[5][6] On the contrary, the contemporary art historian Maria Chukcheeva believes that the painting reflects the urgent needs of the 1860s, when the study of pre-Petrine life was "one of the most pressing issues" of historical scholarship.

It took a prominent place in literature (there were plays about the Times of Troubles by Alexander Ostrovsky, a trilogy by Alexei Tolstoy...), numerous publications by great historical scholars in the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski.

The prevailing academic trend in history painting was unable to satisfy the demands of society, and its works seemed to contemporaries far removed from real life, becoming symbols of reaction or stagnation.

[7] By the time he made Etude on the Life of the Russian Tsars (Chess Game), Vyacheslav Schwarz had decided to give up his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts (this happened in 1863).

[10][11] Vyacheslav Schwarz made two long training trips abroad, where he studied in the workshops of famous masters of the history genre — to Germany (where he studied at the school of Julius Schrader, and for a short time was fascinated by the work of Wilhelm von Kaulbach);[11][1] During the four months of his journey, he visited Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main,[12][1] Augsburg, Karlsruhe, Darmstadt)[13][1] and France (on behalf of the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the artist had to compile and publish illustrations for Alexei Tolstoy's historical novel Prince Serebrenni, In addition to the cities of fragmented Germany, he visited Antwerp, Brussels and Paris, lived for a long time in the village of Barbizon, the young painter was greatly impressed by the work of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier).

[15] At the same time as studying at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Schwarz attended classes at the Faculty of History and Philology of Saint Petersburg State University[16][17] as a free student.

[16][Notes 2][18] As a sign of the artist's merits in the study and depiction of everyday life of past epochs, the Imperial Archaeological Commission elected him a full member in January 1865.

[12][1][21] In 2013, the original text of Schwarz's "petition" to the Council of the Academy of Arts was published for the first time, in which he reported that he was submitting three paintings for the title of Academician on the basis of the totality of these works.

[24] In February 1865, the artist first mentioned the title of the painting Etude of the life of the Russian Tsars (Chess playing) in one of his letters to his father.

[27][28] It was first shown to the public at an exhibition at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1865, together with two other paintings by the artist: The Celebration of Palm Sunday in Moscow under Patriarch Nikon and A Soldier of the Zemstvo Militia of the 16th Century.

Schwarz from the old Russian life (According Stasov, Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich played chess with a boyar' and a mounted warrior of the 16th century) reminded him of Meissonier's "fine, filigree work".

[31] About the works by Schwarz exhibited at the Academic Exhibition in 1865, the art critic of the publication Russky invalid, who hid under the pseudonym W, wrote: Celebration of Palm Sunday in Moscow under Patriarch Nikon and Etude of the life of the Russian Tsars (Chess playing)... by Mr. Schwarz are interesting from an archaeological point of view, as the setting of ancient Russian life is conveyed in them with remarkable diligence and fidelity.

An observer from the capital's Sankt-Petersburgskie Vedomosti newspaper called the scenes from the domestic life of Russian tsars in the 17th century "not uninteresting from an archaeological point of view.

[32] The paintings Etude of the life of the Russian Tsars (Chess playing) and Soldier of the Zemstvo Militia were highly praised by the art critic of the newspaper Vesti, writing under the initials "I", in the article Academic Exhibition and Our Critics: "So much life, truth, intelligence, that looking at them, as when listening to folk tales, one is involuntarily transported to the long past and forgotten centuries".

He asked me to do the drawing and assured me that he had a chance to sell it....In 1888, the painting was presented at a large exhibition of works by Vyacheslav Schwarz, held in the halls of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

In the lower right-hand corner of the canvas is the artist's signature and the date, which he added using letters from the Greek alphabet as numbers: "V: Schwarz αωξε (1865)".

The low ceiling of the room, a huge stove, simple utensils, a cat playing with a chess piece on the floor (according to Maria Chukcheeva, "a kitten is frolicking")[39] stand out in the interior.

It is known that in 1676 the painter Bogdan Saltanov painted with colours, gold and silver "small chessboards" for the four-year-old younger son of the tsar — tsarevich Peter Alexeyevich.

On Gen. 20 a turner of the Armoury Order finished the tsarevich's worn out white fish chessboards and made them in gold.Alexei Mikhailovich's own silver chess sets have been preserved (Moscow Kremlin Museums[43]).

[50] The Soviet art historian Alla Vereshchagina has noted that this work by Vyacheslav Schwarz combines academic techniques with the artist's search for a new realist style.

[Notes 6][53] She points out that, whereas in the academic paintings the artist draws attention to the protagonist by highlighting his clothes in bright red, in the canvas Etude of the life of the Russian Tsars (Chess playing) Schwarz uses completely different colours: the feuillet is white, the shirt pink and the trousers blue.

The white colour of the feyazi shimmers with shades of pink, blue, yellow and grey, creating the illusion of "the living shine of silk".

Alla Vereshchagina noted that he did not try to copy the techniques of 17th-century artists, but focused on what was specific to the everyday life of the period and bore the imprint of its tastes.

According to a contemporary:[52]...Whenever Schwarz was in Moscow, he spent many hours in the Armoury Chamber, and every time he was amazed ... ... that when he returned home he would draw for his memory all the objects of Russian antiquity, furniture, utensils, weapons and costumes, that had particularly struck him in the armoury chamber, and this with extraordinary fidelity, not only in the general outlines, but also in the details of ornamentation and all sorts of artistic features: so vast was his memory, and so intently did he scrutinise with his eyes the objects that interested him....According to art historians, the artist's desire to correspond to the period in the smallest detail often led to fractional and overloaded drawing in his paintings, especially in the depiction of objects in the background.

[55] The Soviet art historian Sofia Goldstein noted that Schwarz did not try to use a complex plot in the composition of Etude on the Life of the Russian Tsars (Chess Game).

Goldstein believes that against the background of the general picture of scientific and artistic interests of the period, Schwarz' works, such as Etude on the Life of the Russian Tsars, appear as a natural stage in the development of the fine arts of his time.

[58] Contemporary Russian art historian Nonna Yakovleva noted the small size of the painting, the balanced composition, the enclosed space of the cosy upper room and the soft, warm colours.

To this group, the art historian attributes the paintings of Jean-Léon Gérôme and the forgotten Jean-Egissippe Vetter, which the Russian painter saw at the Paris Salon in 1863.

These paintings coincided with the era of liberalisation in Germany and portrayed the king as 'a philosopher who loves music, science and art, and in his leisure time enjoys lively conversation with his learned friends'.

Schwarz was familiar with Menzel's illustrations and, according to Chukcheeva, took them into account when creating the painting Etude of the life of the Russian Tsars (Chess playing).