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Dear chess friends,
I would like to present an interview with Fridrik Olafsson who was president
of FIDE from 1978 (when former World Champion Max Euwe from Holland stepped
down) until 1982 when he lost to Campomanes. Fridrik was himself strong GM and
knew all the top World Championship title contenders. He witnessed the match of
the century between Boriss Spassky and Bobby Fischer in his homeland in
Reykjavik in 1972. This was the match between two superpowers the Soviet Union
contra the USA.
Question: Dear Fridrik we would like to hear about Spassky-Fischer match which was held
in Reykjavik in 1972?
Fridrik Olafsson: The match was played between reigning world champion
Spassky and legendary Bobby Fischer. It`s true that he was a legend before the
match already. It comes far beyond than chess. It received attention all over
the world as other things were involved. The cold war was still going on and the
players represented the two superpowers. There were ingredients to make it
fascinating for people. I would say for humanity. It was to show which
superpower was dominating in this respect. So it’s right to say that the world
came here or was looking at what’s going on. It is difficult to explain or to
describe all events that took place. It’s beyond normal life of people here in
Iceland. There was a wave of enthusiasm and interest in chess. It meant a lot
for chess and you have to go back 30 years to know what was the impact of the
whole event. After the win of Bobby Fischer chess gained a lot of popularity. A
man from the country with few chess player could defeat an “empire”.
Question: How many correspondents were present in Reykjavik?
Fridrik Olafsson: They were not present all at one time but you could easily say that
in hundreds. Besides there was also the local media TV, radio and the
newspapers. There was an invasion of newspapers and many journalist did not know
much about chess but were impressed by the battle of two giants. The Icelandic
journalist were polite while talking to the team members of Fischer and Spassky,
but the foreigners pushed people aside and rushed forward. It was the first time
local journalists understood what the media was all about.: If the organizers
could foresee what would happen they would have thought twice before taking the
match and carrying it through. Happily enough we did not know and it took a lot
to have the match here and to get Bobby Fischer to Iceland which is a special
chapter itself and could be described at length but his reasons are well known.
He came to Iceland and played and became the most famous winner in world
championship match ever. I think that has never been surpassed. In my mind
despite of the mistakes made in the match specially by Spassky who was under
enormous pressure. The player were in the different situations. Spassky was
under pressure of his own regime and authorities but he wanted to play and he
was sure, quite confident that he’ll win. On the other side was Bobby by
himself with the great will power and carisma. He’s team was different. They
were not putting pressure on him they were just doing what they were told.
Spassky had a team telling him what to do. I remember once when Bobby did not
show up before the second game he was not behaving very nicely. He insulted the
hosts, the organizers and his opponent. So it was understandable that he was
told not behaving decently having insulted the organizers, Spassky personally
and his country. Spassky could have said the match is over, I can go home now
but Spassky did not want to do that. He would think that if the match ended this
way everybody would say well we know who is the strongest. This is something
that happened to Karpov who did not play Fischer because of his demands and
special rules. In this part Boris was right but I think this affected him
psychologically during the match. I asked Boris how this will affect you? It
must be playing on your nerves. You should be able to sit in your room and have
quiet time. You are fighting all the time to save the match. He answered me that
he was not a child.
Question: What about the duration of the match.
Fridrik Olafsson: The second game was crucial. Everybody thought it was the end of it
as it was not played. In the end Bobby agreed to play in the room which was
separated from the spectators. Only two players and the referee. You could see
the players only through the camera. Later Spassky said that he agreed to play
in this room because it was the only way to save the match,
Question: The second game?
Fridrik Olafsson: Bobby did not play the second game because he complained about the
cameras which were disturbing him, It was difficult question because Mr. Fox was
in charge the countryman of Fischer and had the rights to film the match.
According to the complaint Bobby could easily see the cameras, they were moving
around. Later it was changed in the way that you could not see the cameras. Only
small holes were seen not the people behind cameras. But still Bobby was not
satisfied with this. When asked why is this he answered that he still knew there
were people behind these holes. Probably there were some disagreements between
Fox and Fischer but we did not know about it.
Question: The broadcasts were later sold to other companies?
Fridrik Olafsson: We later had other companies in the sixth or seventh round. I
remember when I went to see Bobby before the second game. We had played
frequently in the same tournaments. People thought I could talk him into playing
somehow. But he seemed to think that the organizers were on the soviet side. I
told him this was not true. He was trying to make his point. At that time we had
government who was a bit left side. One of the agendas of the government was to
get side of the NATO base. It was possible that Bobby knew about it. I knew it
was connected in some ways. Later he talked about pro Soviet government and I
could not prove otherwise. He was very upset about everything.
Question: Where did the teams stayed in Reykjavik.
Fridrik Olafsson: They were in different hotels. Bobby had also access to a private
house. Before Bobby entered the scene there was not much attention paid on
chess. Part of the problem was that it was monopolized by the Soviet Union.
There were no big companies which wanted to support chess and I am quite sure
that the Soviets did not want to be a money matter. If you think only money and
try to sell chess it is lowering the game. The Soviets tried keep chess to
themselves not to get it loose in the hands of market forces. When Fischer came
on scene and won a match after match the things changed. And the sponsors
thought that it’s good to spend money on him. As soon as Bobby was declared a
winner all the companies were after him.
Question: What about the image of Bobby?
Fridrik Olafsson: I am telling you that I think people may be were mislead by behavior
or appearance of Bobby in so much personal life he did not seem to care very
much life in general you know and if you discuss with him matters of
international contour unless it was something that he had very special interest.
But I remember that one of the main problems when we were trying to get him to
play in Iceland and one of his objections was that it would be very difficult to
have live representation of the match because of that time Iceland was rather
isolated. We did not have this kind of equipment to make live show
simultaneously. I think if you consider this objection he had something in his
mind and he wanted to spread this match all over the world. So I say that his
objection had some bases. He wanted to know all the world what was going on.
Commentary by Jaan Ehlvest:
As we see there is not any more this kind of superpowers conflict left.
Recent World Championship match between Kosteniuk and Zhu Chen in Moscow was
however some kind of competition between Russia and China. China prevailed this
time. An interview to the RTR TV station father of the vice champion pointed out
that in Russia there was not any help from any organization and so she was
fighting alone against China. We all know that today Russia is not any more
country with strict system, but the liberal politics hearts chess. How the
system works in China we do not have any information. There is rumors that they
the chess players must give away all their prize money. OK this is an other
topic and we probably have a chance to know everything in future. What about
Bobby today, is there any chance that Bobby is going to publish his own memoirs.
Unlikely because the latest news are that he is getting an agreement with
Japanese company to produce his so called Fischer clocks. This royalties
probably keeps him away to reveal any secrets of his own.
On the 16th of January the final match between two GM-s from Ukraine
Ivanchuk and Ponomariov starts in Moscow. I will comment all this six games,
each every day on Ehlvest.com. Enjoy.
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