Bobby Fischer

5/21/2018 Bobby Fischer

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No Regrets: Boris Spassky at 60

Lev Khariton

The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview

Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess

career, his rivals and friends.

Dear Grandmaster, I should like, as many other chess players all over the world, to congratulate you

on your jubilee and to wish you good health, all possible success and creativity.

Thank you for the congratulation, but what success and creativity are you talking about? All my

achievements are in the past, and the last time I played well was the Montpellier Candidates in 1985.If it were not for some physical indisposition at the very end of the tournament I should have

qualified for the quarterfinals.

Why did you stop playing in tournaments?

I felt that I had no more energy to play, that I had lost any desire to win. I remember that I won the

first prize in Linares in 1983 leaving Karpov behind. At that time I was already living in France, but

I was still playing under the Soviet flag. Karpov was evidently furious, and soon afterwards the

Soviets took away the red flag from my table; what is more, they deprived me of my stipend from

the Soviet Sports Committee. These 250 roubles I needed very much to help my family in Russia

my mother, my brother and sister, my children.

But the Sports Committee seems to have been cool to you long before the Linares tournament.

Well, I was the first to show how to fight against the Soviet bureaucrats and at the same time to

continue professional life. Now everybody knows how to do it, but at that time I was the first, and,

naturally, the Soviets could not forgive me. With Korchnoi they had no problems: they knew that he

would make a lot of fuss, but then some Soviet guy would win and in the end things would turn out

OK for the Russians and everyone would be happy. As for me, from the very start I took an

independent stand and openly declared that I did not want anything from the Soviets.

Karpov once said that in chess there are no ex-World Champions; there are only World Champions.

For example, we never say ex-Olympic Champion. This title is awarded for life. How can we, for

instance, call Alekhine ex-World Champion if he died undefeated? And all the other chess

champions are chess kings for ever

I think in this case, as usual, Karpov was thinking of himself, but in principle what he said is

absolutely right. The title ex-Champion does not reveal anything, and some time ago I proposed to


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use the number before the title of each champion. For example, I was the 10th World Champion, Tal

the 8th World Champion etc. This makes much more sense.

Not much is known about the beginning of your chess career. Everyone in this world has a destiny.

You, for example, could have become an engineer, a teacher, a doctor

Well, I got to know the rules of the game during the war when I was far away from Leningrad. Soon

after the outbreak of the war I and my elder brother (he is two years my senior) with other children

were evacuated from Leningrad. I was lucky to survive; the people in Leningrad, as you know, were

starved to death. On the way to the Urals our train was heavily bombed several times. Finally, we

arrived at Perm where I was placed at an orphanage, an extremely beautiful building on the site of an

old convent. Years later the convent was pulled down on the order of Khruschev. Nobody taught me

to play chess there. I was just watching other people playing chess. At that time I was only five yearsold. Upon our return to Leningrad my brother took me to the Kirov Isles (near Leningrad LK) and

there I saw a chess pavilion. It was 1946, I was only 9! The pavilion was a glass veranda surrounded

by trees, and I was really captivated!

Did you begin to play with grown-ups at once?

No. At first I was only watching. I was infatuated with the world of chess. I left home early in the

day and returned late at night. My mother gave me 15 kopecks to buy a glass of water and a small

pie. We lived in stark poverty, but I had such a passion for chess that I never felt afterwards.

Actually I became a chess professional at the age of ten. Looking back, I had a sort of predestination

in my life. I understood that through chess I could express myself and chess became my natural

language.

Did you have chess trainers, let us say, like Kasparov used to in his childhood?


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At first I was alone, but the chess pavilion had closed by the autumn, so I had no place to play chess.

Therefore in November 1946 I went to the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers, where I met Vladimir

Grigorievich Zak. He was a remarkable trainer and a wonderful man. I remember that my mother

gave me her soldiers boots. She used them when she was harvesting potatoes to feed the family. So

in these boots which reached up to my stomach I went to the Palace of Pioneers. Zak saw that I was

a serious boy, and he loved chess immensely. He died quite recently. I am very grateful to him and I

am helping his family now. As you know, the government does not help people now, the poverty is

frightening and who can help poor people? In general, I was lucky because I met many good people

in my life. I always remember Tolush, Levenfish, Bondarevsky I recall that when I was having my

first chess sessions with Zak, I wanted very much to steal a white queen so as to caress it in my

pocket! It was just a childish passion. In retrospect, I think that if I had stolen it I should have never

become World Champion!

In other words, you mean to say that stealing a chess piece would have been a bad omen

Not so much a bad omen, but simply that one must be honest; that is why when I became Champion

I said that chess is a game of Justice. Supreme justice, may be I would say that chess for me has

always been a model of life. But as to justice, at the top level chess is a devilish game just look at

the faces of chess players! But the laws are the same as in real life, and once you violate them,

sooner or later you will be punished.

Boris Vassilievich, the chess world has always respected you for your independent views, the

freedom of your self-expression; for example, you always sympathised with Keres and Estonia, you

did not sign the notorious letter against Korchnoi

I have never signed team letters

You were not afraid to speak about Solzhenitsyn when his name could not be even whispered.

