Interesting All-Union and international competitions between the leading chess players are often held at the club. The Saint Petersburg chess-school has the steady reputation of being one of the most skilled in our country. M. M. Botvinnik, the world chess champion, is one of the founders of the Saint Petersburg chess-school. The club saw many brilliant chess players, among them V. Smyslov, P. Keres, V. Korchnoi, D. Bronstein, M. Tal, T. Petrosyan, M. Taimanov, E. Geller and B. Spassky.
