Bobby Fischer Goes to War

by David Edmonds

  Olympic Games, 11, 232, 273, 275

  Operation Barbarossa, 34

  P

  Palace of Young Pioneers, 39–40

  Palsson, Asgeir, 215

  Palsson, Saemundur (Saemi-Rock), 214–17, 220, 223, 283–85, 295, 297–99, 309

  Panov, Vasili, 104, 107

  Paulus, Friedrich von, 114

  Pavlov, Sergei, 52, 90, 91, 99–104, 110, 112–14, 155, 156, 200, 261, 268, 275, 295, 301

  Penkovskii, Oleg, 58, 254

  Petrosian, Rona, 95

  Petrosian, Tigran, 2, 9, 13, 14, 17, 20, 22, 23, 28, 29, 38, 43–48, 83, 86, 87, 93–98, 105–7, 114, 116–17, 121, 124, 128, 131, 137, 141, 184, 200, 204, 205, 253, 286, 291, 298–300, 310

  Pfleger, Helmut, 81

  Philidor, François, 207

  Pichtchenko, Vladimir, 259

  Pirc, Vasja, 241

  Podgornii, Nikolai, 276

  Politburo, 51–52, 109, 292

  Political Uses of Madness, The(Ellsberg), 189

  Polugaievskii, Lev, 86, 300

  Ponomarenko, Yuri, 166

  Porter, Colin, 215

  Portisch, Lajos, 28, 86, 294, 295, 299

  Postnikov, V.I., 63, 117–18, 120

  Pravda,36, 88

  Prefab Sprout (pop group), 308–9

  “Problem of Paul Morphy, The” (Jones), 78

  Pushkin, Aleksandr, 35, 73

  R

  Rabell Mendez, N., 127

  Rahman, Mujibur, 227–28

  Rajcsanyi, Zita, 305

  random chess, 307

  Reek, Jan van, 38

  Rein, Yevgeni, 33–34, 60

  Reisman, Marty (the Needle), 20

  Reshevsky, Samuel, 7, 15, 17, 18, 20, 37, 82, 225

  Reykjavik, 1–3, 50, 122, 123, 124, 133, 138, 145, 192, 195, 239, 307

  Rice, Tim, 308

  Rodionov, B. I., 290

  Rogers, William, 143

  Rosenwald competition, 7–8

  Rossolimo (chess master), 225

  Rostropovich, Mstislav, 91

  Royal Game, The (Zweig), 74–75

  Rubinstein, Akiba, 78

  Rusakov, Konstantin, 276

  Rusk, Dean, 186

  Russell, Bertrand, 188

  Russian Mind, The (Hingley), 56–57

  Russian nationalism, 40, 55, 58, 60–61

  Russian Orthodox Church, 38, 60

  S

  Sadat, Anwar al-, 279

  Saga hotel, 133, 250, 282

  Saidy, Anthony, 135, 137

  Saidy, Fred, 137

  St. Petersburg. See Leningrad

  Sakharov, Andrei, 62

  Schmid, Lothar, 1, 30, 95, 96, 137, 138, 147, 157, 158, 161, 167–69, 171–75, 178–84, 192, 208–9, 210, 213, 219, 220, 236, 241, 243, 245–47, 266, 281, 282, 307, 311

