Edmonton Journal Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Wednesday, July 05, 1972 - Page 4
Dangerous Sport
Chess has hit the headlines, just like riots and warfare — which it increasingly resembles.
As Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky posture, maneuver and vituperate in terms reminiscent of international political exchanges at the height of the cold war, the Western public is somewhat startled by the plethora of unaccustomed news bulletins tracking the tumultuous course of events. (In the Soviet Union chess has long been big news, but perhaps not for quite the same reasons as present.)
Those unacquainted with the world of serious competitive chess have tended to cherish an image of the chess player as a kindly relaxed old boy, not given to much verbal self-expression, but puffing placidly upon his friendly pipe while satisfyingly sunk in profound meditation. They picture him — like the angler — as being of a contemplative and philosophic turn of mind, and breaking his impressive silences only to utter occasional phrases of deep and affecting wisdom and significance.
They are, of course, wholly mistaken. Competitive chess players—even those who only play for what is somewhat optimistically described as the love of the game—are notoriously articulate and are frequently disputative to the point of litigation and cantankerous. Now that chess has supplanted politics as the staple of East-West exchanges, there is no reason to assume this involves a lowering of temperatures or a diminution in invective. Nor, if Mr. Fischer has his way, will it seemingly entail even a reduction in the financial burdens involved.
Nobody should be surprised that chess, though more sedentary, is just as aggressive and combative as other sports.
Scenes and law suits have long been commonplace in tennis, swimming, golf and other pursuits once thought genteel and likely to contribute to goodwill and contentment.
Hundreds of years of experience with institutions like the Olympic Games and international sporting competitions should have left no one in doubt that sport is second only to war—which it seems often quite likely to precipitate—as a force for destruction in human relations.
One shudders to think what the effect will be when, later this year, Canada and Russia confront each other on the hockey rink instead of in the chambers of diplomacy.
Dangerous Sport 05 Jul 1972, Wed Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Newspapers.com
