Moscow 1925 chess tournament

This international super-tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. There were eleven foreign stars and ten Soviet masters. World champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecessor Emanuel Lasker both participated. A race between them, as in the New York 1924 chess tournament, was expected before the tournament, but Efim Bogoljubow won a sensational victory. Lasker finished 1½ points behind Bogoljubow and just ahead of Capablanca.

The event aroused great interest among the Soviet citizens. Hundreds of spectators followed the games in Hotel Metropol and ten of thousands watched demonstration boards downtown. Bogoljubow's win was regarded as a Soviet victory; however, shortly after this in 1926, like Alexander Alekhine he left the Soviet Union and became a German citizen. Later Bogoljubow and Alekhine were called "renegades" in the USSR.

The film Chess Fever used a number of scenes from the tournament, and even featured Capablanca playing himself.