Since you have mentioned Solzhenitsyn, quite a funny story comes to mind. Once, when I was

World Champion, I was invited to one small town to give a lecture and a simul. I was speaking about

my salary. For instance, I said that I did not have enough money to pay my trainers, that my work as

a trainer was a sinecure, etc. Suddenly one of my listeners asked me which writers I liked. I

answered that one of my favourite writers was Solzhenitsyn. After the lecture I was told that just the

day before the party bosses of this town had been ordered by Moscow to launch an ideological

campaign against Solzhenitsyn! And, naturally, a secret report denouncing me was sent immediately

to the KGB. But the most curious thing about it was that in the report he sent to Moscow the party

secretary of this town did not even mention my words about Solzhenitsyn! He wrote about my

complaints concerning my miserable salary, about my irresponsible attitude to work, etc. He even

mentioned that I was proud of my grandfather who was a famous priest in Russia. During the lecture


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I said that if I had not become a chess player, I should have preferred to be a priest. But there was

not a single word about Solzhenitsyn in this dirty letter. So great was the fear!

You said that you have lost a taste for the game. But about Korchnoi, who is six years your senior?

Or Smyslov, who is playing very well at 76?

Smyslov is a chess player with a fantastic intuition. I call him Hand because his hand knows

exactly on which square to put which piece at a given moment; actually, he does not have to

calculate anything. As for Korchnoi, I regard him as an exceptional grandmaster in chess history.

Usually the chess player reaches his peak by the age of 30. Viktor was, I believe, at the height of his

form when he was playing against Karpov in Baguio in 1978. That is, he was 47 years old! The

secret of his chess longevity is simple: he has been working on chess all his life, more than anybody

else in the world! When he was living in the USSR I called him hero of socialist labour; when hemoved to the West I renamed him hero of capitalist labour!

Recently I wrote an article on the inflation of the grandmaster title. But your generation, let us say,

Korchnoi, Stein, Polugaevsky, were grandmasters par excellence

I remember how in the USSR Championship in 1961 before I was to play Leonid Stein, who was at

that time a master, Korchnoi came up to me and proposed to prepare me for this game. I do not think

that he was sympathetic towards me; he just did not want the grandmaster title to be within easy

reach. He wanted to check to see whether Stein really deserved this title.

As far as I remember, you lost that game to Stein just as you had lost to Tal in 1958. These were

serious setbacks for you; for some period you were obviously off form and you were put off the

struggle for the chess crown. How can you account for this sudden streak of failures which surprised

the chess public at the time?

The explanation is absolutely simple. My life did not pan out properly. I went through two divorces

there is a joke that two divorces are tantamount to participation in one war! My health also left

much to be desired I was suffering from kidney trouble, that returned in the second match with

Fischer. Besides, at that time the Soviet Championships were usually held in January and this was

quite unfortunate for me since these important tournaments coincided with my exams at the Institute.

So, you were not a chess professional, you were studying quite seriously

As a student I had a stipend 35 roubles; and this sum was the only source of subsistence for me.

There was nothing and nobody to lean on.

Since we mentioned Tal, what were your feelings after you had lost to him the decisive game in the

USSR Championship in Riga in 1958 and therefore failed to qualify for the Interzonal tournament? I

remember that I was almost crying because I wanted you to reach the World Championship.

Moreover, Tal, everybodys favourite, did not need this victory as he had already scored enough


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points to ensure qualification for the Interzonal.

I shall tell you a wonderful story. After my loss to Tal I went out into the street, I was absolutely

depressed, tears were running down my cheeks Suddenly, while walking I met David Ginsburg,

the journalist who had worked in the chess newspaper 64 before the war and was later sent to the

GULAG. Is it worth being so upset? he asked me. Well, Tal will play his match with Botvinnik,

and he will win the title. But later he will lose the return-match to Botvinnik. Some time later

Petrosyan will become World Champion, and then your turn will come Such an accurate forecast,

better that any fortune-teller! I should say that I always had very good relations with Misha Tal not

a single shadow throughout many years. Although we were always fighting fiercely over the

chessboard and in 1965 we even played a Candidates semi-final. Misha is the only one of the great

chess players who did not know the feeling of envy. He was at his best when the initiative was on his

side. In closed positions, without initiative he felt suffocated. In this respect Kasparov resembles him

very much today. If Kasparov loses the initiative, he immediately accepts the draw. Tal was a real

magician, his appearance on the chess horizon was an explosion, a challenge to Botvinniks

dogmas

Does this mean that your attitude to Botvinnik is negative?

Bovinnik did a lot for chess. He won the World Championship, as he had promised, he gave a lot of

good advice to chess players, especially mediocre players. But for me he has always remained a

Bolshevik. Once I was reading his memoirs about the 1930s and I came across the following

sentence: Life was difficult, collective farms had not yet become strong. For many years after

this I wanted to ask him, Mikhail Moiseyevich, when did collective farms become strong? And how


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did they become strong? I think in this respect Karpov and Kasparov continued Botvinniks

Communist traditions.

