The King’s Gambit
There’s a renaissance going on in the world of chess right now thanks to the mini series The Queen’s Gambit, writes Devlan Kruck. Perhaps it’s an exaggeration to claim chess is now in vogue as a consequence of this glamorous portrayal, but the chess playing stereotype of a socially awkward geek, who can probably read your mind, has been positively altered by this edgy and provocative drama. It depicts the chess player in a fascinating and colourful light. Indeed, the cinematography, performances, and costumes sprinkle stardust upon an otherwise monochrome game.
Now, it wouldn’t be talking out of turn to make a comparison with our chess playing brothers and sisters and the stamp collector, who is often cast as a fusty old introvert, overly intellectual, slightly boring, and certainly unfashionable; that is if we are over-generalising about a particular category of people. However, not wishing to jump on any bandwagons and purely to illustrate the injustice of such stereotypes, let us introduce philatelist Anatoly Karpov, a Russian Chess Grandmaster, who held the World Chess Champion title from 1975 to 1985, and then again for a further six years between 1993 and 1999.
In the world of chess Anatoly Karpov is quite simply a king of kings; Karpov is a superstar of the chess world. So, you’re probably wondering who would win if our orphaned chess prodigy, and crowned ‘Queen’ of the chess screen Beth Harmon, sat down and played the ‘King’ Anatoly Karpov.
Well, before we answer that question, let’s get two important details out in the open. Firstly, Anatoly Karpov is one of the greatest philatelists of the 21st century, having assembled world class collections of Belgium, Belgium and Congo, Imperial Russia and the Olympic Games. The former sold in four David Feldman SA auctions during 2011 and 2012 for over €6.5 million, and broke three world records for prices achieved in the proceedings. The second crucial detail we need to address is that a ‘gambit’ is a chess move played to ‘trip-up’ the opponent. If you fail to spot and adequately deal with the ‘gambit’ it’s almost certain you’ll lose.
It won’t surprise anyone to hear there’s a lot more to chess than a ‘gambit’, but the psychology behind such gamesmanship is actually part of the very fabric of the age-old game. For example, our king Karpov started playing chess at four and by the age of twelve he was heralded as a prospective future chess master, and accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik’s prestigious chess school. However, Karpov very nearly ‘tripped-up’ because no sooner had he taken his seat at the Botvinnik educational establishment than his tutor made the following observation: ‘The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there’s no future at all for him in this profession.’ A damning assessment.
History informs us that Botvinnik got it wrong. Or at least it would appear so. In fact, the chess megastar and mentor played a gambit of his own; the wily chess professor knew ‘his’ prodigy would either spot the trip-up and thus take evasive action, or he’d fall. Apparently Karpov’s understanding of chess theory back then was inadequate and Botvinnik thus prescribed the absorbing of chess knowledge via books. Karpov took these written stimulants and drank every drop of chess theory he could lay his hands upon. Overdosed on chess methodology and infused with chess theory Karpov, in 1966, became the youngest Soviet National Master in history at the age of just fifteen.
Our chess and philatelic master today has a private chess library which consists of 9,000 books, and a vast philatelic library about stamps and postal history as well. Karpov learnt early in his life that if you want to be the world’s greatest, then reading as much as you can about the subject will improve your game, as well as your gambit.
So who would win our imagined contest between Harmon and Karpov? It’s not so simple to envision the result. You see, unlike the simple facts that Anatoly Karpov is one of the greatest chess players of the 20th century, that he’s one of the greatest philatelists of the 21st century, and that The Queen’s Gambit depicts a bold, brave woman taking on the male-dominated chess world of the time, chess isn’t actually that black and white.
Anatoly Karpov’s early Belgium collection is now available to view online at: www. museumofphilately.com