On October 6, 2022, the International Mugham Center in Baku hosted a screening of the film "World Champion" as part of the "Art Unites" project.
The organizers of the event are the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, the United Nations Association of Russia and the Peace and Harmony Charitable Foundation.
Anatoly Karpov, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, President of the Soviet Peace Fund, multiple world chess champion, and Elmira Shcherbakova, Deputy Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, President of the Peace and Harmony Charitable Foundation, spoke before the show.
Anatoly Evgenievich noted:
“It is difficult to show chess on the screen, because the main events are inside a person. Emotions, nerves, experiences are inside.”
Some victories in sports are more than just sports. They become part of history. This film is about the most dramatic and legendary duel in the history of chess: the match for the title of world champion between the current world champion Anatoly Karpov and the contender for this title, grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who emigrated from the USSR a few years before this match.
The clash of outstanding chess players is above all a duel of characters. Against a young genius who has barely risen to the chess Olympus, a child prodigy and an idealist - a seasoned fighter, obsessed and unpredictable, ready to fight with any weapon, chess is war for him. A virtuoso game, maximum psychological tension and a personal human confrontation between the two strongest chess players on the planet. The price of victory in this match is immeasurably high.
The audience received the film very warmly. The screening was attended by young chess players who asked questions to the hero of the film, took pictures with him, took an autograph. Truly, true art unites all of us.