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1994-01-05
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Evans on Chess. December 17, 1993. Copyright by GM Larry Evans.
KREMLIN VS. FISCHER
In a column entitled "Below The Board" based on secret documents from the
former USSR, we reported how ex-world champ Anatoly Karpov and his
accomplices in the KGB bribed Gary Kasparov's aides during title matches in
the 1980s. Other documents surfaced that expose how the Kremlin stymied Bobby
Fischer from getting a match after Karpov took the title from him by default.
Soviet supremacy at chess was a propaganda tool in the cold war. Syndicated
columnist Max Lerner noted the significance of Fischer's victory over Boris
Spassky in 1972: "The Russians are in despair as they should be. Their run of
champions has been broken. Worst of all it was done by a flamboyant,
neurotic, authentic individual, against all the collective balderdash which
says the individual is a cipher."
The Kremlin feared that Spassky, after losing the crown, might defect to the
corrupt monied West. He was harassed by faceless functionaries when he got
back to Moscow and later emigrated to France.
In 1975 Fischer demanded new rules in his title defense against Karpov, the
darling of the Kremlin. "But the Soviets were quick and merciless in opposing
these changes, clearly having in mind the scenario, which turned out to be
correct, that Fischer would default the match rather than give in," explained
Ray Keene recently in the London Times.
The manuscript of RUSSIANS VERSUS FISCHER written in part by Yuri Averbach, a
Stalin-era chess champ, cites hitherto secret files of the Communist Party's
Central Committee. This damning letter #3403C dated October 20, 1976 was
signed by Politburo member Mikhail Suslov, second in command behind Brezhnev
and the country's chief idealogue. It shows how Karpov acted in bad faith
when he met Fischer that year in Tokyo to arrange a title match the whole
world was waiting for:
"The USSR sports committee continues to consider it inexpedient
in principle for such a match to be held. If Fischer and his
associates propose specific conditions, we consider it expedient
to drag out the talks and, jointly with Karpov, work out counter-
proposals that would be unacceptable to Fischer."
Averbach was a longtime delegate to FIDE, the World Chess Federation whose
structure mirrors the old Kremlin. He writes: "Fischer was incensed when they
rejected his proposal that in case of a 9-9 score the champion should retain
the title. FIDE clearly supported the Soviet challenger who, upon becoming
champion, went on to secure much greater privileges for himself."
Keene, who organized the $2.5 million Times World Championship in London
which Kasparov won in 1993, concludes: "FIDE is a prehistoric relic. The
meltdown of their match between Timman and Karpov, half completed in
Amsterdam but with the Omani section totally blown away and barely revived
many weeks later in Jakarta, was symbolic of the plight of two institutions
-- the USSR itself and FIDE -- which no longer conform to the realities of
the modern world."