Found: YA Historical fiction book about the Romanovs and Bolsheviks

I read this book last year in the US, and what I remember is that the prologue of the book was about an old man reading a story about a bear(?) to two young kids, one girl and one boys. The bear is figurative, it becomes larger as more chaos happens. So, the old man lives in a cabin in the snow with these two kids(grandkids?) and he goes out and dies. Then, the actual book is about a spy(can't remember where he was from but I think british, he spoke english) who goes to Russia as a journalist and falls in love with a woman working for the Bolsheviks. This guy has a lot of connections and he stays in Russia until he realizes its unsafe and he leaves/escapes. While he's leaving he plays a chess game(?) with a soldier or something to get through, don't remember that well. He eventually gets safe and then he and the woman reunite and live together.

Blood Red Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick

>2 juels: YES, THANK YOU SO MUCH MY SAVIOUR OMG

You're welcome.