"There are several games that are memorable. Of course, as I said previously, this also depends on who you play with. That's a fact. In this respect, I rank highly the winning game I played against Mikhail Tal. But I guess the best game I played, which other great grandmasters appreciated, was one with Viktor Korchnoi, which I did not win. I played in the first round against the Russians at the Nice Olympiad in 1974. I to totally outplayed him. It was a precisely played game, and it worked out for me. I was in a completely winnable position, which I think anyone would have won, when he wanted to give up. But unfortunately at that very moment, I made my last move before the time check because I didn't want to break the game. This cost me the extra pawn I had, and then I couldn't win it anymore. Even though it didn't have a winning ending, it was probably my best played game."
"We played America in the last game of the Olympiad [in Nice, 1974]. [Lubomír] Kaválek played [for America] and tied with [Vlastimil] Hort. I played with Robert [Eugene] Byrne, and I quit the game. We didn't play our best at that Olympiad. We came sixth or seventh. The Americans were vying for a medal and their biggest opponent was Bulgaria, who had a chance of a lifetime to win a medal. They were motivated - every member of the Bulgarian team was promised a car for a medal. Incidentally, my game with Robert Byrne was the deciding factor in whether the Americans or the Bulgarians would come third. If I won the game, the Bulgarians would come third. I did not win the game and it ended in a draw. The Bulgarians accused me of selling the game, which was complete nonsense because I was playing an opponent who had played a candidates' tournament and it would have been a great honour for me to have won the game with him. But the Bulgarians were devastated that they had lost [the cars], so they sent their conjecture on and it went around in all circles and finally it got to [counterintelligence circles]. I had a lot of trouble with that."
"Jaroslav Šajta was the chairman of the chess association at the time; ranking very high politically. He chaired the party cell within the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Chess Federation. He was a scoundrel who denounced us chess players in various ways, usually reporting what happened at chess tournaments and so on. It was from the Chess Olympiad in Nice that he sent a denunciation against me, saying I was looking to get drugs for Honza Smejkal who faced huge [health] problems and needed a medicine which I couldn't get in France at that time. [Lubomír] Kaválek was there, by then (1974) playing for America, and he said: 'My mother is a nurse in Switzerland.' She had left post-1968. 'She might get the cure.' She actually got it and sent it from Switzerland to Nice, France. The medicine eventually made its way to Honza Smejkal in Prague, and helped and cured him. He had a big problem at that time and [the medicine] was the only option. The chairman of the chess federation Šajta then wrote a report, accusing me of trafficking a drug from an émigré to Prague. That was so unbelievable."
"They said I was a good strategist. I think I said that when I talked to Luboš Kaválek. Hho said I was better at strategy, but he played chess differently, focusing on tactics. That was the point. I was more impressed with the content of strategy, the view of chess through it was more robust."
Chess Grandmaster and World Champion Vlastimil Jansa was born in Nová Dubeč near Prague on 27 November 1942. He has been playing chess since age seven. He completed the Nuclear Physics High School in Prague and then the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Charles University (FTVS UK). From 1967 on, he was a Dukla Praha chess coach and then the chief coach and methodologist with the Czechoslovak People’s Army (ČSLA). This is where, in 1972, the Military Counterintelligence registered him as a confidant, and he was listed as a Military Counterintelligence (VKR) agent from the mid-1980s until 1989. He won the chess grandmaster title at an international tournament in Amsterdam in 1974. During his career, he took part in more than 20 Olympiads. He was the coach of the Luxembourg national chess team for 19 years. He authored several books on chess. At age 76, he became a senior world champion. He was inducted into the Coaching Hall of Fame of the Czech Olympic Committee (COC) in 2025. He was living in Prague at the time of filming for Memory of Nation in 2025.
Vlastimil Jansa (far left, bottom row) with other members of the Dukla Praha football team. Squatting next to him, left to right: Josef Masopust, ??, Josef Trojan and Rudolf Kučera. Standing above them, Jiří Čadek centre and Václav Pavlík is to the right ofhim
Vlastimil Jansa (far left, bottom row) with other members of the Dukla Praha football team. Squatting next to him, left to right: Josef Masopust, ??, Josef Trojan and Rudolf Kučera. Standing above them, Jiří Čadek centre and Václav Pavlík is to the right ofhim
Vlastimil Jansa (second left) and William Lombardy (next to the right) at the Mladá fronta editorial office; Lombardy's autograph is in the upper right corner
Vlastimil Jansa (second left) and William Lombardy (next to the right) at the Mladá fronta editorial office; Lombardy's autograph is in the upper right corner
2nd place at the 1982 Chess Olympiad in Lucerne, left to right: Ľubomír Ftáčnik, Vlastimil Hort, Jan Smejkal, Vlastimil Jansa, Jan Ambrož and Ján Plachetka
2nd place at the 1982 Chess Olympiad in Lucerne, left to right: Ľubomír Ftáčnik, Vlastimil Hort, Jan Smejkal, Vlastimil Jansa, Jan Ambrož and Ján Plachetka
