AThe Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Wednesday, July 19, 1972 - Page 6
"Spassky Now Appears to Be Employing a Classic Russian Defence...!" 19 Jul 1972, Wed The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
Spassky Now Appears to Be Employing a Classic Russian Defence...!
Chess No Longer Considered a Game for Slow-Moving Graybeards
Written for the Manchester Guardian and The Journal by Leonard Barden
Reykjavik. The world chess championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in Reykjavik marks a new high in public awareness of a game which has radically altered its old image of an introverted refuge for slow-moving graybeards.
The column inches written on Fischer's delay in turning up, on the tangled and acrimonious match negotiations (the International Chess Federation's finances “suffered very heavy blows” from the 139 telegrams sent out to Moscow, New York, Belgrade, and Reykjavik at a cost of nearly $2,400 between January and May this year), and on Fischer's heavyweight-style training (complete with 300 pound punch-bag, skipping rope, and underwater deep breathing exercises) have already given the contest more write-ups than all the other world championship matches put together.
Fischer, of course, is a journalistic gift with his stance as a Muhammad Ali cum George Best at one moment fighting the cold war single-handed and at another casually dismissing the champion's chances.
Fischer's justifiable distrust of the Russians dates back at least to the 1962 Candidates' tournament, where he accused his five Russian opponents of cheating by arranging routine draws ([which in recent years, expert consensus aside of former Soviet testimony to confirm Fischer's suspicion, statistical analysis has been provided to further confirm the Soviets were in fact, cheating. Guilty as charged.]) with each other while going full out against the non-Russians. ([Further evidence from Fischer's contemporaries such as Dr. Edward Lasker, president of the Association of American Chess Masters, publishing his own observations on the methods of unsportsmanlike conduct and Soviet cheating, as far back as 1950. There was nothing new about Fischer's allegations, and with valid basis to found such suspicions, including experts around the world who were even then in agreement: https://bfchos.blogspot.com/2018/07/soviet-grandmaster-draws-us-chess-and.html])
Later in 1962, Bobby claimed that the then world champion, Botvinnik, took advice from his team captain during the USA-USSR match. Nobody believed it, and even the captain of the U.S. team declined Bobby's request to lodge a protest. Botvinnik told me after this game that Fischer had only spoken three words to him in his life. Upon being introduced, Bobby said “Fischer!” before the game in 1962 they almost bumped heads when they sat down and Fischer said “Sorry!” and as the game ended Fischer said “Draw!” ([and in 1950: Dr. Edward Lasker, president of the Association of American Chess Masters, says of chess tournament play: “In communist countries the open practice of analyzing adjourned positions (that is, games on which a recess has been called) with others, unless adopted because somebody else is doing the same thing, seems to indicate a curious perversion of the most fundamental concept of sportsmanship by introducing the idea of mass cooperation into a contest between two individuals.” He goes on to cite an instance in which a Russian apparently got help from friends during a recess. No object lesson of current Russian practice is available because the Russians are not taking part in the Grand Masters' tournament being held now in Amsterdam. In a new book, “The Adventure of Chess,” to be published Wednesday by Doubleday, Dr. Lasker scorns the “increasing laxity of chess morals” generally. Another evidence of this, he says, is the habit of paired tournament players to agree to a draw if it doesn't affect their own standing, regardless of the effect of their action on other players. While world champion Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia unquestionably deserved his crown because of superiority in tournament play, says Dr. Lasker, the United States master Samuel Reshevsky might beat him in match play.” -Spokane Chronicle Spokane, Washington Tuesday, November 21, 1950; https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35016034/chess_cheating_charged_to_reds/])
BOBBY'S suspicion of Russians is still very live: when, in their match last year, Taimanov drew the envelope allotting him the white pieces in the first game. Fischer checked the other envelope. ([And why not? The Soviets had been cheating and their sympathetic allies in Western media are now desperate to deny it.])
Yet Bobby's justifiable distrust, powerful as it is ([because he is a genius, and understands the depths their ruthlessness will stoop to retain the title to bolster the prestige of their sham authoritarianism]) remains subsidiary to his life-long devotion to chess and his passion for perfect and flawless play. Fischer combines chess with the life of a well-to-do Bohemian: he has no home, no permanent address. ([Actually, Robert Fischer does have a “permanent address” of which his personal lawyer acts as caretaker and handling incoming mail: Mr. Bobby Fischer, 280 Madison Ave c/o B. Davis, New York, NY 10016. Further, Dick Cavett asks in 1972, how people can contact Bobby and he states he “I have a mail-drop.” https://youtu.be/zIE3CFNpZ5Y?t=1148])
Unlike the Russians, who emphasize teamwork in training, Bobby works alone with his pocket set. “No grandmaster analyzes as much as Bobby,” says another U.S. grandmaster, Robert Byrne. Gligoric, of Yugoslavia, describes Bobby's dedication like this: “Whenever I am in pleasant company, sipping fine rose win, or when I am playing football or watching a good film, I cannot help remembering Bobby. And I think: at this moment, just like at any other moment, he is sitting by his chessboard, completely indifferent of all pleasures that life offers to him. I have to feel pity and admiration for him. Such a fanaticism cannot be resisted even by such brilliant chessplayers as the Russians—and I believe Spassky won't resist it either.”
