[...]
Fischer sent him a cable congratulating
him on his defection in 1976.

And Korchnoi sent Fischer a cable congratulating him on
his defection in 1992.


In a statement to the press shortly after his defection, Korchnoi
expressed his pleasure in knowing the predicament Soviet authorities
will face when forced to report his results in the Candidates Matches
next year. That is the time, he noted, when the millions of Russian
chess players will learn of his defection."

Nonsense. Korchnoi's defection occurred while the Interzonal in Biel
was going on. I was there, playing in a side tournament, and
remember hearing the news, which spread like wild fire before it ever
hit the newspapers.
The Russian players Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal, Geller and Gulko and
the Russian crowd of seconds and functionaries heard of
the defection on the day it happened. Considering how efficiently
information spread by word of mouth in those days in the USSR,
every Russian chess player will have known about it the day
after all these people returned from Biel.