  Schonberg, Harold, 73, 146

  Schultz, Don, 20, 23–24, 213, 226, 264

  Searching for Bobby Fischer (film), 306

  Shakhmatni Listok (chess magazine), 61

  Shchelokov, Nikolai, 292

  Shcherbacheva, General, 293

  Shcherbacheva, Marina, 293, 294

  Shelepin, Aleksandr, 102

  Sherwin, Jim, 6, 22, 30

  Short, Nigel, 308

  Sigfusson, Sigfus, 195, 286

  Sigurdsson, Halldor E., 138, 282 64 (chess magazine), 36, 95, 100, 103

  Skliarov, Yuri, 260–61

  Skoff, Frank, 213–14, 223

  Slater, James, 148–50, 283

  Smith, Ken (Top Hat), 130–31, 236

  Smith, Tommie, 11

  Smyslov, Vasili, 28, 37, 38, 41, 45, 62, 80, 86, 105, 107, 121, 184, 200, 287

  Sneider, Harry, 302

  Soltis, Andrew, 119

  Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr, 52, 90, 91

  Sophocles, 162

  Sosonko, Genna, 119

  Soviet Union, 5, 7, 17, 33–35, 50–58

  chess’s importance in, 8–9, 35–38, 50, 52–58, 89–92

  extra-chess intrigue and, 249–57, 261–67

  Fischer’s hatred of, 26

  ignorance of West, 55

  “Ours (Means) Better” policy, 55, 57

  press coverage of match, 274

  propaganda edifices, 38

  Spassky championship loss and, 287–92

  travel restrictions, 53–54, 258–59, 267, 293

  See also cold war; Communist Party, Soviet; Sports Committee

  Soviet Union Since the Fall of

  Khrushchev, The(Brown), 50

  Soviet Union vs. the Rest of the World (1970), 82–83

  Spanier, David, 285

  Spasskaia, Larisa (Boris’s second wife), 44, 46, 107–8, 116, 209, 221, 233, 249–51, 286, 287

  Spassky, Boris, 38–69, 99, 131, 216

  Angola, lack of interest in, 293

  anti-Semitism of, 61

  background and youth, 33–35, 38–41, 60

  Baturinskii, breach with, 114

  Bondarevskii, falling out with, 116

  career rise, 41–48

  character and beliefs of, 58–61, 64–65

  chess style of, 73–74

  defection rumors about, 267–69

  Dostoyevskian affinities of, 59–60, 61

  earnings of, 65–66, 107–8

  Estonia, support for, 65

  extra-chess intrigue and, 249–51, 253–57, 262, 263, 265–67

  Fischer similarities with, 32

  Fischer viewed by, 30, 295

  Geller’s charges of pressures on, 237–40

  Icelanders’ view of, 194–95

  life outside of chess of, 77

  KGB and, 61, 63, 258–62, 267–69

  marriages of, 25, 44, 46, 107–8, 116, 293–94

  move to France by, 293–94, 295

  post-Fischer match loss by, 282–83, 285–95, 300

  on possible Fischer random chess match, 307

  Russian history, interest in, 61

  Russian patriot, 60

  Soviet Communist Party and, 61–66, 109–13, 290–93

  and Sports Committee postmortem on

  defeat, 287

  stress management by, 80–81

  Taimanov’s defeat by Fischer and, 92

  training plan of, 110

  university education of, 43, 60–61

  world championship, 48–50, 63–64, 66, 68–69, 84, 98, 100–101, 107, 117, 124, 285

  See also Fischer-Spassky competition

  Spassky, Ekaterina Petrovna (Boris’s mother), 38, 39

  Spassky, Georgi (Boris’s brother), 34, 39

  Spassky, Iraida (Boris’s sister), 39

  Spassky, Tania (Boris’s daughter), 44

  Spassky, Vasili (Boris’s son), 46, 108, 294

  Spassky, Vasili Vladimirovich (Boris’s father), 38, 39

  Speelman, Jonathan, 167

  Spitz, Mark, 232

  Sports Committee, USSR, 37–38, 52–53, 62–63, 90, 99–102, 106, 107–14, 155–56, 202, 253–57, 261, 265, 267, 273, 287–91, 293, 294