([A profound exaggeration about Fischer is uttered here, of course, since in the 1950s, reporters who visited Bobby learned he had interests in baseball, Elvis Presley (music), even reading comic book super-heroes, such as “Batman” comics. During his late adolescent years, Fischer developed an interest in theology and how it might relate to world events, with reporters acknowledging Fischer read U.S. News and World Report magazine, aside of regularly reading his Bible and Plain Truth Magazine from our church, the doomsday cult, Worldwide Church of God, and other Ambassador College correspondence courses and literature to which Fischer was contributing a lion's share of his income. Bobby was not exactly well-rounded, however, to suggest Fischer was forever stuck with his nose glued to a chessboard, and only chess alone, is a profound exaggeration.
Here, Robert Fischer confesses the same during an interview with Dick Cavett in 1972:
CAVETT: “Do you do anything else? Do you like Mystery Stories where you work out the plot?”
FISCHER: “I like to keep up with world news and events that follow…what Ralph [Nader] is doing here.” [Ralph Nader was a guest that night on Dick Cavett's show which speaks volumes about Robert J. Fischer who confesses his interest in reading about Nader's activism in areas of human rights and environmental protections, which would constitute Fischer's further social tendencies and Leftist-leaning interests: “Ralph Nader is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes.” See https://nader.org/. Bobby then talks about riding horseback, and how that was a lot of fun. Tennis, swimming, bowling] “…that's a good game.”
CAVETT: “If you were forced to not play for two weeks, would something happen in you?…Any chance it would be good for you to force yourself to not think about chess for two weeks to see if…”
FISCHER: “Well, I haven't really been working at chess for a few days, but I think my sub-conscience mind works on it all the time, so… because it seems when I'm not playing or studying or doing anything and I set down to the board, I got a lot of new ideas. Things are coming to me all the time.”
CAVETT: “And you don't know where they came from?”
FISCHER: “They just come, yeah.”
CAVETT: “Do you dream chess moves?”
FISCHER: “No.” (https://youtu.be/zIE3CFNpZ5Y?t=944 So in other words, Mr. Robert Fischer did not “need” Svetozar Gligoric's “pity”. — To answer Cavett's question, “Where” those effortless strokes of genius came from? Robert Fischer had spent nearly the entirety of his adolescent years absorbed in devoted study of chess books written by some of the foremost authorities, absorbing everything like a sponge into his long-term memory, bits of information that may seem irrelevant, are still retained at the sub-conscience level. Not every bit and piece of information is ever utilized immediately, yet, neither was it forgotten. Tucked away and retained in otherwise dormant layers of long-term memory. In due time, given new information, a need for it's recall, new and improved creative concepts flourish and “come to me,” as Fischer states, without need for conscience effort or work. Those diverse concepts were seeded years before, culminating into new ideas when the opportunity to utilize them is presented. A great artist like Fischer isn't so much “born that way” as much as he develops himself into becoming one.])
DEDICATION and knowledge of book variations, particularly after his own almost invariable favorite opening: 1. P-K4, are part of the explanation of Bobby's strength.
He has been eight times U.S. champion, starting at age 14; his record of 21 successive victories against world class opponents in 1970-71 will probably never be beaten unless he does so himself.
To qualify for his match with Spassky, Bobby defeated Mark Taimanov, of Russia and Bent Larsen of Denmark, 6-0, and ex-champion Tigran Petrosian, of Russia, 6½-2½: this exceptional achievement can be judged by the statistic that at this level of top caliber chess about two thirds of the games are normally drawn.
International rating lists show Fischer not only the best of all time; the computer prediction is that he will beat Spassky 12½-8½, and Ladbrokes quote him as a 2-1 favorite. Commentators speak of “Fischer-fear” among his opponents; his three match victims in the championship eliminators notched up between them two high blood pressures and one nervous exhaustion.
THERE are other chess players who know a mass of opening systems and play with great ambition to win; the extras which set Bobby apart are an ability to isolate a single winning theme from a mass of complications, and a highly-developed capacity for chess visualization and recall. Before Bobby came into world chess, Capablanca was the player with the greatest natural talent:
Capa was simple, direct, logical, always aiming for a favorable endgame here his advantage could be driven home without unnecessary difficulties or risks.
In Bobby's hands, this pure, classical style is almost a cult aiming at a special kind of chess truth. Technically, the Capa element in Fischer's style comes out in his skill in rook and bishop against rook and knight endings, a type of endgame where Spassky's technique is a little suspect. As for visualizing, Bobby is said to remember every major game he has ever played.