Timman once said that, for example, in 1973 a match between Tal and Fischer would have been

most interesting. By that time Tal, having regained his form, won a series of impressive victories.

I dont think that Tal was much of a match fighter. I think that much earlier, in 1962, a match should

have been organised between Fischer and me. Bobby was already a very strong player at that time.

And, certainly, it can only be regretted that in 1975 there was no match between Fischer and Karpov.

This is one of the so-called unplayed matches for the chess crown.

As Lasker-Rubinstein, Alekhine-Botvinnik And what would have been the outcome of such a

match?

Probably, Bobby would have won by a narrow margin. Karpov was already very strong. The

openings would have been of great importance in that match; Fischer would undoubtedly have

sought a complicated game and avoided, say, the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lpez.

To what do you owe your success in the 1960s in surpassing the strongest chess players?

In the USSR at that time there were six chess players who were evidently stronger than all the

others: Petrosyan, Tal, Stein, Korchnoi, Polugaevsky and me. I think that I was stronger than the

others in the middlegame. I had a very good feel for the crucial moments in the game. This made up

for certain deficiencies in opening preparation and, possibly, some flaws as regards endgame

technique.

But doesnt that contradict the basic idea of the Soviet chess school that the opening, the

middlegame and the endgame are inseparably linked?

The Soviet chess school is a myth or, rather, a demagogic weapon, as many phrases being used

today, for example, new democratic thinking, new economic space, etc. There was Botvinnik, he

actually created himself and the word school was used for ideological purposes. As for my games,

I often won in the middlegame, so you cannot find too many endgames among my victories!

I wish you would say a few words about your matches with Petrosyan. Which was more difficult

the one you lost in 1966 or your victory in 1969?

The second match was no doubt more difficult since I was feeling more responsibility. Already

before the first match I understood that I was stronger than Tigran. But I was exhausted by the

qualifying competitions and, besides, I was a penniless man. And when a poor man becomes the

king (by my convictions I am a monarchist) disaster may befall the kingdom. I remember during thefirst match that each time I went down to the snack-bar I saw a slogan hanging up on the wall: The


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donor is the sick mans best friend!. So the whole match was always associated in my mind with

this stupid slogan. When I was playing the second match I already had some money, so that I could

pay my trainers. Not long before I had won 5,000 dollars at the strong Piatigorsky Cup in Santa

Monica. By the way, during my first match with Petrosyan Smyslov saved me from starvation: he

often invited me to his house for dinners, so that by the time I had lost the match I had gained six

kilos!

What could you say about Petrosyan?

Not long before his death Petrosyan said to me: Look what these guys, Karpov and Kasparov are

doing! Do you remember how we signed our match contract on a window-sill in Moscows Sophia

restaurant? Well, good old times! Petrosyan was an extremely intelligent man with a special sense

of humour. He was a self-made man. Once he told me about the time he and Korchnoi visitedPavlov, the then president of the Soviet Sports Committee. Petrosyan sought Pavlovs permission for

Korchnoi to be his second in the match against Fischer. And Korchnoi with his characteristic

straightforwardness blurted out: Comrade Pavlov, when I see Petrosyans awful, disgusting moves,

I dont want to help him!

Yes, Korchnoi has always been too straightforward

But Tigran was happy: he did not want to have such a second. I came to know Petrosyan very well.

He was just an open book for me. He was a hot-tempered man. When he was walking quietly I knewthat he was about to jump like a panther; on the contrary, when he was moving like Napoleon it was

always a sign of cowardice.

Let us get back again to bygone days. The tournament in Bucharest in January 1953 For the first

time the chess world heard your name. As if using the Time Machine I am returning to the distant

past: I am sitting at home with my elder brother analysing your victory against Smyslov. To tell the

truth, I did not know chess notation well at the time

This was my first trip abroad to a chess tournament, and it was in Bucharest where I made the

International Masters norm. Paradoxically, it was Soviet Power that helped me win the title! The

tournament started with the massacre among the Soviet chess players. Petrosyan won against

Tolush, I defeated Smyslov, and after the 7th round Laszlo Szabo was leading the field. Suddenly

there came a telegram from Moscow ordering us to stop shedding our own blood and insisting that

we should draw all our games between ourselves. Luckily, I had already scored a point against

Smyslov, but I think, taking into account my youth and lack of experience, that it would have been

difficult for me to make draws with such grandmasters as Boleslavsky and Petrosyan. However, this

order from the Kremlin helped me, everybody obeyed it and so I became an International Master.


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It was January 1953. The doctors case instigated by Stalin. Were you aware of what was

happening in your country?

No, I was not yet 16, and I was living in another dimension. But two years later during the junior

World Championship in Antwerp I did not find anything better to ask Mr. Solovyov, who was the

head of our delegation, than whether it was true that Lenin had died of syphilis. Besides, I enquired

why in Belgium, where nobody studied Marxism-Leninism, people were leading a prosperous life.

Boris Vassilievich, whom could you single out as a personality among chess players?

