The KGB Plays Chess

The KGB Plays Chess

Author: Yuri Felshtinsky

Publisher: SCB Distributors

Published: 2010-09-15

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1936490013

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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.


Book Synopsis The KGB Plays Chess by : Yuri Felshtinsky

Download or read book The KGB Plays Chess written by Yuri Felshtinsky and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

King's Gambit

King's Gambit

Author: Paul Hoffman

Publisher: Hachette Books

Published: 2007-09-11

Total Pages: 726

ISBN-13: 1401389562

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As a young man, Paul Hoffman was a brilliant chess player . . . until the pressures of competition drove him to the brink of madness. In King's Gambit, he interweaves a gripping overview of the history of the game and an in-depth look at the state of modern chess into the story of his own attempt to get his game back up to master level -- without losing his mind. It's also a father and son story, as Hoffman grapples with the bizarre legacy of his own dad, who haunts Hoffman's game and life.


Book Synopsis King's Gambit by : Paul Hoffman

Download or read book King's Gambit written by Paul Hoffman and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2007-09-11 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a young man, Paul Hoffman was a brilliant chess player . . . until the pressures of competition drove him to the brink of madness. In King's Gambit, he interweaves a gripping overview of the history of the game and an in-depth look at the state of modern chess into the story of his own attempt to get his game back up to master level -- without losing his mind. It's also a father and son story, as Hoffman grapples with the bizarre legacy of his own dad, who haunts Hoffman's game and life.

Chessdon

Chessdon

Author: Don Schultz

Publisher:

Published: 2016-01-18

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 9784871877558

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Memoirs of a Chess Official, organizer and member of the FIDE Executive Board who participated in many controversial chess events including the matches by Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov for the World Chess Championships. The insider story of these important chess events.


Book Synopsis Chessdon by : Don Schultz

Download or read book Chessdon written by Don Schultz and published by . This book was released on 2016-01-18 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memoirs of a Chess Official, organizer and member of the FIDE Executive Board who participated in many controversial chess events including the matches by Fischer, Karpov and Kasparov for the World Chess Championships. The insider story of these important chess events.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Author: David Edmonds

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780571214112

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Since 1948, the USSR had dominated the World Chess Championships - evidence, Moscow claimed, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But then came Bobby Fischer. A dysfunctional genius, Fischer was uniquely equipped to take on the Soviets. His every waking hour was devoted to the game. He had steamrollered all opposition to reach the championship. When he became increasingly volatile, Henry Kissinger phoned him, urging Fischer to fight for his country. Against him was Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in. Drawing upon unpublished Soviet and US records, this is a fascinating story of history, politics and chess. And at its core it is a human tragedy, a story of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair.


Book Synopsis Bobby Fischer Goes to War by : David Edmonds

Download or read book Bobby Fischer Goes to War written by David Edmonds and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1948, the USSR had dominated the World Chess Championships - evidence, Moscow claimed, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But then came Bobby Fischer. A dysfunctional genius, Fischer was uniquely equipped to take on the Soviets. His every waking hour was devoted to the game. He had steamrollered all opposition to reach the championship. When he became increasingly volatile, Henry Kissinger phoned him, urging Fischer to fight for his country. Against him was Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in. Drawing upon unpublished Soviet and US records, this is a fascinating story of history, politics and chess. And at its core it is a human tragedy, a story of brilliance and triumph, hubris and despair.

Players and Pawns

Players and Pawns

Author: Gary Alan Fine

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 022626498X

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A chess match seems about as solitary an endeavor as there is in sports: two minds, on their own, in fierce opposition. But is this the case? Inevitably these two minds are in dialogue, and perhaps might be better understood as partners in play. And surrounding that one-on-one contest is a community life that can be as dramatic and intense as the across-the-board confrontation. Gary Alan Fine has spent years immersed in several communities of amateur and professional chess players—children and adults—and inPlayers and Pawns he takes readers deep inside these worlds, revealing a complex, brilliant, feisty world of commitment and conflict. Opening with a close look at a routine, yet financially troubled, tournament in Atlantic City, Fine carries us from planning and setup through the climactic final day's match-ups between the weekend's top players, introducing us along the way to countless players and their relationships to the game. At tournaments like that one, as well as in locales as diverse as collegiate matches and cash games in Manhattan's Washington Square Park, players find themselves part of what Fine terms a “soft community,” an open, welcoming space built on their shared commitment to the game. Within that community, chess players find both support and challenges, all amid a shared interest in and love of the long-standing traditions of the game, traditions that help chess players build a communal identity. Full of idiosyncratic characters and dramatic gameplay, Players and Pawns is a richly analytical celebration of the ever-fascinating world of competitive chess.


