The Tampa Times Tampa, Florida Saturday, March 04, 1972 - Page 5
Refugee from Reds is No. 2 U.S. Chess Genius
When Russian tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia in 1968, chess grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek decided it was time to get out.
The 24-year-old genius was already famous in his homeland as one of the world's leading players, but he knew that wouldn't make any difference.
Much more important to the Communists was the fact that his movie director father had left the country in 1949 to work for Radio Free Europe —not exactly the credentials to make the Kavalek family a favorite of the regime.
The Russian power play thus became the young man's invitation to make a quick exit or risk unpleasant consequences. He chose the former course. Now as a somewhat delayed result the United States has a new world class player who ranks second on the rating list of his adopted country.
Bobby Fischer, of course, is No. 1. Just about everybody knows that by now. But how many Americans could name No. 2?
Try out the name Lubomir Kavalek on the next person you meet, and see if you get anything more than a blank stare and a set of directions to UN headquarters.
Such is the fate of the chess master in this land where the Joe Namaths, the Arnold Palmers and the Willie Mays are kings.
Kavalek's importance to the American chess scene, though, can hardly be overemphasized. The brilliant Czech refugee is looking forward to representing his new country in the chess Olympics at Skopje, Yugoslavia, next fall — and his presence there will give the U.S. team a much better chance of emerging victorious.
Meanwhile, he keeps busy playing in tournaments, working as a writer, broadcaster and translator for the Voice of America, and telling anyone who wants to listen how he found life under communism.
“I had some difficulties with the regime,” he says. “I wanted to study acting or directing, but I wasn't allowed to. Eventually I became a journalist, working for newspapers and magazines, but I felt there was no possibility of writing what I wanted with complete freedom.
“Under a regime like that, you're a machine. The orders come from upstairs. Even after I became famous in chess, I couldn't go to the West to compete in a tournament unless someone came along to watch over me.”
Kavalek's chess career began at the age of 11, when he learned the game from some friends and immediately took to it.
“I was so ambitious that within half a year I called Pachman (Ludek Pachman, a grandmaster and Czechoslovakia's leading player at the time; he has since been arrested and imprisoned by the current regime),” Kavalek recalls.
“It was my Christmas wish that year to play against him,” Kavalek says. “He agreed to meet me, and he explained that chess is not so easy.”
So young Kavalek studied and developed his obvious talent for a couple of years, then worked under Pachman's tutelage for two more.
“I went through theoretical books, and studied five or six hours a day,” he says. “By the time I was 15, I was already pretty strong. I won the championship of Prague. Then when I was 19, I became the youngest person ever to win the Czechoslovakian championship.”
What is it that separates a player of this caliber from the general run of chess enthusiasts? Can it be identified or analyzed?
“It's a matter of talent, but it's hard to describe,” he says. “Some people think it's a question of logic and science, but I still feel it's a game of imagination. Fantasy plays a big role. Also the will to work.”
When he was 21, Kavalek suffered a serious injury in a skiing accident. He lay immobile in a hospital for three months, then had to learn to walk all over again.
After his recovery, he concentrated on chess. He won the international master title, then surged to the international grandmaster rank (the highest there is) with a pair of successes in Bulgaria and East Germany.
And where does Lubomir Kavalek, who at 28 is the same age as Fisher, fit into today's scheme of things? Does he too have world title aspirations?
“If you don't have that ambition, you'd better stop playing chess,” he says. “However, I realize it's very hard to come close to such a player as Bobby if you are working and not playing chess full-time.”
Each world championship cycle runs three years, starting with zonal tournaments around the globe and culminating in the title match. After failing to qualify in 1967, Kavalek had to pass up the 1970 preliminaries while he was moving from country to country, but he plans to compete again in the new cycle which will begin late this year.
“Let's say I'm a little bit skeptical about myself,” he says, “but I feel I have to try.”
