AChicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, August 02, 1992 - Page 58
Deja Vu in '92
In sports, we've seen famous comeback attempts, but perhaps nothing quite like what Bobby Fischer proposes.
Those older than 35 surely recall the national mania of 1972 when, at the depths of the Cold War, Fischer toppled Russia's Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, to become the first American to win the world chess championship.
Even those who, like myself, knew zilch about chess were captivated. When New York's public-TV station switched from one evening's account to the Democratic National Convention (the one that picked Eagleton), it was flooded with calls from irate listeners and soon returned to chess.
Last week came word that Fischer and Spassky have apparently agreed to play a $5 million exhibition in September, that would start on a Yugoslav island and conclude in Belgrade. A Belgrade banker is the moneybags behind the event.
Fischer, 49, is a bachelor said to live in South Pasadena, Calif. You can never be sure.
Even the insular world of chess knows little about his doings. When word spread about the exhibition, everybody was stunned, including one-time Fischer chums such as grandmaster Robert Byrne.
“We never expected this,” said Byrne, chess writer for The New York Times and a quarter-finalist at the 1974 world championship. “I've been given lots of explanations as to why but don't believe any of them. Even if he shows up and begins the match, will he really finish?” ([Ah! Like when antisemitic organizers trampled Fischer's reverence at Tunisia, forcing the ultimatum to break his Sabbath, or forfeit, while he was in the lead? Sure he walked out. Just as many Sunday-keepers refused to accept jobs when required to break what they call the “Lord's Day”. Or when Referee Irving Rivise, gave Fischer the ultimatum of forfeit, or be willing to start his match with Reshevsky at 11 a.m. Never once did organizers get Fischer's permission to change the starting time. The time was changed to suit Rivise's own personal schedule, which had him driving to San Francisco to the U.S. Open the following day. Yes… Fischer refused to cave to organizer extortion tactics, and good for him standing up to establishment bullies!])
Meanwhile, the sport's upper echelons came to revere his talent but scorn his taking the game to an unprecedented height and then quitting without defending the crown. ([Well, they should take a step back, look in the mirror, and observe the horrible things they've uttered, put in print and through a flood of vicious defamation of Mr. Fischer, destroyed what little remained of Fischer's interests to work, and bolster public interest in petty backbiters who have nothing better to do than spread common slander.])
There may be self-interest underlying the chagrin. His departure meant the game returned to its virtual anonymity, leaving fewer financial opportunities for those who remained. ([Yep. Don't know what they had till it was gone… and what about that lawsuit against Brad Darrach's army of lawyers. How the chess world gleefully waved that book around as if it were factual “gospel” vs. what it really was: criminal libel and defamation. Who cares about facts? Fischer did, that's who. They got exactly what they deserved when Fischer gave them 20 years cold shoulder treatment. When Fischer was repelled by Frank Brady's fiction… who cared to hear Fischer's side of the story? When Fischer was repelled by Larry Evan's grasping for his own fame and glory… who sought out Fischer to tell his side of the story? No… they loved their gossip, defamation and slander for their own personal profiting off Fischer's back, much more than a boring, truthful account. So they bellyache that Fischer abandoned chess? Did anyone shed a tear that Fischer was robbed of his prize money by unscrupulous lawyers, or that people were smearing his character in the public press? No? Of course not.])
But what really is the deal with Fischer?
More relevant, can one lay off top competition for 20 years and return without embarrassing yourself?
“For anybody else, I'd say it's ridiculous,” Byrne said. “With Fischer? I don't know. He was that good.
“He's probably the greatest genius the game has ever had. I've heard third-hand reports that he studies the latest chess openings, so I'd bet he's up on the latest stuff.”
Byrne said he called Spassky, who's “as honest as the day is long” and lives in Paris, to get his reaction last week. The reaction?
“We just laughed,” Byrne said.
“We really used up most of our time laughing.”
“Boris can't believe this might actually happen.”
Caption: Former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer is proposing what may be the most difficult comeback attempt ever.
Deja Vu in '92 02 Aug 1992, Sun Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.com