  Stalin, Joseph, 33, 36, 41, 51, 52, 55, 59

  State Committee for Physical Training and Sport. See Sports Committee

  State Department, U.S., 3, 12, 16, 145, 252

  Staunton, Howard, 201

  Stein, Leonid, 45, 62, 200

  Stein, Richard, 162, 171, 173, 224

  Steiner, George, 71, 77, 133–34

  Steinitz, Wilhelm, 78

  Suslov, Mikhail, 276, 301

  Szabo, Laszlo, 41

  T

  Taimanov, Igor, 87

  Taimanov, Mark, 29, 38, 40, 62, 74, 80, 83, 96, 104–5, 131, 205, 253, 287, 310

  Fischer match with, 86–93

  Tal, Mikhail, 22, 25, 30, 38, 43, 45, 46, 53, 62, 80, 88, 105, 121, 184, 200, 204, 290, 310

  Targ, Joan Fischer, 4, 5, 8, 221, 306

  Tarrasch, Siegbert, 35

  TASS (news agency), 129, 137, 273–74

  Thorarinsson, Gudmundur, 124, 127, 128, 138–42, 144, 145, 147, 151–52, 154, 157–58, 161, 163, 164, 170, 171,
180, 183, 197. 201, 237, 281–83, 309

  Thorarinsson, Johann, 124

  Thordarson, Ulvar, 209–10

  Thorsteinsdottir, Anna, 283–84

  Tikhomirova, Vera, 118, 121

  Tolush, Aleksandr, 40, 41, 43–44

  Toner, Bob, 153–54, 227

  Torre, Carlos, 78

  Treasury Department, U.S., 304

  Tremblay, Theodore, 142, 143, 145–46, 153, 154, 160, 251–52, 267–69

  Tsarapkin, Semion, 84

  Tsvigun, Semion, 261

  Tupikin, A. P., 290

  Turover, Isaac, 147, 178

  U

  Uhlmann, Wolfgang, 86, 87

  Ulvaeus, Björn, 308

  Unzicker, Wolfgang, 31

  U.S. Chess Championship, 8, 10, 15–16, 17, 82

  U.S. Chess Federation, 10, 84, 104, 127, 128, 212, 305, 308

  U.S. Junior Chess Championship, 7

  USSR Chess Federation, 64, 66, 100, 120, 127, 128. 147, 299

  USSR Council of Ministers Committee for Physical Training and Sport. See Sports Committee

  V

  Vartanian, Professor, 256, 262

  Vasil’iev, Dmitri, 257, 260

  Vasiljevic, Jezdimir, 304

  Vasiukov, Yevgeni, 9, 15, 88

  Vietnam War, 11, 12, 188–89, 230, 232

  Viggoson, Hilmar, 221

  W

  Wade, Bob, 7, 131–32

  Walker, Peter, 148

  Warner Brothers, 297

  Washington Post,136, 159, 160, 172, 176, 270–71, 272

  Washington Square Park (N.Y.C.), 6

  Watergate break-in, 231

  Waters, Archie, 221

  Weintraub, Jerry, 205

  Weiss, Cyrus, 308

  Wellington, Duke of, 281

  White House Years, The(Kissinger), 276

  Wicker, Tom, 230

  Wilder, Billy, 281

  Woodward, Bob, 231

  World Chess Championship, 8, 57

  first official champion, 78

  Fischer title, 247. 280–85, 287, 295–301

  Reyjkavik site choice, 123

  Soviet dominance of. 37–38, 57

  Spassky title, 48–50, 63–64, 66, 68–69, 84, 98, 100–101, 107, 117, 124, 285

  See alsoFischer-Spassky competition

  World Cup (chess), 295

  World Junior Chess Championship, 42, 133, 259

  World Student Team Championship (1960), 133

  World War II, 34–35, 37, 54–55

  Worldwide Church of God, 15, 301–2

  Wright, Esmond, 11

  Writers Union, 51, 52, 90

  Wyndham, Francis, 272

  Y

  Yakovlev, Aleksandr, 58, 66, 155, 260–61, 269

  Yates, Frederick, 40

  Yeremenko, Vitali, 251

  Yermakov, Aleksandr, 155, 156, 273–74

  Young, Terence, 240

  Yudovich, Mikhail, 33

  Yugoslav Chess Federation, 127

  Yugoslavia, 124–28, 228, 304

  Z

  Zak, Vladimir, 40–41

  Zharikov, Professor, 256–57, 262

  Zonal (tournament), 9, 82, 85

  Zuckerman, Bernard, 302

  Zweig, Stefan, 74–75

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Fischer-Spassky was an international affair. Necessarily, our research had to be equally wide—and likewise now our expressions of gratitude.

