COLD WAR CHESSBOARD*

Game 6 of the World Chess Championship 1972
- interpreted by Thomas Krieg in 2013

(the clip on this site runs in an endless loop as a symbol of the never ending Cold War and the still existing, permanent, thermonuclear threat to the world)

Historical note: The World Chess Championship 1972 in Reykjavik, Island between the defending champion Boris Spassky and the American Bobby Fischer has been dubbed the Match of the Century. As former Chess Grandmaster Raymond Keene put it: "Inevitably a clash within representatives of Russian and American might became overladen with symbolic and political overtones, which attracted the glare of the world media." The expectations on Spassky were enormous because for the Soviets, chess was part of the political system. Game 6 (of 21), which Fischer won, is seen as a turning point within the tournament and is widley regarded as one of the most powerful chess games in the history of the game. Fischer's overall victory of the tournament ended 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Title. The highly explosive political time in 1972, at the hight of the Cold War, only contributed to the brisance.

*In 2014 President Barak Obama used the phrase "Cold War Chessboard" related to Russia.