Ebook335 pages5 hours
The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown
By Boris Gulko and Yuri Felshtinsky
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this ebook
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.
Related to The KGB Plays Chess
Related ebooks
Topalov Kramnik 2006 World Chess Championship: On the Edge in Elista Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Essential Sosonko: Collected Portraits and Tales of a Bygone Chess Era Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmanuel Lasker: Second World Chess Champion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gelfand-Anand 2012: Match for the World Chess Championship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlekhine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hague-Moscow 1948: Match/Tournament for the World Chess Championship Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vienna 1922 Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Summary of David Edmonds & John Eidinow's Bobby Fischer Goes to War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor Friends & Colleagues: Volume 1: Profession - Chess Coach Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wilhelm Steinitz: 1st World Chess Champion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of Chess: From Chaturanga to the Present Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of Chess Combination Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rare and Ruthless Reshevsky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBotvinnik: 100 Selected Games Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life & Games of Vasily Smyslov: Volume 1: The Early Years 1921-1948 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Human Comedy of Chess: A Grandmaster's Chronicles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Risk & Bluff in Chess: The Art of Taking Calculated Risks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devoted to Chess: The Creative Heritage of Yuri Razuvaev Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Chess Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Max Euwe: Fifth World Chess Champion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlexander Alekhine: Fourth World Chess Champion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Chess Artist: Genius, Obsession, and the World's Oldest Game Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Zone: The Greatest Winning Streaks in Chess History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDraw!: The Art of the Half-Point in Chess Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Masters of the Chessboard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5London 1922 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Creating Russophobia: From the Great Religious Schism to Anti-Putin Hysteria Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
Asian History For You
Voices from Chernobyl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'brainwashing' in China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Yakuza: life and death in the Japanese underworld Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Caste (Oprah's Book Club): by Isabel Wilkerson - The Origins of Our Discontents - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism: A Ghost Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Beast So Fierce: The Terrifying True Story of the Champawat Tiger, the Deadliest Man-Eater in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNatasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962—1976 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The KGB Plays Chess
Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
4/5
5 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The KGB Plays Chess - Boris Gulko
F\ ^ book_preview_excerpt.html \˲Ǒ^M4v̠ؒDCRb2] 0=ɜU
RH Y'O>xx>|]lO;_uN}d>OOŻU ]:TmBnm?4bǍ_}S?Ħk
P
]~+6c;t'Pܺ(;tkOEKW~Uڝ[dK)(aYL%.`Pa xK'tHxn&3l9G7
Aٔ?t]nCMc̓?*갧‡| eݷ|ޯ=^-r:wdźmswӑ0^aWc5/\wem0q,]-1oSg^HrwqF~i9i7PLiҌP
34"h7p* SBzCQ[%Â:AZ9u\1|<`ޕhW7SpyU6]=ϧa>
bUA3