The World Champion

The World Champion

145 mins | Drama | Dec. 30, 2021

Some sporting victories are about more than just claiming a title. Some of them go down in history. The film follows the most dramatic and legendary showdown in the history of chess – the match between Anatoly Karpov, then world champion, and Viktor Korchnoi, a recent emigrant from the USSR. In this battle between two outstanding chess players, a duel of personalities under immense psychological pressure, the stakes are incomprehensibly high.

The World Champion

145 mins | Drama | Dec. 30, 2021

The World Champion
Some sporting victories are about more than just claiming a title. Some of them go down in history. The film follows the most dramatic and legendary showdown in the history of chess – the match between Anatoly Karpov, then world champion, and Viktor Korchnoi, a recent emigrant from the USSR. In this battle between two outstanding chess players, a duel of personalities under immense psychological pressure, the stakes are incomprehensibly high.
IMDb rating 6.3
Producers Central Partnership, Three T Productions, Russia 1, Cinema Fund, KIT Film Studio
Original title Чемпион мира
Directors Ekaterina Molochnaya, Alexey Sidorov
Writers Alexey Sidorov

Cast

Konstantin Khabenskiy

as Korchnoi

Ivan Yankovsky

as Karpov

Victor Dobronravov

as Sergey Maksimov

Viktor Sukhorukov

as Viktor Baturinskiy

Diana Pozharskaya

as Veronika

Anatoly Kot

as Igor Zaytsev

Mikhail Troynik

as Yuriy Balashov

Aleksandr Filippenko

as Leonid Brezhnev

Larisa Shakhvorostova

as Karpov's mother

Anton Bogdanov

as Vasiliy Brykin

Dmitriy Miller

as Sevastyanov

Zurab Miminoshvili

as Guladze

David Brodsky

as Boris Zelenin

Dmitri Iosifov

as Mikhail Tal

Arseny Topolaga

as Pavel

Denis Kotov

as Reporter

Anton Lunin

as Wedding photographer

Irina Zamula

as French reporter

Vartan Torosyan

as Announcer's helper

Alena Kim

as Marisol

Leon Avtaev

as Chess player

Fyodor Dobronravov

as Karpov's father

Vladimir Zaytsev

as Aranovich

Igor Khripunov

as Philippov

Mark Noble

as Schmid

Josefin Asplund

as Paola

Peter Seaton-Clark

as Gofdrey

Junsuke Kinoshita

as Kampomanes

Vladimir Khalturin

as Spasskiy

Pekka Strang

as Fischer

Daniyar Alshinov

as Captain Romeo

Armen Ananikyan

as Petrosyan

Vladimir Andreyev

as Luzhniki announcer

Sesil Plezhe

as Press room journalist

Sergey Genkin

as Roommate

Pyotr Vins

as Murei Yakov

Alexandr Gorelov

as Polugaevskiy

Igor Zakharov

as Grigoriy Naumovich

Anastasiya Imamova

as Accountant

Mikhail Kalinichev

as Zlatoust audience

Grant Kagramanyan

as Chess player

Nikolay Drozdovsky

as Korchnoi's parapsychologist

Ivan Perković

as Fragella

Vladimir Tashlykov

as Professor Melnikov

Evgeny Chupin

as Main grandmaster

Sergey Shokolov

as Brezhnev's referent

Radoje Čupić

as Kazhic

Grant Amiryan

as Bit part