and Other Excursions
Chess: Kasparov v. Karpov
… Karpov, the ‘model Soviet’, sat through it all, glazed and devout, like a Futurist poster. And after his victory he obediently cabled Brezhnev, as Botvinnik had cabled Stalin in 1936 (‘Dear beloved teacher and leader …’)
Just before the 1978 Championship I interviewed Korchnoi in London, at the Savoy. At one point, twisting powerfully in his chair, he fell silent, and then grew dreamy. With some wistfulness he confessed that he despaired of ever bringing home, to people in the West, the crawling sliminess, the full squidgy horror, of Anatoly Karpov. ‘You know, in Russia we have a fish’, he said, ‘called a karp. A disgusting fish. You wouldn’t eat it. That’s what Karpov is.’ I said, ‘We’ve got that fish too. Called a carp.’ Korchnoi looked startled. ‘You have? … Good! Good!’
…
— Martin Amis