This book will be coming out in the fall from Russell Enterprises. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Here is the blurb from Hanon Russell’s web site.
[b]The KGB Plays Chess
The Soviet Secret Police
and the Fight for the World Chess Crown
by Boris Gulko, Vladimir Popov,
Yuri Felshtinsky and Viktor Kortschnoi
The KGB Plays Chess is a unique book. For the first time it opens to us some of the most secret pages of the history of chess. The battles about which you will read in this book are not between chess masters sitting at the chess board, but between the powerful Soviet secret police, known as the KGB, on the one hand, and several brave individuals, on the other. Their names are famous in the chess world: Viktor Kortschnoi, Boris Spasski, Boris Gulko and Garry Kasparov became subjects of constant pressure, blackmail and persecution in the USSR. Their victories at the chess board were achieved despite this victimization.
Unlike in other books, this story has two perspectives. The victim and the persecutor, the hunted and the hunter, all describe in their own words the very same events. One side is represented by the famous Russian chess players Viktor Kortschnoi and Boris Gulko. For many years they fought against a powerful system, and at the end they were triumphant. The Soviet Union collapsed and they got what they were fighting for: their freedom.
Former KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Popov, who left Russia in 1996 and now lives in Canada, was one of those who had worked all his life for the KGB and was responsible for the sport sector of the USSR. It is only now for the first time that he has decided to tell the reader his story of the KGB’s involvement in Soviet Sports. This is his first book, and it is not only full of sensations, but it also dares to name names of secret KGB agents previously known only as famous chess masters, sportsmen or sport officials. Just a few short years ago a book like this would have been unimaginable.
Read this book. It is not only about chess. It is about glorious victory of the great chess masters over the forces of darkness.
[/b]
I purchased and read this book in Russian a few months ago. I was actually very devastated by the facts listed in this book. Some of the facts (if you trust them of cause) are simply disgusting. For example a failed attempt by KGB to make Boris Spassky’s girlfriend (citizen of France) sick with syphilis.
One of the facts which is interesting in the current context is that A. Karpov together with KGB made life of B. Gulko and his wife a living hell, denied them the chance to emigrate for many years, just so that Gulko wouldn’t be able to assist Korchnoi in his championship matches against Karpov. This is the same A. Karpov which is being so enthusiastically supported by US Chess Federation to become president of FIDE. After reading the book, I would not support Karpov for any position of authority.
This book is a must read even if you do not trust all the facts in there…
I’s my understanding that Kasparov supports Karpov’s bid to become FIDE president and that Kasparov’s personal attorney, Richard Cann, is seeking a position as Deputy President. Considering that Kirsan owes his position in Kalmyka to Putin and Kasparov’s dislike of Putin, I wonder where this will all end up.
