Karpov - Korchnoi 1978 (Closing Gambit)

Official Trailer for film 'Closing Gambit' about this match.

YouTube

Closing Gambit - A Major new feature documentary premiering at Cannes in 2018.

"Anatoly Karpov - World Champion. A loyal member of the Communist Party and a personal friend
of the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, is the epitome of the younger Soviet ‘New Man’.

Viktor Korchnoi - A survivor from the siege of Leningrad. Cantankerous, free-spirited, and a critic of
the Soviet regime who sought political asylum whilst playing chess in Holland in 1976.

Korchnoi is the challenger for the crown in the 1978 World
Championship in Baguio City, The Philippines.

What happened during that summer in 1978 is one of the most
incredible sporting stories that has never been fully told until now.

Both men were bitter personal rivals: Karpov is a legendary sports personality of the Soviet Union
with a chauffeur-driven Mercedes, Moscow apartment and country dacha; whereas Korchnoi is a traitor
to Russia - airbrushed from Soviet history and known only as ‘The Contestant’.

As the players fought on the chess board, their teams fought a war of espionage even John Le Carre
would struggle to invent. Parapsychologists, thought waves, flag wars, mirrored sunglasses, coded yoghurts,
KGB agents, corruption, and a sect of Eastern mystics wanted for murder, were just some of the events
that overtook chess in this epic world championship event.

Younger by over twenty years, Karpov led by 5 wins to 2 with the Champion being the first
to win 6 games. But then the unthinkable happened - Korchnoi won three games in quick
succession to level at 5 wins each. The Soviet Ice Man had begun to melt..."

Clip has snippets of interviews with Kasparov, Keene, Short, Stean, Hort, Karpov and Korchnoi.

Is it possible that no one mentioned parapsychologist Dr Vladimir Zukhar? And, as a response to that, a religious sect which Korchnoi hired as help.

Baguio was literally bathing in the middle of monsune season. The city was full of Yugoslav journalists and chess enthusiasts. Besides Dimitrije Bjelica - who co-authored the book "Raport from Baguio" with Mikhail Tal (then second of Karpov), there were present Miro Radojcic (always with bow tie) chess master and former newpaper "Politika"s correspodent from London and Washington, writers and avid chess amateur players Branislav Crncevic, Ljubivoje Rsumovic, and bunch of professional players GM Dragutin Sahovic, GM Dragoljub Velimirovic (secret second of Korchnoi), Chess Messengers editor GM Drazen Marovic, etc.

I have Bjelica-Tals book and in a photo one can see Bjelica and Radojcic soaked wet from monsune flood...Radojcic wearing deer leather jacket which already began to shrink (this time no bow tie, though, only checkered shirt). .

In Belgrade chess clubs everyone was rooting for Korchnoi, at the time I frequented one, being a junior player, it was last remnant of Fischer-Spassky fever.

On Yugoslav TV Drazen Marovic and Gligoric commented games after last TV news around midnight. Opening credit for that Chess Commentary was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" over collage of photos of candidates' photos::: Portisch, Larsen, Hort, Mecking...

Last chess fever.

Raymond Keene turned out to be traitor, double agent who sold his soul for KGB money. Fat baastard.

Korchnois's swan song: he sacrificed his son, who got marooned in SSSR even imprisoned and raped there, while Korchnoi got asylum in The Netherlands gave lessons to some idle Dutch amateur eccentric for good money and got good sex life with Petra Leewerick who was also tortured in Soviet women-prison in her past, so that two kindred souls found each other: swans' love affair which helped Korchnoi to fight.

And kaviar also helped: I remember a Ray Keene's commentary of a game in candidate match against Polugaevskiy: "Such plays man after 100 grams of kaviar!"

Korchnoi was defeated by KGB, traitor Keene, his own stuborness and superstition.

I am looking forward to seeing this film.

Ridley Scott would have made good feature film of this...

Originally posted by @vandervelde
Is it possible that no one mentioned parapsychologist Dr Vladimir Zukhar? And, as a response to that, a religious sect which Korchnoi hired as help.

Baguio was literally bathing in the middle of monsune season. The city was full of Yugoslav journalists and chess enthusiasts. Besides Dimitrije Bjelica - who co-authored the book "Raport from Baguio" ...[text shortened]... ooking forward to seeing this film.

Ridley Scott would have made good feature film of this...

I was sorry to see this match so politicized. These were 2 great chess talents that I admired.