  There are those without whom our book could not have been written: to them we offer profound thanks. Though he had a long arranged rendezvous with his autobiography, Boris Spassky unfailingly answered our questions. In Paris, he and Marina also gave us a memorable insight into Russian hospitality. In Germany, the chief arbiter Lothar Schmid set aside several days to take us in detail through the match as well as around the beauties of his ancient home city, Bamberg. Gudmundur Thorarinsson, similarly, could not have been more cordial and helpful and gave us three lengthy interviews. Also in Reykjavik, Freysteinn Johannsson, who was the Icelandic Chess Federation press officer for the match and wrote his own book on it three decades ago, tirelessly tracked down Icelandic facts, names, and telephone numbers. Without him, the book would have taken much longer to write. Saemundur Palsson regaled us with his experiences and warmly entertained us in his home by the sea, as he had the American challenger three decades before.

  Viktor Ivonin gave us an unrivaled view of Moscow’s part in our story from his remarkable personal records, his archive, and his (not quite) total recall of the Sports Committee and other comrades involved in the match. We would also like to thank Larisa Solovieva for setting aside understandable qualms to share her memories of life with Boris Spassky. From New York, Nikolai Krogius provided us with detailed written responses to our many queries. In Tallinn, Ivo Nei took a break from running Estonian chess at Keres House to recall his role in the match.

  Former chess players, administrators, and observers of the match also gave generously of their time and memories: Lev Abramov, Yuri Averbakh, Yuri Balashov, the late Viktor Baturinskii, Yevegeni Bebchuk, Mikhail Beilin, Valeri Chamanin, Naum Dymarskii, Viktor Korchnoi, Aleksandr Nikitin, Aleksandr Roshal, Mark Taimanov, Vera Tikhomirova, Aleksandr Yermakov, and Nikolai Zharikov. Extremely pertinent too were the reflections of Anatoli Dobrynin on the absence of Fischer-Spassky from his White House agenda, Dmitri Vasil’iev on the challenges of his Reykjavik diplomatic posting, and Vitali Yeremenko on fortifying Spassky’s inner man. Olga Baturinskaia kindly supported her father during our interview and supplied us with documents and photographs.

  This is the appropriate point to mention our Russian researchers and translators. Carl Schreck scoured the Soviet press and chess magazines. Hannah Whitley and Andrew Yorke skillfully translated the dead language of Soviet bureaucracy and interpreted interviews; they also drew on their knowledge of Russian and Russia to offer us insights into the significance of what they read and heard. We are grateful to Tess Stobie for acting as our own Moscow Center, administering our research needs. John would also like to thank Tess and Alastair for their wonderful hospitality.

  We must reserve a special place here for Victoria Ivleva-Yorke. Victoria functioned peerlessly as fixer, researcher, and interpreter. No contact was able to resist her combination of charm and insistence; her interest in the story and following up of leads were invaluable.

  We have many debts on the other side of the cold war chessboard, the United States. Our thanks are due to Bob Axelrod, Pal Benko, Sid Bernstein, Arthur Bisguier, Robert Byrne, Bill Chase at Cleveland Public Library, Larry Evans, Ralph Ginzburg, Philip Hall, Eliot Hearst, Burt Hochberg, Shelby Lyman, Paul Marshall, the late Edmar Mednis, Hanon Russell, Phil Schewe, Don Schultz, Jim Sherwin, Frank Skoff, Elaine Smith, Harry Sneider, Barb Vandermark, and Josh Waitzkin. On the role of the White House, the U.S. State Department, and the Reykjavik embassy in coping with the match and the troublesome challenger, we are grateful to Gerald Ford, Len Garment, Victor Jackovich, Henry Kissinger, Helmut Sonnenfeldt, and Theodore Tremblay. Franklin Noll trawled through U.S. government records and came up with some pearls.

