"Our Ambassador Has Arrived."

Anatoly Valkov, Soviet Ambassador to Thailand

This is the second time I've thought about one particular exchange in the Broadway script for Chess.

MOLOKOV: Our ambassador has arrived.

ANATOLY: Our ambassador?

MOLOKOV: Didn't I tell you? He's asked to play a single game against the world's Champion.

ANATOLY: Tonight? No, Molokov -

MOLOKOV: He went to university with the First Secretary. You have no choice.

This is a nice exchange, dramatically, which sets up the context for "Where I Want to Be": Anatoly, despite his success, is at the whim of people who have power over his life and actions. (It also sets up a neat parallel with the US Secretary of State, George Shultz, who one might think Nelson used as a deliberate punchline in the second act.) I've already analyzed Molokov saying "First Secretary" - clearly not what a Russian would say in this context. But I found it interesting that the ambassador to Thailand would be mentioned.

First, let's establish a few ground facts. The Soviet ambassador to Thailand in 1988, Anatoly Valkov (seen above in the picture, taken from here), definitely didn't go to university with the First Secretary. Gorbachev went to Moscow State University, and Valkov to the prestigious Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. His predecessor, Valentin Kasatkin, is also not recorded as having attended Moscow State University. So it's very unlikely to actually have a college buddy of Gorby as your ambassador. Still, you could change the line to "He's a friend of Gorbachev. You have no choice."

It's also worth noting that the assignment to Thailand was in no way a backwater assignment. Kasatkin and Valkov were accomplished and decorated diplomats, and they were also assigned to the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a regional growth initiative.

All of this leads us to the fun part: espionage.

Back in 1983, a Soviet trade official named Victor Baryshev was arrested for spying by the Thai government. According to the Washington Post:

Thai intelligence sources were quoted as saying at the time that up to half the approximately 100 Soviet officials attached to the embassy and Soviet trade missions, international organizations, transport companies and news agencies in Bangkok were actually KGB or GRU spies.

This would fit the general pattern in Soviet diplomacy, where embassies doubled as launching points for espionage. We're plainly meant to read Molokov as being in the KGB, even though Freddie is the only character to name the agency, and it makes sense that he could be connected to the ambassador.

The Washington Post article, from 1984, includes a fascinating line from a letter in Asiaweek to the Russians: "Thailand is rather a hostile place for the KGB." This makes the plot of Chess, which involves KGB intrigue in Bangkok in every version other than Stockholm, take on an extra layer.

Through the period from 1980 to 1988, Thailand was under the control of Prem Tinsulanonda, a staunch royalist and general who had "converted" himself into the role of Prime Minister. In August 1988, Prem was succeeded by Chatichai Choonhavan, a politician overthrown in a 1991 coup d'etat. The overall attitude of Thailand to the USSR was cautious but improving - they wanted to trade but were leery of Soviet military involvement with Vietnam and Cambodia. In 1987, there were bilateral visits between Thailand and the USSR by officials from both countries.

What goes down in Chess makes perfect sense given the actual pattern of how the KGB and GRU (the Russian equivalent of the CIA) sent agents around the world. It seems fitting that, to illustrate Anatoly being under the thumb of people with hidden agendas, he would be asked to play the ambassador - just not one who went to university with Gorbachev.