Chess set from the besieged Leningrad

Spirit enclosed in feeble flesh — that is what they bring to mind, these light, hollow cardboard blocks painted red and black. Mass production of such chess pieces was set on track in the besieged Leningrad in 1943. The city championship tournaments ran annually despite the blockade that lasted from 1941 through 1944. The enrollment of school children in the chess club in the Anichkov Palace began in December 1943. As the siege was on, the city and the Leningrad battlefront ran hundreds of tournaments with more than 500 qualification tickets awarded as a result.