Even if the claim may be part of the Fischer publicity machine, there is good scientific evidence to show that natural ability in chess can be diagnosed from a single position.
The Dutch experimental psychologist and chess international Adriaan de Groot in his book, Though and Choice in Chess, tells of a photo of an actual game which was shown as an unfamiliar position to chess players of various strengths for five seconds, after which he asked them to reconstruct it from memory. Differences in chess ranking showed dramatically.
Dr. Max Euwe, former world champion, reconstructed it perfectly, and Fischer or Spassky would be able to do likewise. A lower-ranked master made one small error, but county standard, club and average players made all kinds of mistakes and omissions.
A master can perceive the position in large units such as supporting pieces or pawn structure, and even has an impression within the five seconds of which side has the better game.
WHILE Fischer has talked and trained as if he were already champion Spassky has been preparing with a team of helpers who include Ewfim Geller, the Russian with the best record against Fischer apart from Spassky himself and Nikolai Krogius, a scholarly statistical psychologist whose function seems to be mainly to give homely advice and platitudes.
The third member of Spassky's group, Ivo Nei, is an openings expert who specializes in queen's pawn openings—the minority who forecast Spassky to keep his title reckon that Fischer won't have a good defence if Spassky opens 1. P-Q4.
Boris Spassky, 35, and world champion since he beat Petrosian in 1969, is six years older than Fischer but still within the prime of life period for a chess master which runs from the late twenties to the middle thirties (younger players have not yet developed the experience and stability for consistently good top level results, while older grandmasters get tired in the final phase of the stamina-testing five-hour session which is universal in international contests.)
Spassky, the self-confessed “lazy Russian bear,” has prepared harder for this match than for any other chess event in his life. Whether the preparations will offset his mediocre form of the past two years is an open question.
One fellow chess master has claimed that Boris unconsciously wants to lose the match, and in a recent interview he said that he would feel happier when he was no longer champion.
Though the champion keeps the title if the match is drawn 12-12. Spassky regards this as a handicap for himself: “That rule lures the champion towards cautious tactics with the motto not to lose the game: and such tactics can be terribly dangerous.”
SPASSKY has the burden of defending not only the title itself but the whole Soviet chess hegemony of the past 25 years. The paradox is that Spassky, though a hero of the chess public and Sovietsky Sport's Sportsman of the Year in 1969 has a background of conflict with chess officials and was reportedly openly critical of the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
How will the match go and who will win? On results and ratings there is only one player in it — Fischer. There are just three factors which give Spassky a chance of keeping his title. First is his excellent personal record against Fischer of 4-1, which has been achieved by clever psychological chess, steering the game by pawn sacrifices into just the unclear situations, without positional landmarks which Fischer dislikes. “Yeah, Spassky used to defeat me, but those were awfully bad games,” said Bobby to an interviewer.
SECONDLY there is the technical factor that the defenses which Fischer relies upon against the queen's pawn—the Grunfeld, King's Indian and Benoni — all have some theoretical doubts attached to them at the moment. If Spassky can blunt Fischer's attacks when the American is White and can himself score well with 1. P-Q4, then he's in business.
Finally, Fischer's supporters will fear most of all that Bobby's self-destructive streak which has produced walkouts from major world events ([a couple walkouts, when organizers and a referee were breaking the rules, unseemly behavior such as discrimination against the religious observance of the seventh day Sabbath, then unleashing a flood of antisemitic smears to excuse such behavior. And in the other case, the referee never acquired Fischer's consent, changing the scheduled start time to accommodate the referee's personal scheduled trip to the San Francisco Open. The whole tournament between Fischer and Reshevsky ended in a trainwreck, due to thoughtless actions and bad faith on behalf of judges and organizers]) will produce the first default in a world championship. Bobby has criticized the choice of Iceland for the match as “primitive” and has complained that he will be spied on by the Soviet Russians and badgered by the press while he stays there. ([which, is no overstatement of the current events. Not only spied on, but outlandish exaggerations and allegations… contradictory and offensively refutable allegations flooding the world press to sell papers with a sensational headline and mockery of actual events])
If Bobby finds himself two or three games down, there is a risk that the match will end prematurely ([and that's precisely what the Soviets were counting on when they misled Fischer to erroneously assume the “cameras” would consist of automated, stationary video tape “closed-circuit cameras” versus crews of visually and audibly disruptive men, responsible for operating several large, bulky television cameras… swarming Fischer in the main auditorium, hoping Fischer's concentration might be blown resulting in the forfeit or loss of some games and gambling on Fischer to just throw in the towel and default the challenge for the title. But the Soviets miscalculated]). On balance however, I expect Fischer to win comfortably though not overwhelmingly, with a final margin between 12½-9½ and 12½-6½.
Chess No Longer Considered A Game for Slow-Moving Graybeards 19 Jul 1972, Wed The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