Undoubtedly, Paul Keres. He was the greatest treasure of the chess world. Being a man of great

modesty and tact, he possessed the highest chess and general culture. His tragic destiny reminds of

the end of Alekhines life. And if we remember that for some time there was chess rivalry between

Alekhine and Botvinnik, Id rather resort to some literary comparison. Keres was the Gulliver among

the Lilliputians, he was a real giant. Botvinnik, I believe, was the leader of the Lilliputians. And that

is the crux of the matter. As simple as that.

You always expressed sympathy towards Keres openly, even in the most silent times.

In 1965 I was giving a lecture in Novosibirsk and I was asked why Keres had not become World

Champion. This is what I answered: Just imagine a young man who is only 24, who is already a

strong grandmaster and who loves his Estonia, his small country which within a short period of time

changes hands passing to Stalin, a bit later to Hitler and again to Stalin. What does he feel when all

this is happening? After the lecture some comsomol leaders asked me why I was so anti-Soviet.

Did I tell you a lie? I reiterated. But it was too late; my KGB file had already been opened.

In your opinion, which period was the peak of your chess career?

I think that I was the best in the world from 1964 to 1970, but in 1971 Fischer was already stronger.

So, now we have come to Bobby Fischer, possibly the most enigmatic player in chess history. You

have played with him more than anybody on Earth and it would be nice to hear you speak about him.

Bobby has always impressed me by the integrity of his personality. In chess and in life. No

compromises! If, for example, he faced the possibility of a triple repetition in an inferior position, he

would always deviate, even at the risk of losing the game. Once he was approached to advertise a

Volkswagen car. But he refused to do so saying that after having carefully examined the model he

decided not to advertise the car to would-be suicides.


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Before the second match with Bobby you said that he had saved you from complete oblivion, but it

seems to me that it was owing to you that he came back on chess track.

Certainly, I did something to wake him up, but he woke me up as well.

When you were playing the second match with Fischer, did you want to win?

No, I did not have that ambition, but I had a good fighting spirit.

Many specialists preferred the games of your match to those played in the Anand-Ivanchuk match

which was being held at about the same time.

Yes, we played quite a number of nice games.

However, there was an impression that Fischer was a bit rusty after such a long chess hibernation

He has simply lost energy.

Was he studying chess all these years?

I think that his chess studies were mostly of an amateurish character; he did not have a sparring

partner; may be from time to time he toyed with a computer.

What was Fischers trump card in chess, and did he have any weaknesses as a chess player?

Fischers strength, among other things, was his ability to evolve the most efficient plan for the

middlegame right after the opening. I was amazed during our second match that he was spending

more time than me. He needed a plan, a clear-cut plan for the game. At the same time he has a

computerlike approach to the game. He thinks that in chess it is necessary to advance a bit all the

time. But chess is like life: one must know how to retreat. Just to retreat a bit, to accumulate

something and to advance again

Even today your first match with Fischer is still fresh in the memory. I remember how the world was

waiting for this match, how chess players were following every game


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Fischer made short work of me. Tal was right when he said, There was no Spassky in this match. I

had actually lost before the match. My nervous system was completely broken. The Soviets were

bothering me, and I also made my life difficult. Both Fischer and I were fighting windmills!

After the first two games you were leading by two points. Bobby did not turn up for the 2nd game

after quarrelling with the organisers.

After the 2nd game I could have returned to Moscow. There was only one way I could have won this

match: before the 3rd game, when Bobby raised a scandal with the organisers, I should have

resigned this game.

But that sounds quite absurd!

Why? I was about to do so, but I was the Chess King and I could not go back upon my word. I had

promised to play this game. As a result, I destroyed my fighting spirit and the match which promised

to be a great chess feast turned into a litigation. Some days before the start of the 3rd game I spoke

for half an hour on the telephone with Pavlov, president of the Soviet Sports Committee. He

demanded that I should declare an ultimatum which, I was sure, Fischer, Euwe and the organisers

would have never accepted; so, the match would be broken off. The whole telephone conversation

was just a never-ending exchange of two phrases: Boris Vassilievich, you must declare an

ultimatum!; to which I responded, Sergei Pavlovich, I shall play the match! After this

conversation I spent three hours in bed shivering with nervousness. Actually I saved Fischer when Iagreed to play the 3rd game. So, the match was practically finished after this game. In the second

half of the match I simply did not have the energy. A chess player in such a match is like a car which

has too little fuel left. And if you have to go 500 kilometres with practically no fuel, where will the

car take you? Unfortunately, most of the chess public is not aware of it.

What about Fischer? What is he doing now?

We are friends, and I think that I have no right to say what he does not say himself. You surely know

that now Bobby lives in Budapest. If you take into account that there is the new world order, the

KGB is not, for the time being, bothering him.

Grandmaster, let us speak now about the situation in todays chess kingdom.

Well, since you are talking about the chess kingdom, I recall the following episode. After Petrosyan

had defeated me in 1966, he invited me to the Armenia restaurant in Moscow. Many people, mostly

writers, journalists and actors, came to celebrate Petrosyans victory in the match. Looking at all

those present I raised a toast in Tigrans honour saying: Before the match I thought that the chess

world was a republic, but now I am sure that it is a monarchy. To tell the truth, I had no doubts at

that moment that I would play Petrosyan in 1969 and become World Champion.


