By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso
They called it the match of the century, the greatest confrontation in chess ever. I’ll take you back to the summer of 1972 when chess, for a few weeks, was king and larger than life.
The main characters were the eccentric and charismatic American genius Bobby Fischer and the stoic chess prodigy Boris Spassky, the Soviet Union’s greatest hero and “proof” of communist supremacy.
Only those who were old enough and witness to this great event can understand the legend of Bobby Fischer and why chess players are still fascinated by this particular match-up to this day.
It was a microcosm of the Cold War; each player would bear the responsibility of his country’s honor. Every chess player in the world was closely watching the match and suffering the antics of Fischer. If he won, he would instantly become the legend who had single-handedly defeated the vast Soviet chess machine and the system that spawned it.
On the way to the championship, Fischer was a phenomenon making headlines as he whitewashed Bent Larsen and Mark Taimanov and demolished the solid Tigran Petrosian. Larsen was never the same again and Taimanov was hospitalized and never played competitive chess after his shocking loss. Bobby was unstoppable but can he beat Spassky?
PERSONALITIES. There were several personalities who were directly involved in the match. First there was the young television executive named Mike Chase. He was an avid chess player and a member of the Marshall Club. He knew there was a terrific story about the Fischer/Spassky match. He said, “No one believed then that chess could be a spectator sports. The only way to capture the American public was to televise the games live.”
Chase got approval from the public television WNET and created what would prove to be an historic event. He invited a co-member of the Marshall Club, Shelby Lyman, for commentary on the demo boards, and grandmaster Edmar Mednis for in-depth analysis. He also had his wife Chris handle the introduction and chitchat.
Their chemistry was electric. As the match went on, New Yorkers loved it and soon the match spread around the country and around the world. At bars around the city, televisions were tuned to chess instead of baseball, housewives would write down the moves for their husbands who wanted to know what Mednis said.
“As the games went on,” Chris later wrote, “the match became a rage, a fad and a hit show. Everyday the switchboards would lit up with people trying to help Bobby make his next move.
Reviewers were saying it was great entertainment, even addictive, and people who did not play or understand chess would watch it anyway. Even little girls would bake cookies for Shelby.”
The show was tremendously important for several reasons. It was the first-ever coverage of a chess match, and five hours for every game at that. It popularized the game all over the world as never before and put chess, which was considered a parlor game, into mainstream sports.
Chess players were respected as real, interesting and creative individuals totally at odds with the caricatures – screwballs, layabouts, absentminded – current at that time. And finally, chess professionals now have much to thank the match as prize money rose and appearances became fashionable.
Edmar Mednis, who has passed away, would later visit Cebu upon Cepca’s Invitation and play a simultaneous exhibition match with our members. He was a chemical engineer, like myself, and was also a stockbroker. He once defeated Fischer while playing black and wrote the best-seller “How to beat Bobby Fischer.”
Bobby, of course, won the match in Reykjavik but that is another story.
PUZZLE. In my previous column, I posed to my readers the famous Einstein puzzle, which drew quite a number of responses. Thirty-two of my readers were able to solve the puzzle and I received quite a number of comments. Here is a puzzle that will surely challenge you.
Five sisters all have their birthday in a different month and each on different day of the week. Using the clues below, determine the month and day of the week each sister’s birthday falls.
1) Paula was born in March but not on Saturday. Abigail’s birthday was not on Friday or Wednesday. 2) The girl whose birthday is on Monday was born earlier in the year than Brenda and Mary. 3) Tara wasn’t born in February and her birthday was on the weekend. 4) Mary was not born in December nor was her birthday on a weekday. The girl whose birthday was in June was born on Sunday.
5. Tara was born before Brenda, whose birthday wasn’t on Friday. Mary wasn’t born in July.
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