* chessbug@chessbug.com

“Victor the terrible,” as they call him, has his saying on every subject in chess – openings, endgames, other grandmasters, FIDE, the Soviet-Union, history, chess organization, the quality of food in Havana, Cuba (not so good), and the contents of Karpov’s yogurt (cortisones). Is this the Korchnoi that we see in Chess is my Life or did he become softer with age? The Korchnoi of this new autobiography is sharp, energetic, and provocative. Buckle up and join him on a wild flight through chess history.

As a whole, Chess is my Life, is a rich, diverse, and has a high level of production. Korchnoi’s autobiography contains about 30-40 photographs, a CD with the 4280 games Korchnoi played until 2004 (PGN format, Chessbase reader included), and nine games (eight of which are annotated). When was the last time you read a book by a chess grandmaster where the writer makes 3 points out of 9 in the games he shows?! That only goes to show how unique Korchnoi is. Another unique and interesting feature of the book is a 10 page memoir, written by Korchnoi’s son, Igor. In this memoir, Igor tells the reader his experience from the years he spent in the USSR after the defection of his father, including the time he spent in jail. It is interesting and touching to see the difference in styles between the father and the son. While Victor writes boldly and with a sense of strong inner truth, Igor shows a great sensitivity and the ability to see things not only in black and white.

Yet the main part of the book belongs to the man who does see things in black and white, the man who divides people to good and bad, the man who sees others as either friends or enemies, Victor Korchnoi. At first, you may think that Korchnoi has a rather simplistic, egocentric view of life. Still, once you read the story of his childhood years in besieged Leningrad, you will think differently. After you read about the hardships he had to go through, as an individualistic person in a totalitarian regime you will find it harder to judge him. True, prior to his defection Korchnoi was a member of the Communist party, thus enjoying the good sides of the Communist regime. Another point about Korchnoi that can be controversial is the fact that he left his wife and son behind the iron curtain when he surprisingly decided to ask for asylum in the Netherlands and refused to go back to the USSR. One may criticize Korchnoi for leaving his family behind since it was his wife and son who had to take all the fire back home in Leningrad. Yet, this is what makes Korchnoi’s story so interesting. Victor the terrible does not try to picture himself as an angel but rather he gives a picture of a flesh and blood man who has lighter and darker sides. Korchnoi’s courage to expose himself, and not just sell himself, is the first mark of a good story.

Korchnoi is not a professional storyteller, which leads to some minor flaws in the book. At times he loses the main story in order to remark on a general chess subject. Diversions are not in themselves a drawback but one has to know how to interweave them smoothly into the main storyline, which Korchnoi at times neglects to do. Still, this is only a minor setback for the reader and at times these diversions give a familiar feeling to the reader, as if one has a live conversation with Korchnoi. If the book had been a real conversation I would have asked Korchnoi to tell me more about his personal life, especially about his relationship with Petra Leeuwerik. Korchnoi says that she was kidnapped from her homeland, Austria, by the Soviets when she was nineteen (page 127). This sounds most enigmatic, what were the circumstances? How did it end? Again, I think a “mainstream” writer would either tell more about the subject or leave it out of the book altogether but Korchnoi is not a “mainstream” writer. And who knows, maybe Korchnoi is so serious about the title of his book Chess is my Life that he mentions personal details only to explain later chess related events (in this case the choice of Petra as the head of his delegation in the 1978 match with Karpov).

Still, Even though every detail in Korchnoi’s story ultimately connects with chess it does not mean that the story is a dry description of a chess nerd. The opposite is true as you will read about psychology, parapsychology, encounters with the dead, American yogis in the Philippines, and Russian gangsters in Manhattan.

Apart from the fascinating story, I should mention the other components of this book, as they are very well done. The game annotations by Korchnoi are a masterpiece on their own. Despite the small number of annotated games, eight, there is a lot to learn from them, both in general chess understanding and in practical and psychological terms. Korchnoi lets you know how his weaknesses show in his games with Fischer, Botvinnik, and Kasparov. Very few are the grandmasters that will let you in on their weaknesses like Korchnoi does. The strategic comments on his game with Botvinnik will stay in my mind for a long time, and I would sum up and say that a well annotated game can be more productive than dozens of superficially annotated ones. 

Another item that is included with the book is a CD of all of Korchnoi’s games. The disc installs easily, and you can use it to follow the major games that Korchnoi is talking about with a Chessbase reader (which is also included). I enjoyed watching the games Korchnoi played with Petrosian during his career, and checking how their power relations changed with time (until 1963 Petrosian has a clear advantage over Korchnoi, then comes a dacade of roughly equal powers, and after 1973 the opposite is true, with Korchnoi taking the lead, their lifetime result, Blitz not included, is 35-34 for Korchnoi, if I calculated correctly). When you read the CD you can use the Fritz 5.32 kibitzer to help you analyze the games that you see. A very enjoyable feature and with 4280 games you can easily forget yourself, and lose to many hours of your free and not free time on these analyses, as happened to a very good friend of mine…

As I said before, all the great bonuses are only the topping on the main thing, Korchnoi’s telling of his chess career. Korchnoi honestly lets us in on the many moments of frustration he had in his slowly developing chess abilities, and slowly developing ideological conscience. On the other hand he shares with the reader the loss of some of his energy that he felt since 1985. In his words, “My chess life continued but there was a plank across which I could no longer jump.” (page 181) What a brave self assessment! In between the years of the slow journey to the top and the descent from the World championship cycle, arrives the dramatic climax of the book – Baguio 1978. The World championship match with Karpov reads like a thriller and although everybody knows the end result (6-5 for Karpov) you read it with the hidden hope that something will go differently than what you know happened. You can almost believe that history will change and Korchnoi will be the winner of the last game. Although history, naturally, cannot be changed the reading is still fascinating and you hear a captivating story of a man’s resistance against a whole nation.

Chess is my Life is an absorbing life story, an important document in chess history, and a lesson in chess and chess psychology. The positive sides of this book easily outnumber the negative ones. Obviously, you do not have to accept everything that Korchnoi says as the objective truth but it is the view point of one of chess greatest on chess history. If you have any interest in chess history or in exciting life stories of unique personalities, you will find a lot in this book. The bonus features and the hard cover make this book a great gift for your chess loving friends.

The Good Things:

·         Fascinating story told by one of the most unique voices in the chess world

·         Covers the greatest (and lowest) moments in chess history in the second half of the 20^th century

·          Includes eight wonderfully annotated games, a testimony by Korchnoi’s son, Photographs and a CD with all 4280 games Korchnoi played until 2004

·         Hard cover and top notch production

The Bad Things:

• Korchnoi is not a professional storyteller, subsequently he, at times, abruptly loses the thread of the plot and follows his own stream of thoughts until he goes back, with the same abruptness, to the main plot

• At times Korchnoi’s avoids going deeply into subjects that may be interesting for the reader, especially his relations with the two women in his life, Bella and Petra.

Quotes: “Then came my first meeting with Botvinnik. In a closed position he consistently outplayed me. Eight years were to pass, before I was able to grasp the subtlety of his strategic ideas.” 

“There, in Skopje, I involuntarily began going over in my mind the chain of my relations with Furman. How had it happened that, from apparently being a friend, he had been transformed into an open enemy? […] And now, I think, what if I had given him those 40 dollars. Then the entire history of Soviet and world chess could have changed…”

The Bottom Line: There is nobody like Korchnoi in the chess world and nothing like this book in the market. You do not have to accept everything Korchnoi says as the objective truth, but if you like chess history, you will enjoy every minute with this book.

Rating: 9.5/10

Review written by Chessbug.

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