@Marignon: Your assertion about travel restrictions for scientists from the U.S. is incorrect.
There are export restrictions for certain classes of encryption technology still in place, but knowledge of these encryption technologies does not require your travel to be restricted.
Boris Gulko was a psychologist! He was not allowed to leave the USSR when he applied in 1977 becausehe was the defending chess champion of the SovietUnion. Gulko was not a clinical psychologist either, so he had not State secrets. He states his reason for wanting to leave the USSR was the pervasive anti-semitism and because he had become an anti-communist dissident.
Fischer wasn't a nutcase at all- he was perfectly sane until the day he died. He never said anything that would make me doubt his sanity, and I've watched all videos of him.
"I'm very concerned because I think the Jews want to drive the elephants to extinction because the trunk of an elephant reminds them of an uncircumcised penis. I'm absolutely serious about that... Jews are sick, they're mental cases."
Radio Interview, July 6 2001
There are plenty of Fischer topics to post speculation about his mental state. This topic is about Karpov's relationship and use of the KGB to help achieve his goals, and those of the Soviet state.
Regarding Petra Leeuwerik ... she had been a student in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in 1945, as a Swiss national, at the age of 20, when she was accusedof espionage activities. She was sent to the USSR and tried by a military court. She was convicted and sentenced to 10 years at the gulag in Vorkuta
Leeuwerik never broke, confessed, or collaborated with the Soviets during her incarceration. During the 1978 match, "to the paranoid KGB, [her assistance to Korchnoi] looked like an operation organized by Western security services - an attempt to deal a blow to the USSR through the 'utilization of the female agent network'."
Regarding Petra Leeuwerik ... she had been a student in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in 1945, as a Swiss national, at the age of 20, when she was accusedof espionage activities. She was sent to the USSR and tried by a military court. She was convicted and sentenced to 10 years at the gulag in Vorkuta
Yes, her activity shows that she was a spy and an active CIA agent for all her life. The sentence was 100% justified.
She was assigned to Korchnoi to use him as a pawn in the cold war.
Boris Gulko was a psychologist! He was not allowed to leave the USSR when he applied in 1977 becausehe was the defending chess champion of the SovietUnion. Gulko was not a clinical psychologist either, so he had not State secrets. He states his reason for wanting to leave the USSR was the pervasive anti-semitism and because he had become an anti-communist dissident.
Jamie, the reason for the refuse was just that: access to classified information. Maybe it was connected with Akhsharumova, I don't remember clearly now.
Otherwise they would legally leave USSR, like Shamkovich, Sosonko and Murey did.
Gulko was engaged in dissident activity only some years after he was refused to leave.
People that know him say that he decided to leave after he was not given a larger appartment (in 1978 after he was in the Olympic team). I should remind here that in the USSR the accododation was not bought but distributed by the state correspondingly to the family size and personal achievements.
Oh, please Yuri! Does anyone possibly believe that a 20-year old, Austrian-born Swiss girl (who had fled the Nazos), and who had returned to occupied Vienna to study, was really an OSS/CIA agent???
http://www.chess.com/blog/Spektrowski/anatoly-karpovs-2007-ukrainian-tv-interview
Is it possible for you two to go to some restaurant and just sit there, reminiscing about the old times?
One on one - probably not, but in a company... We once played in one tournament in Argentina and would often sit at the same table. Though his current wife is just insufferable. Petra Leeuwerik spent quite a few years in our Gulag system, and, to be honest, she was there for a reason: she was an American spy.
Are you serious?
Yes, completely. She was caught in Wien, Austria. She didn't work for too long: got caught on the third day, or so. She was imprisoned in Vladimir, then sent to the Vorkuta camp, so...
...she "loves" Russia with all her heart, doesn't she?
Something like that.
and we know that you know the bears have played on the balalaika
Yuri - are you really quoting Anatoly Karpov (of the KGB) as your authoritative source. He would not be born for over five years after she was tried and imprisoned. His testimony is hearsay, at best, and rumor-mongering at worst. She was tried by the Soviet military, denied a proper legal defense, and was not afforded access to her family or Swiss diplomats. The term in English is, "She was railroaded." During the late 70's and through 1983, she and Viktor were subject to a viscious disinformation and propaganda campaign ochestrated by the KGB. If you wish to acknowledge Karpov as a KGB mouthpiece, then the story he tells makes sense.
Certainly there's no more reason to take Karpov at his word than there is Korchnoi. Perhaps she was an American spy, it's not impossible, but Karpov saying so doesn't prove it.
I tried to find her full biography yesterday (or any detailed narrative of her life), but did not succeed. Two different stories (was she spying in Leipzig or Wien?) also do not help to establish the truth.
No matter what happened in 1946, in 1978 she was a full-grown CIA operative, taking any chance to attack the USSR.
Spy-Game.
In 1978 and 1981, Karpov had a huge entourage of support personnel for the World Championship matches outside of the USSR. Many were from state security services, to both make sure Karpov got no ideas about defecting, but more importantly, to adversely effect Korchnoi on and off the board.
Fischer was raised by a Jewish woman. If you knew enough about Judaism, you might understand that this alone qualifies you as Jewish according to Jewish traditions. This is particularly true of the Orthodox Jewish traditions, but also true of the Conservative tradition. It's less true of Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist, but the thread of 'the tribe' and the 'promised people' is still there.
Still, it is obvious that he disavowed his heritage.
Listening to his rather bizarre anti-semetic rants should be enough to convince you that he was nuts, regardless of his heritage. His paranoia, not only of Jewish people but of the United States when he left the U.S. were quite simply absurd. (Well, some of his paranoia related to the U.S. were probably not entirely unfounded; he was wanted in the U.S. for tax evasion and trade sanctions violations).
In 1978 and 1981, Karpov had a huge entourage of support personnel for the World Championship matches outside of the USSR. Many were from state security services, to both make sure Karpov got no ideas about defecting, but more importantly, to adversely effect Korchnoi on and off the board.
So Ed Edmondson was the key figure in making Bobby Fischer to play and win. Where is your article "Bobby of the CIA"?
I can say that my own parents are scientists and they do not have the right to go abroad even for tourism - only on a business mission.
If they'd wished to emigrate - they would not have been allowed to do so - just like Gulko - even nowadays.
I'm more than sure that there are hundreds of thousands of such people in the USA.