The Leader with an Iron Will

Photo: Marshal Chuikov was an avid chess player and loved card games. As a person who was not used to losing, he could sit for hours at a time until he won. Sometimes he got frustrated, but he refused to back down.

‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is a familiar saying in the US, and it certainly fits Marshal Chuikov’s personality. The defender of Stalingrad never surrendered to anyone. Vasily Ivanovich possessed a strong character—he always strove to win. In 2018, Marshal Chuikov’s grandson Nikolai Vladimirovich shared the following anecdote:

“Grandpa loved cards, chess, checkers - everything that you can play. At the dacha we sat down at the table, laid out the cards. If my grandfather won, he would sit and tease everyone. And if he lost, he puffed out his cheeks, threw cards, went off to drink. Returned: ‘Well, let's play!’ And he played until he won back.

Once my grandfather and I sat in Zavidovo hunting [and playing chess] until 5 in the morning. A chess grandmaster [was] with us. He took out the board and arranged the chess set. Grandpa lost to him […] evening, night, dawn... The adjutant went behind Chuikov's back and showed the grandmaster: ‘Fool, do you see what time it is? Lose to him!’ And the stubborn grandmaster was caught—he still won. But, in the end, the grandmaster was tired [and] wanted to sleep—then he lost.”

This depth of resolve and drive to win were crucial for the defense of Stalingrad during the darkest days when hope for holding the city was nearly gone. Michael Jones interviewed General Anatoly Mereshko, who served with Lieutenant-General Chuikov as a 20-year-old cadet, extensively for his book Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed. He shared the following:

“Chuikov led from the front—and this was so important at Stalingrad. ‘We all felt the force of Chuikov’s will, his sheer determination,’ Mereshko recalled. ‘With all the problems we had, and it was a desperate situation, we knew our commander would stay with us, defending and protecting Stalingrad, with all the resources available to him, and this conviction radiated out and reached all our soldiers.’ Chuikov was personally very brave. He would not ask his soldiers to undertake a task unless he was willing to face similar danger himself.”