About

The Final Boss Of Chess refers to a viral parody video in which a three-year-old chess prodigy on the Russian television show Luchshe Vseh is about to play a game with the show's host, Maksim Galkin, when Galkin says he can't play and has found a "much more suitable rival" for the boy. He then brings out grandmaster and former world champion Anatoly Karpov, to the boy's tearful surprise. In the parody video, Karpov enters to the "Vordt Of The Boreal Valley Theme" From Dark Souls III while Dark Souls HUD graphics appear on the screen, implying he's about to destroy the child.

Origin

On November 13th, 2016, Misha Osipov, a 3-year-old chess prodigy, appeared on the Russian television show Luchshe Vseh.^[1] The host, Maskim Galkin surprises Osipov by bringing out Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion Anatoly Karpov, and the two play a game (shown below).

On February 4th, 2021, YouTuber Daniyal Shahrokhian posted a parody which made Karpov look like an intimidating boss from Dark Souls coming to fight Osipov. The video gained over 6.4 million views (shown below).

Spread

On February 14th, 2021, YouTuber Dave reposted the video in higher definition, naming it "The Final Boss of Chess." The video gained over 11 million views (shown below).

The clip would be known as "The Final Boss of Chess" in subsequent parodies. On February 25th, user Meme Lair uploaded a similar video using a different clip of Osipov, gaining over 650,000 views (shown below, left). On March 5th, user Uitzil posted an animation of the viral parody clip, gaining over 1 million views (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References