where smoking is not forbidden as in Russia) he spends three weeks with a companion, working out problems, while a radio blares in the background and his companion blows smoke in his face.” ★ Read More

June 14, 1952

• The Tampa Times, Tampa, Florida, Saturday, June 14, 1952 - Page 9 — Russians in Olympics To Lose at Own Peril — …Botvinnik ordinarily gets ready for a big match in Russia by walking, running and cycling. But he takes extraordinary measures to prepare himself for competition outside his own country. A Russian chess expert recently described his strange methods as follows: “Before Botvinnik plays a match in a Western country, he spends three weeks with a companion, working out problems while a radio blares in the background and his companion blows smoke in his face.” SOviet leaders must be already a bit worried about the possible effect that contact with the Western world will have on thier athletes, and not without reason … Read More

August 31, 1952

• The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, August 31, 1952 - Page 15 — Bogart's a Tough Guy--Even at Chess Board — Dallas, Tex., Aug. 30 (AP)—When screen tough guy Humphrey Bogart's not leveling a cold eye on a gangster and commanding “Okay Louie, drop the gun”—he plays chess. And what's more the grim-faced Bogart is good at that genteel game, a chess champion who has taught top movie stars the “king of games” said today. Herman Steiner, chess editor of the Los Angeles Times, scoffed at the popular notion that chess is a game for intellectual “long hairs.” “Humphrey Bogart is the best player among my screen pupils,” Steiner told a reporter at the Southwest Open Chess Tournament that got under way here tonight. Even Charles Boyer has taken time out from his film lovemaking to order kings and pawns around on the checkered square, Steiner said. So has Linda Darnell, he added. Steiner, 1946 National Open Chess champion and National Absolute (invitational) champion from 1948 to 1951, is one of 80 players from 10 states in the tournament. He said the same quality which permits Bogart to kill with the utmost of calm in a movie also makes him a top-notch chess player. “That's how natural he is when sitting down to a highly competitive game of chess,” Steiner said. “Nothing fazes him.” Read More