Book Synopsis Players and Pawns by : Gary Alan Fine

Download or read book Players and Pawns written by Gary Alan Fine and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A chess match seems about as solitary an endeavor as there is in sports: two minds, on their own, in fierce opposition. But is this the case? Inevitably these two minds are in dialogue, and perhaps might be better understood as partners in play. And surrounding that one-on-one contest is a community life that can be as dramatic and intense as the across-the-board confrontation. Gary Alan Fine has spent years immersed in several communities of amateur and professional chess players—children and adults—and inPlayers and Pawns he takes readers deep inside these worlds, revealing a complex, brilliant, feisty world of commitment and conflict. Opening with a close look at a routine, yet financially troubled, tournament in Atlantic City, Fine carries us from planning and setup through the climactic final day's match-ups between the weekend's top players, introducing us along the way to countless players and their relationships to the game. At tournaments like that one, as well as in locales as diverse as collegiate matches and cash games in Manhattan's Washington Square Park, players find themselves part of what Fine terms a “soft community,” an open, welcoming space built on their shared commitment to the game. Within that community, chess players find both support and challenges, all amid a shared interest in and love of the long-standing traditions of the game, traditions that help chess players build a communal identity. Full of idiosyncratic characters and dramatic gameplay, Players and Pawns is a richly analytical celebration of the ever-fascinating world of competitive chess.

Chess Duels

Chess Duels

Author: Yasser Seirawan

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781857445879

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He describes and analyses, in depth, his most memorable encounters-both famous victories and painful defeats, against the best chess players of the last 50 years. --


Book Synopsis Chess Duels by : Yasser Seirawan

Download or read book Chess Duels written by Yasser Seirawan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He describes and analyses, in depth, his most memorable encounters-both famous victories and painful defeats, against the best chess players of the last 50 years. --

In the Labyrinth of the KGB

In the Labyrinth of the KGB

Author: Olga Bertelsen

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-02-15

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1793608938

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2024 Winner, Kjetil Hatlebrekke Memorial Book Prize, King's College Centre for the Study of Intelligence This book focuses on the generation of the sixties and seventies in Kharkiv, Soviet Ukraine, a milieu of writers who lived through the Thaw and the processes of de-Stalinization and re-Stalinization. Special attention is paid to KGB operations against what came to be known as the dissident milieu, and the interaction of Ukrainians, Jews, and Russians in the movement, their persona friendships, formal and informal interactions, and the ways they dealt with repression and arrests. This study demonstrates that the KGB unintentionally facilitated the transnational and intercultural links among the Kharkiv multi-ethnic community of writers and their mutual enrichment. Post-Khrushchev Kharkiv is analyzed as a political space and a place of state violence aimed at combating Ukrainian nationalism and Zionism, two major targets in the 1960s–1970s. Despite their various cultural and social backgrounds, the Kharkiv literati might be identified as a distinct bohemian group possessing shared aesthetic and political values that emerged as the result of de-Stalinization under Khrushchev. Archival documents, diaries, and memoirs suggest that the 1960s–1970s was a period of intense KGB operations, “active measures” designed to disrupt a community of intellectuals and to fragment friendships, bonds, and support among Ukrainians, Russians, and Jews along ethnic lines domestically and abroad.


