Moscow 1925

◇A tournament of the state

Moscow 1925 was organised by Nikolai Krylenko, head of the Soviet chess section and a senior Bolshevik official, who secured a state bankroll of 30,000 rubles to stage the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. Eleven foreign stars were invited — among them Lasker, Capablanca, Frank Marshall, Richard Réti, Akiba Rubinstein, Savielly Tartakower, Rudolf Spielmann, Ernst Grünfeld and the young Carlos Torre — to face ten Soviet masters. Alexander Alekhine, who had left the Soviet Union in 1921, was not invited.

The public response was extraordinary. More than a thousand spectators crowded the hall for every round, and tens of thousands more across the country followed the daily bulletins. The mania was captured in the 1925 silent comedy Chess Fever (Shakhmatnaya goryachka), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin, in which Capablanca appeared as himself.

◇Bogoljubov's upset

Over twenty rounds the favourites could not close the gap. Efim Bogoljubov, representing the Soviet Union, scored 15½/20 on thirteen wins, five draws and only two losses to finish outright first. Lasker took second on 14, half a point clear of the reigning champion Capablanca on 13½, with Marshall fourth on 12½.

For the young Soviet chess movement it was a big moment: their own champion had beaten the two men who had played for the world title, at home and in front of the whole country.

◇Torre's windmill

The tournament also produced one of the most famous combinations in the game's history. In round 12 the 21-year-old Mexican Carlos Torre Repetto met Lasker and unleashed a "windmill" of discovered checks — a rook see-sawing across the board to harvest piece after piece — to bring down the former world champion. Torre finished level on 12 points, sharing fifth and sixth places with Tartakower, but that single game secured his place in chess memory.