  Taking full advantage of America’s justly famed Freedom of Information Act, we asked the FBI if they held a file on Regina Fischer. A year and a half later, two telephone directory-size documents thumped through the letterbox. In the interval, Bureau weeders had pored over the text, and the many blanks spoke of their assiduity. Nevertheless, we are appreciative of the openness of the American system and the efforts in particular of Donna Shackleforth, who so courteously received our regular monthly inquiry after the dossiers whereabouts.

  From our experience, the people of Iceland have a claim to be the most naturally courteous and helpful in the world. We have many to acknowledge, all of whom went out of their way to assist us. To demonstrate our regard for their country, we list them alphabetically by first name, as in the Iceland telephone directory: Colin Porter, Dadi Agustsson, Fridrik Olafsson, Fridthor Eydal, Gisli Gestsson, Gunnar Magnusson, Gunnlaugur Josefsso
n, Gylfi Baldursson, Hilmar Viggoson, Hjalmar Bardarson, Hrannar Arnarson, Karen Thorsteinsdottir, Paul Theodorsson, Ragnar Haraldsson, Saemundur Palsson, Sigfus Sigfusson, Sigmundur Gudbjarnason, Sigurdur Helgason, Steinn Bjornsson, Sverrir Kristinsson, Thrainn Gudmundsson, Tinna Gunnarsdottir, and the late Ulfar Thordarson. Valur Ingimundarson put the match into the wider context of Icelandic politics, and Ingolfur Gislason and Valur Steinarsson carried out research for us in Iceland.

  We also want to acknowledge all those who made time to afford us their recollections or professional information and advice: Tony Attwood, Michael Bezold, Dimitri Bjelica, Archie Brown, Henk Chervet, Simon Baron Cohen, Jim Dumighan, Esther Eidinow, Hannah Eidinow, Leonid Finkelstein, Michael Fitzgerald, Svetozar Gligoric, Bill Hartston, Ray Keene, Bent Larsen, David Levy, Lennox Lewis, Helmut Pfleger, Stewart Reuben, Sir Tim Rice, Michael McDonald Ross, Jim Slater, Olexiy Solohubenko, Bob Toner, Wolfgang Unzicker, and Lawrence Warner.

  Simona Celotti-Still gave up her spare time to translate many Italian newspaper articles. Hannah Edmonds assisted with German documents and Arlene Gregorius and Joanne Episcopo with Spanish.

  We owe a particular debt to grandmaster Daniel King, who offered tremendous encouragement as well as chess advice throughout. Bob Wade gave us the run of his extensive library and furnished us with memories of his research for Fischer.

  David would like to thank Charles Eisendrath for bestowing on him the extraordinary privilege of a Michigan Journalism Fellowship and all the fellow journalists who made the sabbatical so immensely pleasurable as well as rewarding; Marzio Mian and Carlos Prieto, who later helped with the book, deserve specific mention. Bill and Betty Ingram made it all possible by agreeing to a house swap; fortunately, their beautiful home in Ann Arbor had an icestorm-resistant roof.

  Various chapters of the draft of the manuscript were sent to the following friends, all of whom identified flaws and suggested improvements. We would like to thank Archie Brown, Hannah Edmonds, Esther Eidinow, Sam Eidinow, the omniscient David Franklin, Freysteinn Johannsson, Daniel King, Peter Mangold, David Price, Zina Rohan, Neville Shack, Christopher Tugendhat, Maurice Walsh, Hannah Whitley, and Andrew Yorke.