26 September 2015
70th Anniversary of USA vs. USSR Radio Chess Match Marked in Moscow
Employees of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were among the guests.
Moscow's National Public Library for Science and Technologies hosted an evening party dedicated to the opening of the photo exhibition "The 70th Anniversary of the USA vs. USSR Radio Chess Match 1945" and "The Fischer ― Spassky World Championship Match, Reykjavik, 1972". To recap, the USA vs. USSR radio match was held from September 1 till 4, 1945 on 10 boards in two rounds and finished with a score 15.5-4.5 in favor of the Soviet team. In the Reykjavik World Chess Championship Match, Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky with a score 12.5-8.5.
Doctor of Technical Sciences Professor Yakov Shraiberg, the library's CEO; Magia Krause, Information Resource Officer for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow; and Yuri Averbakh, the world's oldest grandmaster and chief expert of the library's Chess Culture and Information Center, spoke before the audience.
Averbakh himself didn't play in the historical match, but worked as a supervisor there. The party was moderated by the center's Senior Research Fellow Sergei Voronkov.
Unfortunately, the 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky was unable to join the gathering. This is what Voronkov said:
"I talked to Boris a couple of times over the past few days, trying to talk him into coming to this party, even more so since he had already been to our library twice. He said that he would have loved to come, but he was packed and ready to go to Berlin for some event. 'What is it dedicated to?' ― 'They're going to share memories of the Reykjavik match. I was invited as an honorary guest. I will be like the elephant from Krylov's fable there. Do you remember that? "Along the streets Big Elephant was led, to show him off, most likely..." What comes next? "Since elephants are not a common thing to see, a crowd of gapers followed on his heels." That's how they are going to lead me!'
"I was upset that Spassky wouldn't come, but found a solution: I asked him what he would like to say about Fischer so I can read it to the guests. He kindly agreed.
'I have kept good memories of Fischer. I don't hold any grudge against him. I always forgave him for behaving like a child. Bobby was very nice and friendly. He loved children and pets. He was a passionate cat lover! I prefer cats to dogs too, just like Bobby did. Did he have cats? I don't think so. But I've never been to his place. I would love to see his home in Pasadena, but I never got there. His home was robbed, and almost the entire archive disappeared... I want to save my archive which I left in Paris. I am going to turn to Ilymzhinov and FIDE for help. I have a small archive in Moscow, but that's just a small part...
'My memories of Bobby are very pleasant. He was a tragic kind of person. I felt it watching him back in 1958, when he and his sister came to Moscow. Yes, I was at the Central Chess Club back then and watched him play blitz games, and Bronshtein watched him too. I remember Petrosian being there too. For Bobby, this was a sad experience, he didn't get to see any sights in Moscow. He only sat at the club for whole days and played. And then he was asked o leave Moscow... Yes, this was a sad experience for him. And one thing remained a mystery for him: why he had such a huge number of fans in Russia! I know that during the match in Reykjavik many people rooted for him too...
'He believed that all Soviet grandmasters were KGB officers. I asked him jokingly: "Bobby, am I a KGB officer too?" He was silent... "Well, as soon as I become a Colonel, I'll invite you to a restaurant!" I promised him.
'He held no respect for Karpov, or Kasparov, or Korchnoi, or Campomanes. Do you know what he called them? Karpy, Kaspy, Korchy, and Campy...
'Bobby found himself in a zugzwang in Iceland. The Americans insisted on his extradition to the United States, and he couldn't leave the island as he feared an arrest. And he died because he didn't trust doctors. He had serious problems with kidneys but refused to be operated on... He even dissuaded me when I had acute appendicitis during my match with Hort. He called me and said that I mustn't go to hospital. He thought that, like himself, I was on "the black list" and could be disposed of through the hands of doctors...
'When he was in the Japanese prison, I wrote a letter to the U.S. president and sent it to Miyoko Watai, his last very close friend. She passed the letter to the Americans, but it didn't go any further... I wrote there that they should put Fischer and myself in the same cell, give us a chessboard and leave us alone!' "
Photos by Vladimir Barsky
