Pionerskaia pravda gave a figure of 100,000 child participants; it was as if the whole country was playing along with the young master.
In a 1936 article in Pionerskaia pravda, a child asked Botvinnik what style a strong player should adopt in chess.
As late as October 1937, an article in Pionerskaia pravda on chess history claimed that Steinitz was the "founder of modern chess theory, a great chess thinker [who] held the chess title for 28 years" and omitted Chigorin entirely.
(41) Pionerskaia pravda, 18 March 1936: 1, "Kak prinimaiut v pionery?"
(47) See, e.g., "Prazdnik radosmoi molodezhi," Pionerskaia Pravda, 4 September 1934: 2; "Radosti net kontsa" (on Artek), Pionerskaia pravda, 30 June 1935: 1; and "Schastlivym detiara nashei strany," Pionerskaia Pravda, 2 September 1935: 1 (on the start of school).
(55) See, e.g., Pionerskaia pravda, 30 May 1952, where a picture of Stalin with a smiling she-tot appears on the front cover.
