“Karpov did a noble deed towards Kasparov”

The story is simple: the Leningrad rising star, pale young man Anatoly Karpov defeated all the venerable, eminent, former world champions (there were many of them in the Soviet Union) in the candidates’ race, and in the final Viktor Korchnoi (also from the city on the Neva) and went to Robert himself Fischer, world champion, genius, American. Fischer broke the monopoly of grandmasters from the USSR, defeated Spassky in the decisive match and perched on Olympus, sat down there on the very top, shaking his legs, and was considered absolutely invincible. And now Karpov: 25 years old, a true member of the Komsomol, a patriot, then not yet married. And Fischer suddenly trembled, got frightened of the Russian guy (as Vysotsky said: “And the vaunted notorious Fischer immediately agreed to a draw”), began to set unrealistic conditions for FIDE, and then generally merged, disappeared, evaporated. Karpov was proclaimed world champion. No game. And the young and early Anatoly Evgenievich went all out in order to prove that he received the laurel wreath by right, winning all the major international tournaments one after another. At the same time, grandmaster Korchnoi (remember, Dobzhanskaya, Detochkin’s mother from Beware of the Car: “Korchnoi won a chess tournament. I was rooting for Tal. He was half a point behind”) received political asylum at a tournament in the cheerful city of Amsterdam and remained in Holland (now the Netherlands). That is, by all Soviet standards, he became a defector, a renegade. But he never forgot how to play chess. On the contrary: anger at the system gave him more energy, gave him an additional impetus, stimulus; he went around everyone at the turn and went to the decisive duel with Karpov. The final no-limit match up to six wins was to be held in Baguio (Philippines) in 1978. Actually, the movie is about it.

Then there are the recollections of an eyewitness, that is, me, a schoolboy from Medvedkov. It was a chess fever the size of the entire Soviet Union, where there is New Vasyukam. The country was sick of chess as undermined, desperately, not knowing the shores. She solved chess problems published in all self-respecting newspapers. She studied grandmaster ratings, played the black-and-white war of thought in parks and boulevards (“I played chess on the boulevard”, Buzykin-Basilashvili, “Autumn Marathon”). And then politics intervened, but what! All the mighty, great state was behind Karpov, no one was behind Korchnoi at all, except for his new Austrian wife Petra Leewerik and the sympathies of the West.

Yes, all of us, with the exception of the dissidents, rooted for Karpov, because he was ours, and Korchnoi is no longer ours. So we thought.

I remember an article in Sovetsky Sport of that time, which said how, right during the game, Korchnoi suddenly began to call Karpov names: “scoundrel, scoundrel, bastard.” This is also shown in the film. This episode sparked my hyper-teenage imagination. For a long time I had the same terrible dream: Korchnoi was sitting across from Karpov, moving his pieces and hissing: “Bastard.” I woke up in a cold sweat all the time.

In “World Champion” Korchnoi – Khabensky. There is no need to invent anything, to make an anti-hero. Viktor Lvovich really had a terrible, unbearable character, plus all these Jewish complexes, cruelty. And he also did not tolerate injustice, saw it in everything in relation to himself and fought it with all his might, as best he could.

Karpov is played by Ivan Yankovsky, son and grandson. Here he is more of a type of statesman, but a very talented person. Young and early. Correct, but with life’s difficulties of a personal nature.

In general, post-Soviet sports films are very similar. Great event or hero. Childhood, adolescence, youth. Parents (required) Beloved girl, first love, difficulties of misunderstanding (mandatory). The coach, his line, influence on the fate of the hero. Sports officials, bureaucrats, statesmen, but still with a human being, “terrible in appearance, kind inside.” But this is all a side dish, a dessert, a prelude to the main course.

And most importantly – this is the game itself, the apogee. In “Legend No. 17” the first match with the Canadians from 1972 in Montreal, where at first we lost 0:2, but won 7:3, and two goals from Kharlamov. It’s filmed great!

But even better was the basketball final of the Munich Olympiad-72 in “Move Up”. In half an hour of pure time, we were shown everything brightly, colorfully and in detail. And the notorious, greatest three seconds, when Ivan Edeshko made a pass across the entire court to Alexander Belov, the Americans scatter and… Victory!!! Nina Eremina at the microphone gets high, screams, rages. Perfect!

Chess is harder. Yes, there is also a plot from a horror movie: if Karpov lost to Korchnoi, it would be a complete alles kaput both for him and for all of us. He led 5:2, but then the challenger, in an incomprehensible way, by an effort of will, equalized the score. The country, fate hung in the balance, but Anatoly gathered himself and … “I took the crown – hold it,” Brezhnev muttered to Karpov with difficulty, but proudly on the sidelines of the Komsomol congress.

How to play thought? After all, Yankovsky Jr. is not Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov, with all due respect, and not the great grandfather Oleg Ivanovich. But he played as best he could.

… Then there was a new chess fever Karpov – Kasparov (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation – ed.). But that’s a completely different story. Karpov led 5:0, but did not finish off the young opponent, the match was postponed. Time has changed, perestroika has begun, and we were already rooting for Kasparov. As a result, he became the 13th world champion.

… Anatoly Karpov very worthily endured disgrace when former Soviet idols (Pakhmutov, Dobronravov, Kobzon, hockey coach Tikhonov) began to spit, throw stones at them. He behaved like a man, like a gentleman, did not whine, did not whine. Time has put everything in its place. It made it clear who is real and who is imaginary. And Karpov committed his most noble act precisely in relation to Kasparov (recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), when he was closed for seven days for another unauthorized rally. Karpov visited his sworn friend, an implacable rival, in prison, gave him the 64-Chess Review magazine and warm socks. Well, yes, world champions, how many of them are left and what should they do?!

And the last thing about Korchnoi. After the collapse of the Union, he, “a renegade, anti-Soviet”, repeatedly came to Moscow, including at the invitation of our wonderful colleague Yevgeny Gik. Participated in tournaments, spoke on the radio, gave interviews. And it is right. To all the unique, complex people who left, the new old country made it clear: you are ours. So Aksenov, Voinovich, Lyubimov, Solzhenitsyn returned … White officers were taken to Russia to be reburied, the unification of the Russian Foreign and Moscow Orthodox Churches took place. All sons of God, all children of Russia.