Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versus Karpov and the Kremlin

2018
1h 25m

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Anatoli Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versus Karpov and the Kremlin (2018)

Fascinating story of the 1978 World Chess Championship between the Soviet Communist Party's protege, Anatoly Karpov and the traitor and Soviet defector, Viktor Korchnoi. One of those instanc... Read allFascinating story of the 1978 World Chess Championship between the Soviet Communist Party's protege, Anatoly Karpov and the traitor and Soviet defector, Viktor Korchnoi. One of those instances in life where truth is stranger than fiction.Fascinating story of the 1978 World Chess Championship between the Soviet Communist Party's protege, Anatoly Karpov and the traitor and Soviet defector, Viktor Korchnoi. One of those instances in life where truth is stranger than fiction.

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IMDb RATING

6.9/10

205

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4User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos10

+ 6

Top cast33

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Michael Adams

Self

Muhammad Ali

Self
(archive footage)

Viswanathan Anand

Self

Viktor Baturinskiy

Self
(archive footage)

Mikhail Botvinnik

Self
(archive footage)

Leonid Brezhnev

Self
(archive footage)

Magnus Carlsen

Self
(archive footage)

Stuart Conquest

Self

Bobby Fischer

Self
(archive footage)

Boris Gelfand

Self

Vlastimil Hort

Self

Gregory Kaidanov

Self

Anatoli Karpov

Self

Garry Kasparov

Self

Raymond Keene

Self

Daniel King

Self

Viktor Korchnoi

Self
(archive footage)

Tara MacGowran

Self - Narrator
(voice)

Director
- Alan Byron
Writer
- Alan Byron
All cast & crew
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Featured review

10/10

Awesome doco of political chess and human nature

As a chess player, Korchnoi never really attracted me. But after watching this doco I may go back and examine his games. But this doco is not only for chess players (apart from about 3 specific moves) it is all about the man Viktor. A Russian chess prodigy he defects from the USSR and then takes on the mighty Soviet chess/political system and damn nearly destroys it.

Lovely commentary from a host of chess contemporaries, you see Viktor in his prime, in his depths of disaster and in his return. Likewise Karpov has come up in my eyes because of his compassion after the fall of Communism.

If you know something about chess, this story is for you. If you do not, this story is for you. This is just a great story. Enjoy.