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But considering what is happening in the chess world today, it is difficult to say whether it is a

monarchy, a republic Is there any democracy in the chess world? There are two champions, FIDE,

PCA [this interview took place in 1997, before the demise of the PCA] Who is calling the shots?

First of all, I repeat that the chess world is a monarchy. But the two chess geniuses Karpov and

Kasparov, strange as it may seem, are not chess kings. There is nothing royal about them. They are

simply representatives of enormous chess teams; more than that, they are just mouthpieces of

political parties. As to their personalities, their views as regards life, politics, all that is happening in

the world, I cannot properly judge. As far as my political views are concerned, I am a Russian

nationalist, and their views are naturally different from mine.

But many people believe that Karpov, one who so typified Brezhnevs era, has undergone a certain

evolution of late.

After the publication of Karpovs book My Sister Caissa I said to him, If you believe in God, Caissa

cannot be your sister. At best, she can be your cousin!

And how did Karpov react to your words? Did he laugh?

Certainly, not. We are absolutely incompatible.

Not long ago there was an interview with Karpov in Liberationin Paris. When he was asked about

his contribution to chess, he answered: I am part of chess history.

Modesty is not his strong point. But we must pay him his due: as a chess player, he is great.

Incidentally, two years ago in an interview also published in Liberation Kasparov said that his

favourite historical hero was Julius Caesar.

Probably, he believes that he, like Caesar, can do a host of things at the same time

Karpov does not recognise Kasparov as World Champion and recently his statement was published

in the Russian Magazine 64 that a grandmaster playing outside the auspices of FIDE cannot be

considered World Champion. What is your point of view?

At the moment Kasparov began the destruction of FIDE he created the new World Champion! So,

its up to both champions to decide which of them is the real champion. One thing is, however, clear

for me: if they had really played honestly 150 games in the five title-matches, both of them would

have been in a mental asylum. Undoubtedly there was some kind of conspiracy between the two

champions, probably starting with their third match. At least that was my impression when I was

working as commentator of their match in Lyon in 1990. I shall never forget the 19th game when

Kasparov proposed a draw in an absolutely winning position while Karpov was in awful time

trouble. I was in a state of shock, absolutely unable to explain to the chess fans what had happened


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in this game. Now in retrospect I understand that mysterious, powerful and super-wealthy forces

were standing behind their backs, and the two guys could have risked their lives had they

disobeyed I remember, for example, that after I had won against Petrosyan in 1969, it took me one

year to return back to normal. I was completely exhausted after 23 games, but Karpov and Kasparov

played five long matches! If they had really invested all their forces in all the games of all the

matches, both would have been mentally sick for years. There was certainly some conspiracy

between the players, they won a nice sum of money and kept their health in good shape.

Just one last request: say something, if only in jest, about your relations with the chess world.

Well, I remember an episode from Ernest Hemingways novel To Have and Have Not. An old

toreador is about to retire and draw his pension. His friends have organised a present for him. They

take off a big sheet covering the present and the toreador sees the enraged head of a bull. He turnsdeathly pale and it becomes clear that all his life he has been afraid of the bulls but never stopped

fighting and winning!

But you, I am sure, were never afraid of anyone

Thats right. I was afraid only of myself.

First published in Kingpin29 (Autumn 1998)

Bobby Fischer Revisited: Part I

Nagesh Havanur


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Endgame

by Frank Brady

402 pages, hardback

Crown Publishers, 2011

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/

It all began with wedding bells in Moscow. Regina Wender, a vivacious medical student met Hans

Gerhardt Fischer, a handsome scientist in 1933. Regina was from the USA and Hans Gerhardt from

Germany. Both were Jews. However, Hans Gerhardt had changed his name from Leibscher to

Fischer to make it sound less Jewish even as anti-Semitism was on the rise in Germany. The two fell

in love and were soon married.

A few years later they were blessed with their first daughter, Joan. But soon they began to fear for

their future during the Great Terror in Russia. By that time their marriage had also come under strain

and they separated. Regina left Moscow for Paris. Hans-Gerhardt, not wishing to be far from his

daughter, followed. With the drumbeats of war resounding in France after Hitlers conquest of

Austria and Czechoslovakia, Paris was no longer safe for the estranged couple and their child.

Regina returned to the USA, taking little Joan with her. As Hans-Gerhardt was German, he was not

allowed to settle in the USA, so he found refuge in Chile. Regina received little or no help from him.

For her it was a question of survival. She moved from place to place in search of a job. In June 1942

she fell pregnant with her second child. She sent her daughter to stay with her father Jacob Wender

during pregnancy. The second child was born in Chicago on 9 March 1943. The baby was named

Robert James Fischer. Hans-Gerhardt was listed as the father on the birth certificate although he had

never entered the United States.

