Русский Шахматы Бюллетени - Russian Chess Bulletins

The Soviet Union, besides being the strongest шахматы nation for many years, was also world champion at producing tournament bulletins. From the 1930's to the 1980's almost all important national tournaments were accompanied by a series of Бюллетени produced every few days in the style of a small newspaper, with the latest news and games from the турнир. Often 20 or more Бюллетени were published during an event giving a round by round account of proceedings and usually including other articles of interest. These were bound up to produce important, on the scene, records of the турнир.

The standard Russian chess literature bibliography is  Шахматная Литература СССР Библиография (1775-1966) by Н. И. Сахаров (Nikolay Ivanovich Sakharov), Moscow 1968:

... and the first Бюллетени listed in this библиография were issued during the 7th Soviet Championships held in Москва in October and November 1931:

Бюллетень VII Всесоюзного Шахматно-Шашечного Съезда.  (Sakharov 957, LN 5447, Di Felice Chess Competitions 1382.1)

20 Бюллетени were published between 10th Октября and 17th November giving detailed reports, articles, cross-tables and 107 games, many with light annotations.

Photographs, illustrations and cartoons were a major feature of Russian chess bulletins and this 1931 series includes  a few portraits but not, unfortunately, of the 20 year old winner  М. М. Ботвинник. The tournament was led by Н. Н. Рюмин (N. N. Riumin) for the first 14 rounds but he lost to Ботвинник in round 15 and then lost his last two games to finish two points behind the winner.

The following photograph of Botvinnik in play against Riumin, with close-up observers Vainstein, Volkovissky and Zubarev, is on page 21 of the February 1932 issue of "64". Шахматы в Рабочем Клубе, ("64" Shakhmaty v Rabochem Klube):

 ... and this caricature of Riumin appeared on page 373 of the December 1931 issue of "64". 

A very poor photograph featuring Botvinnik, Riumin and others is on page 372 of the same magazine:

The massive 564 page tournament book on the event; Всесоюзный Шахматный Турнир (Москва 1931 г.), Leningrad and Moscow 1933,  (Sakharov 490, LN 5446, Di Felice 1382.2):

...has this caricature of Zamikhovsky and Botvinnik on page 276;

... and a cartoon of the event on page 62:

                                                                © Michael Clapham 2018