Chess GamesReview of BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR by
David Edmonds and John Eidinow:
Although it seems somewhat dated now because of its
association with the Cold War, the epic chess
match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in
Reykjavik Iceland in the summer of 1972 was an important
milestone in the history of chess games.
This book is a thorough, inside look at this
match -- the first one to capture the attention
of the world outside of chess itself.
By now most people recognize that not only was
Bobby Fischer the commanding player on the
board, he was the one who manipulated the
chess games and conditions and made many
demands to favor him.
However, it's not clear that he was totally
unreasonable. Most of his complaints involved
noise -- from filming the matches, from
spectators etc.
I'm sensitive to noise myself, so I sympathize
with his desire to have as little noise as
possible while contemplating moves that
would be watched by people all over the
world.
The problem was that Iceland had agreed to
host the match in anticipation of making
money from it. So you can't blame them for
getting upset when Fischer insisted that the
games could not be filmed and that he wanted
the front rows of the seating area roped
off -- reducing their box office revenue.
As an American I can't help but feel some
renewed satisfaction that an American
out-manuevered the Soviets in international
competition -- especially since we know that
in many areas, such as gymnastics, Soviets
could be ruthlessly unfair to American
competitors.
On the other hand, as an American I don't
want to be represented by a crazy man who
admires Adolph Hitler.
There's little doubt that Boris Spassky
was the better personality of the two.
And it's also true that Spassky was not
a great representative for the U.S.S.R.
He was a Russian nationalist. That is,
he felt patriotic toward Mother Russia
and so on, but not toward the communist
government.
After Fischer shut out another Soviet
chess master during the playoffs in
contention for the right to challenge
the World Champion, that chess master
was crushed by the government, for
embarrassing them so much by losing
a chess match to an American without
winning a single game. The government
stopped paying him his chess income
plus denied him the right to play
the piano in concerts (he was a
great piano player as well as chess
master.)
Spassky was one of the few Soviet chess
players who dared to publicly defend
this man.
Later on, Spassky fell in love with a
French woman and managed to emigrate to
France and still retain Soviet citizenship
and continued to play in chess matches as
a Soviet. But that proves he was smart
enough to beat the system.
What's even more interesting about Fischer,
is what these authors discovered from old
FBI files. Fischer's mother was undoubtedly
a communist sympathizer at best, and probably
a Soviet agent. She and her husband lived
in the U.S.S.R. for several years during
the 1930s when Moscow was not exactly the
favorite expatriate city to live in.
So in retrospect the Fischer-Spassky match
was not so representative of the Cold War.
Except in one way. Despite all his eventual
craziness, Fischer showed that one American
dedicated to chess could break the
stranglehold on the game that the Soviets had
enjoyed since the end of World War 2.
Not because they were intrinsically better at
chess or because the communist mind is so
much better than the capitalist mind, but
because the government did support chess
throughout the country and did train and
support all children who showed talent at it.
Fischer's chess greatness was a product of
his own will power and determination.
Of course, in the end he went too far off the
deep end. He lost his world championship
title three years later because he made
demands that he must have known could not be
met.
He eventually had the fillings in his teeth
removed to prevent the Soviets from broadcasting
to him.
He did make a lot of money replaying Spassky
in 1992, but since it was in Serbia he was
eventually arrested for violating Americans
sanctions against commerce with that country
at that time.
Chess has passed Boris Spassky by but he
made a good living from it and is still
a recognized game.