As I read this account in Frank Bradys book and recalled the rest of Bobbys life, I was struck by

the irony of it all. When Bobby was very young he avidly read Russian books and magazines. He

admired the play of Soviet grandmasters. Russia was no less than chess heaven for him at that time.However, he developed a lifelong aversion to Moscow and the Russians after he met with rather


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condescending treatment on his one and only visit in 1958. Yet who could deny that his roots went

back right there? There would have been no Bobby Fischer but for Moscow. Then there is the

greater irony: while both his parents escaped from anti-Semitism, it claimed him, their gifted son and

poisoned his existence to the end.

But we are anticipating the rest of the story. Reginas travails began after Bobbys birth. After being

discharged from hospital she had nowhere to go. Finally, she moved into a home for single mothers.

But when her daughter returned to Chicago the home refused to let the elder child stay with her and

ordered her to leave. When she refused she was arrested by the police for disturbing peace and she,

Bobby and Joan were forced to move out. She refused trial by jury, was ordered to have a psychiatric

examination and found not guilty by a judge. Fortunately, she landed a job as a typist and managed

to get a one-room accommodation. Not that this lasted long. The family wandered from place to

place and finally settled in Brooklyn, New York.

Now comes the question. If Hans-Gerhardt never entered the United States, was he really Bobbys

father? It has been suggested that Paul Nemenyi, a scientist, may have been the biological father. On

her return from Moscow Regina had reconnected with this old friend she had known from her

student days. Nemenyi offered her much-needed help, sending cheques from time to time. He also

used to visit the family. Regina, however, denied that Nemenyi was Bobbys father. She claimed that

she had travelled to Mexico in June 1942 to meet her ex-husband Hans-Gerhardt, and Bobby was

conceived during that rendezvous. This appears a bit improbable, considering their strained

relationship and the location of their meeting. If this re-union had taken place, Regina would have

had to travel all the way to Mexico and Hans-Gerhardt from Chile. Reginas version would have

had greater credibility if Hans-Gerhardt had taken any interest in his son thereafter. But he never did.

Hans-Gerhardt re-married and returned to Germany years after the war. He died in 1993. If Hans-

Gerhardt was not the biological father, why did Regina register him as the parent? She just did not

want her child to be called illegitimate. Fair enough. Paternity is a sensitive issue.

Brady writes that paternity has never been proved one way or the other. But even he has serious

doubts and prefers to call Hans-Gerhardt Bobbys father for the record.

He is at pains to dismiss a number of misconceptions about Regina Fischer, some of them quite

contradictory. Many of these were a creation of the popular press. If some hacks called her an absent

mother who spent too much time on political activity, others called her an interfering mother who

was disowned by Bobby. Both are far from truth. Regina was a responsible mother who loved her

son till the end. Bobby never broke up with her and was always attached to her.

Bradys description of the mother and child is too good to be missed. Here is an endearing example.Bobby, like many young children, needed to be persuaded to take a bath. The only way was to get


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him a chess board so that he could study any position that he fancied while soaking in the bath tub.

This created its own problem. Bobby would not want to get out of the tub, immersed as he was in his

own enjoyment of the position. Then his mother had to give him a tap on the head with a peremptory

command, Get out of the bath tub.

Regina had no doubt about her sons talent. But she was also concerned about his character. She

wanted him to read good books and learn languages. She herself was a political radical. But she did

not impose her ideas on her son. All that she wanted him to do was to develop liberal, humane

values. It was not to be. Bobby became a reactionary without the virtues of the Left or the Right.

Regina felt that her sons obsession with chess was not healthy and his life lacked balance. When he

turned to Armstrongs Church of God, she did not interfere. But when he tried to win her over to his

new faith she drew the line and wrote to him that Armstrong and his church were feeding him

mumbo jumbo.

A good and tolerant life was the best life, she said; call it a religion if you like. After that they both

agreed not to discuss his religious views or hers. Neither mother nor son was willing to make a

convert of the other.

Yet she was driven to write to him when he refused to offer financial help to his nominal father,

Hans-Gerhardt Fischer when he and his family were in dire straits. She was concerned both by his

lack of generosity and racism. She knew her sons magnificent egoism and wrote:

The greater the persons mind and talent, the greater the destruction . . . Dont let

millions of people down who regard you as a genius and as an example to

themselves . . . even if you were an unknown just being a decent person is a job

these days. Its easier to shut your eyes. But thats what people did in Nazi

Germany while people were being tortured and murdered, children gassed todeath like vermin. It was more convenient not to want to hear about it or talk

about it because then their conscience would have made them do something

about it. So if you are now going to be mad at me, dont be. Remember, whatever

you do or whatever happens Im still your mother and there is nothing I would

refuse you if wanted or needed it, and nothing would change it.Love,

Mother

(Letter from Regina Fischer to Bobby Fischer, June 26, 1974)

Sadly, Bobby did not share his mothers sense of responsibility to society, and his own reading of

hate literature led him to deny the Holocaust itself. Regina Fischer passed way in 1997. A grieving

Bobby wanted to attend her funeral. But that was not to be . . .

(to be continued)


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Notes:

1) In the book Brady claims that Hans-Gerhardt and Regina decided to leave Moscow as anti-

Semitism was on the rise in Stalins Russia. But there was no such policy way back in 1938. It was

to come much later. Its more likely that the Fischers were regarded as aliens with radical political

views incompatible with Stalinist orthodoxy.

