Every day for a month Muscovites young & old had jammed October Hall to the doors. They followed the play on giant dummy boards suspended over the flag-decked stage. Generals, admirals and diplomats had taken time off to attend. Overflow crowds heard move-by-move reports over loudspeakers. Reporters and newsreel cameramen packed the front rows. Broadcasters flashed round-by-round accounts to the fighting fronts. Moscow newspapers rushed out extras with the latest standings and scores.
Last week it ended. Mikhail Botvinnik, 32, had retained the title which he won in 1941 when the Soviet national chess championship was last staged.
The crowd got its biggest...
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