Check it out. I saw someone say it’s a live-action sports anime and while I would never watch an anime I assume that’s an accurate description. You’d be shocked how exciting they can make chess look in this show.
Yea, I think overall I was really surprised the depiction of the USSR wasn’t outright negative. It did play the trope “soviets are cold and calculating, while americans are creative and smart”, but idk maybe that’s true when it comes to chess? Idk
spoiler of the ending
Although the ending was just laughably ridiculous for me. I’m supposed to believe that all of the USSR would cheer on an American woman coming to the USSR and beating their chess grandmaster during the 70’s??? Did sexism or patriotism not exist at all?
spoiler
I thought her popularity in the USSR was supposed to indicate a couple of things:
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The USSR was much more progressive in its attitudes towards women.
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The USSR was much more appreciative of intellectual achievement.
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The USSR had a better culture of sportsmanship.
It was in a way almost comically pro-USSR in the last episode, which I loved.
It is not true when it comes to chess lol. One of the most famously creative players of all time was Mikhail Tal.
A close relative of mine was actually friends with him. They were out drinking at a party one night and got completely wasted and Tal invited the relative over to his place to play a game of late night chess. It was a draw but the relative was always absolutely convinced afterwards that despite being almost black out drunk Tal was just playing along and let him end in a draw so as to not hurt his feelings.
Lol I’ve tried to play chess almost black out drunk, it is easier than you might expect, but definitely nowhere close to being a good idea lol
It’s somewhat true, as Soviet players were the best trained in openings and end games, so Americans would need to create imbalances and play sharp lines to have a chance. Tal was obviously an exception.
What about Spassky, Shirov, Topalov, and Kasparov then (granted, some of them reached their hey day after the fall of the USSR)? Tal wasn’t really an exception, it’s just a weird myth that doesn’t make that much sense. The US back then had like one guy, Bobby Fisher, that’s more of an exception than anything.
Although the ending was just laughably ridiculous for me. I’m supposed to believe that all of the USSR would cheer on an American woman coming to the USSR and beating their chess grandmaster during the 70’s??? Did sexism or patriotism not exist at all?
It happened though. I don’t remember his name but that was the exact same reaction some American pianist got when he won a piano competition there, and Boris Spassky gave a standing ovation to Bobby Fisher when he beat him. Like yeh, it wasn’t universal but that was part of the culture.