2) Regina divorced Hans-Gerhardt in 1945 on account of non-support when she was living in

Moscow, Idaho. Brady points out the ironic coincidence of a marriage and then a divorce both

occurring in cities named Moscow .

3) Paul Nemenyi passed away in 1952.

4) The book has some rare photographs, and one of them shows little Bobby in the bath tub

receiving a tap on his head by his mother.

Bobby Fischer Revisited: Part 2

Nagesh Havanur


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Endgame

by Frank Brady

402 pages, hardback

Crown Publishers, 2011

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/

In life we are all duffers.

Belgrade, 30 October 1959

Mikhail Tal has won the Candidates Tournament. After the closing ceremony he invites fellow

participants to a little party. The old rivalries are forgotten and everyone is in a celebratory mood.

Alexander Koblenz, Tals trainer, recalls the occasion:

As I looked at Mishas happy face, I couldnt help recalling his father . . . I

thought of how happy he would have been had he lived to see this day. And since

I was the toastmaster, I proposed a toast to our fathers! It seemed an innocent

enough toast, but you should have seen Fischers reaction!

His eyes filled with tears, and he immediately let the party. How was I to know

then that this gifted youths often aggressive behaviour was the result of a deep

personal tragedy? Only years later, when reading an interview he had given in

the early 70s, did I understand why Fischer had been upset on the occasion and

had left.

My father left my mother when I was two years old, I have never seen him. My

mother only told me that his name was Gerhardt and that he was of German

descent. Children who grow up without a parent become wolves.1

Some wounds never heal. Bobbys mind was scarred by a sense of being deserted and rejected by his

father. But not all children from broken homes become wolves. Both Botvinnik and Spassky shared

a similar background but did not develop this kind of personal aggression. Bobby did find childhood

father figures in Carmine Nigro and Jack Collins, but the first association was brief and the secondturned sour over the years. Brady, however, maintains that Bobby didnt regard Collins as a father

figure.

To return to the interview, it is significant for another reason. Bobby mentions that his father was

German but does not say that he was Jewish. He was not obsessed with his own roots then. The

world saw two Fischers, one in 1972 and the other in 1992. There is little to suggest that Bobby was

a serious anti-Semite before 1972. He became one only later and the Worldwide Church of God had

nothing to do with it. He turned to anti-Semitism only after he left the church and began reading

anti-Jewish tracts.


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Something Brady does not mention is why he fell out with Fischer. After all, he had a long and close

friendship with him and his bookBobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy resulted from it. Their

relationship cooled because Bobby objected to Brady mentioning his Jewish roots.

One question has always troubled Fischer fans. For him chess was

life itself, so how could he have lived without it for so long? This book provides the answer. Chess

had ceased to be the ruling passion of his life. What he sought was a hate object and he found it in

anti-Semitism. He was a self-hating Jew who desperately wanted to purge himself of his Jewishness

and preach the gospel of hate to others. I take issue with Bradys claim that Fischers proselytizing

zeal was similar to his mothers, because she fought for idealistic causes whereas Bobby didnt.

One problem I have with this book is Bradys descriptions of Bobbys rivals, which tend to be

superficial and stereotyped. He doesnt seem to understand their motivations. He makes much of

Bobbys feeling disturbed by Tals staring antics during play, but although young Misha liked to

tease there was never any malice in it. It hurt the sensitive American but Fischers resentment of Tal

lay in his bad score against him (0-4). The two later became friends.

Similarly Brady suggests that Geller insulted Bobby by offering a draw during the 1970 Interzonal in

Palma de Mallorca. Not exactly. Its true that there was no love lost between them. The burly

grandmaster from Odessa exuded confidence, nay, arrogance whenever he played Fischer. Geller

had won three consecutive games against him, so Fischer had a score to settle. When they met in

round 12 they were joint leaders. When Fischer chose a quiet line with Black, Geller thought a half

point would suit the American so offered a truce on move 7(!). Fischers first reaction was to laugh.

Geller too began to laugh, believing he was doing his opponent a favour. Suddenly Fischer stopped

laughing, leaned forward and said, Too early. Geller turned puce and soon blundered a pawn.


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Although the game lasted 72 moves, the outcome was never in doubt. Geller played like a beaten

man. Bobby won the Interzonal with 18 points out of 23, 3 points ahead of stalwarts like Larsen,

Geller and Taimanov. His only loss was to Larsen who came second.

Fischer playing Petrosian, watched by

Taimanov, Larsen and Portisch

That brings me to an interesting point. Bobbys final ascent began with his victory over Petrosian in

the Match of the Century. This was followed by his 6-0 wins against Taimanov and Larsen in the

Candidates Matches 1971 and the victory over Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Championship. He

dominated the international scene only during this period (19701972) and a large part of his career

was marked by withdrawal and absence. Much has been said about his demands of organisers which

have been described as selfish, unreasonable and unrealistic. Rightly so in quite a few cases, but an

interview in Bradys book puts them into perspective:

Q:Fischer threw epic tantrums at his 1972 championship match with Boris

Spassky over lighting, chess sets, orange juice, audience noise. Were hisantics a ploy?