Book Synopsis In the Labyrinth of the KGB by : Olga Bertelsen

Download or read book In the Labyrinth of the KGB written by Olga Bertelsen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2024 Winner, Kjetil Hatlebrekke Memorial Book Prize, King's College Centre for the Study of Intelligence This book focuses on the generation of the sixties and seventies in Kharkiv, Soviet Ukraine, a milieu of writers who lived through the Thaw and the processes of de-Stalinization and re-Stalinization. Special attention is paid to KGB operations against what came to be known as the dissident milieu, and the interaction of Ukrainians, Jews, and Russians in the movement, their persona friendships, formal and informal interactions, and the ways they dealt with repression and arrests. This study demonstrates that the KGB unintentionally facilitated the transnational and intercultural links among the Kharkiv multi-ethnic community of writers and their mutual enrichment. Post-Khrushchev Kharkiv is analyzed as a political space and a place of state violence aimed at combating Ukrainian nationalism and Zionism, two major targets in the 1960s–1970s. Despite their various cultural and social backgrounds, the Kharkiv literati might be identified as a distinct bohemian group possessing shared aesthetic and political values that emerged as the result of de-Stalinization under Khrushchev. Archival documents, diaries, and memoirs suggest that the 1960s–1970s was a period of intense KGB operations, “active measures” designed to disrupt a community of intellectuals and to fragment friendships, bonds, and support among Ukrainians, Russians, and Jews along ethnic lines domestically and abroad.

White King and Red Queen

White King and Red Queen

Author: Daniel Johnson

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780547133379

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Daniel Johnson--journalist, scholar, and chess enthusiast--is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination.


Book Synopsis White King and Red Queen by : Daniel Johnson

Download or read book White King and Red Queen written by Daniel Johnson and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daniel Johnson--journalist, scholar, and chess enthusiast--is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination.

The Big Book of World Chess Championships

The Big Book of World Chess Championships

Author: Andre Schulz

Publisher: New In Chess

Published: 2016-05-11

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 905691636X

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Wilhelm Steinitz, the winner of the first official World Chess Championship in 1886, would have rubbed his eyes in disbelieve if he could have seen how popular chess is today. With millions of players all around the world, live internet transmissions of major and minor competitions, and educational programs in thousands of schools, chess has truly become a global passion. And what would Steinitz, who had financial problems his whole life and died in poverty, have thought of the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen, who became a multi-millionaire in his early twenties just by playing great chess? The history of the World Chess Championship reflects these enormous changes, and Andre Schulz tells the stories of the title fights in fascinating detail: the historical and social backgrounds, the prize money and the rules, the seconds and other helpers, and the psychological wars on and off the board. Relive the magic of Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Bobby Fischer and the others! Andre Schulz has selected one defining game from each championship, and he explains the moves of the Champions in a way that is easily accessible for amateur players. This is a book that no true chess lover wants to miss.


Book Synopsis The Big Book of World Chess Championships by : Andre Schulz

Download or read book The Big Book of World Chess Championships written by Andre Schulz and published by New In Chess. This book was released on 2016-05-11 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wilhelm Steinitz, the winner of the first official World Chess Championship in 1886, would have rubbed his eyes in disbelieve if he could have seen how popular chess is today. With millions of players all around the world, live internet transmissions of major and minor competitions, and educational programs in thousands of schools, chess has truly become a global passion. And what would Steinitz, who had financial problems his whole life and died in poverty, have thought of the current world champion, Magnus Carlsen, who became a multi-millionaire in his early twenties just by playing great chess? The history of the World Chess Championship reflects these enormous changes, and Andre Schulz tells the stories of the title fights in fascinating detail: the historical and social backgrounds, the prize money and the rules, the seconds and other helpers, and the psychological wars on and off the board. Relive the magic of Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Bobby Fischer and the others! Andre Schulz has selected one defining game from each championship, and he explains the moves of the Champions in a way that is easily accessible for amateur players. This is a book that no true chess lover wants to miss.

Lessons with a Grandmaster III

Lessons with a Grandmaster III

Author: Boris Gulko

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781781941959

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This is the third book in the highly acclaimed Lessons with a Grandmaster series. In this volume Gulko and Sneed focus on both strategic and tactical ideas, and how to successfully combine the two parts over the board.


Book Synopsis Lessons with a Grandmaster III by : Boris Gulko

Download or read book Lessons with a Grandmaster III written by Boris Gulko and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the third book in the highly acclaimed Lessons with a Grandmaster series. In this volume Gulko and Sneed focus on both strategic and tactical ideas, and how to successfully combine the two parts over the board.