Brady:I dont think so. Bobby looked upon chess as a great art. When he played,

he was like Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall. He wanted silence, respect,

proper lighting; he didnt want people with candy wrappers in the audience.

There are factual errors, inadvertent or otherwise.2

Bondarevesky was not Tals trainer. Koblenz was. Benko was not a Hungarian freedom fighter. He

was essentially apolitical and was needlessly hounded out by the Communist regime from which he

sought freedom by moving to the USA. Its also suggested that Reshevsky was the only US

grandmaster in 1954, but what of Reuben Fine and Isaac Kashdan?

Fine was of course a legendary figure who shared first place with Paul Keres in AVRO 1938

International tournament ahead of Botvinnik, Euwe, Alekhine and Capablanca.

Kashdan led the chess renaissance in the USA in 1930s and represented his country in five chess

Olympiads winning a record total of nine medals.


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There is also an occasional element of hyperbole. When describing the Soviet chess phenomenon he

writes that more than seven hundred thousand players registered for one tournament. Really? Thats

the population of a whole city!

One little omission is an account of Viswanathan Anands meeting with Bobby, a singular encounter

he describes in an interview withDer Spiegel:

But the major limitation of the book is that there are no games. Its like reading the life of Mozart

without the music scores. I think at least a few games could have been included. Two famous

encounters against the Byrne brothers, if nothing else:3

http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Game_of_the_Century_

http://www. chessbase. com/cbm/cbm130e/cbm130-6/quiz1. htm

But we shouldnt be too harsh on the author of a book that is already 400 pages long. Its main virtue

is that it fills the gap of those missing years 19722008. You do come to know what Bobby felt and

did. What is particularly admirable is Bradys evenhandedness in describing Fischers relationships

with others, especially the women in his life. At times there is real pathos.

Zita Rajcsanyi met him in Los Angeles in

1992. This was before the infamous FischerSpassky Return Match.4 At that time he was practically

penniless. When Bobby sheepishly showed her his room she couldnt believe the way he lived.

Barely thirty-five square feet, his living space comprised a small bathroom and a single bed. He wasashamed of his poverty, she later recalled. Books, boxes and tapes were piled high. The content of

the tapes? According to Zita, they contained Bobbys conspiracy theories. He told her he was

planning to write a book proving how the Soviet players cheated at chess and that hed recorded his

thoughts on the matter.

In the end his efforts to woo the much younger Zita failed. Bobby fared better with Marilyn Young,

a young Filipina woman. He is said to have sired her child, Jinky, but Brady has his doubts.

Although an Icelandic court dismissed the paternity claim, we may not have heard the last of this

story.


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Last but not least is Miyoko Watai, a Japanese

chess fan whom Bobby met in 1970s. Decades later she was to play a major role in his release from

incarceration in Tokyo. She was devoted to him, married him and has been formally confirmed his

widow. So why did she not accompany Fischer to Iceland and live with him? Her personal and

professional commitments seem to have got in the way. Nevertheless, she and Bobby were in

constant touch by e-mail and telephone. She came to Reykjavik as much as her job working for a

pharmaceutical company and editing a chess journal allowed. There was always hope that some day

they would settle down together.

Each of these relationships left a positive mark on Bobby and soothed his restless spirit. The last

period of his life spent in Iceland was his most contented. This little land offered him peace and rest.

I was particularly enchanted by his visits to the bookstore and long walks in the countryside. He

would have lived peacefully but his turbulent life had already taken its toll on his health and he could

not be saved. He was moved by what his devoted friends did for him and those last words still linger

in the memory.

Nothing soothes more than the human touch.

Rest in peace.5

;

Notes

1.

Brady does not mention this incident in his book but in a way its the key to the inner life of

Bobby.

2.

Historian Edward Winter writes that there are many factual errors in the book and denies his

association with this work:

The book Endgame by Frank Brady (New York, 2011) thanks us for assistance but should not. On 1

December 2010, the day after receiving an uncorrected proofof the book from Dr Brady, we

spontaneously sent him a list (several pages long) of errors noted during our quick skim of the work.


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He at once forwarded our list to the publisher, but it proved too late for the corrections to be

incorporated. However, the publisher did mistakenly add the acknowledgement to us which Dr.

Brady had also submitted.

(ChessNotesNo. 6929)

3.

The game against Donald Byrne (1956) was rather extravagantly called The Game of the

Century even if it was a remarkable effort for an 13-year-old. Its the other game with Robert

Byrne (1964) that takes ones breath away.

4.

The 1992 FischerSpassky Return match has faded from public memory. Garry Kasparov

scathingly dubbed it the battle of dinosaurs.

5.

Links to other reviews:

http://www. chessville. com/reviews/Curacao1962. htm

http://www. chessville. com/reviews/WorldChampionFischer. htm

http://www. chessville. com/reviews/FischerWorldChampion. htm

Bobby Fischer

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Transcript of Bobby Fischer