A story that one should not see as an East-West battle … but I can’t help doing so, after the jump ….
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Just this week, the men’s world chess champion defended his title in New York, as Norway’s Magnus Carlsen fought his Russian opponent Sergey Karjakin to a draw (over a three-week span) … and then Carlsen won a series of tie-breakers on Wednesday to retain his championship ….. and, on his 26th birthday, too!
Magnus Carlsen spent part of his youth in both Finland and Belgium, but his family returned to Norway by age eight. He won the world championship in 2013, and successfully defended it in 2014. And he has helped raise over a million dollars as the honorary chairman of America's Foundation for Chess — which places a priority on improving children’s critical thinking skills.
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)Admittedly, I haven’t had much time to follow this tournament — in fact, I wasn’t even aware it would take place in New York until three months ago. Having a very full-time job, blogging, visiting family and friends for Thanksgiving (and nursing a cold the past few days) left little time to follow it.
Such was not the case in the summer of 1972: when I watched the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky championship match (held in Reykjaik, Iceland) during the summer school break (July-August) that was broadcast on PBS. It probably would not have been approved (except that summer was a slow season for PBS in 1972) and was not a sleek production … yet it was quite real.
Boris Spassky (USSR, left) and Bobby Fischer (USA, right)It began as a local show (on Channel 13 in my native New York) and then was picked-up by other stations. The matches were held during the afternoons (Eastern Time) and patrons in bars were heard to want to switch from baseball games… to chess. It was hosted in Albany, New York by Shelby Lyman — who was always saying “This is the position”, as he worked his way from the Game board (showing the actual position in the game) to his Analysis board, where he and his guests could anticipate/test-out the next moves (can’t find an old photo of him). He went on to have a syndicated newspaper column on chess.
Shelby Lyman todayHis in-studio guests were Bruce Pandolfini, Eugene Meyer and others, and whenever the next move came in: a bell sounded and Lyman was handed a sheet of paper, so he could change the official Game board … and begin analysis anew.
Shelby was often on the phone with the Latvian-born head of the Marshall Chess Club in Manhattan …. “Edmar, what do you think about Spassky’s latest move?”
Bruce Pandolfini (in the 70s) Edmar Mednis (1937-2002)And as a fifteen year-old, I was caught-up in the Cold War aspect of the match, wanting to beat the Soviets, even though Bobby Fischer was quite a jerk, uncertain whether he would play.
In time: he turned out to be much, much more than a jerk (a brilliant, yet truly loathsome figure) who was stripped of his title for failing to defend it after making ever increasing demands. I like the title of his 2008 obituary in The Guardian: A Madman Driven Sane by Chess.
In addition, Boris Spassky (who is still alive at age 79) was anything but the Soviet apparatchik he was then described as (which was more applicable to the champion who succeeded Fischer, named Anatoly Karpov).
Still, Fischer’s victory was a major event that changed the world of chess, with most chess historians record the history of chess in the USA as “Before Fischer” and “After Fischer”. Future champion Garry Kasparov— who was 9 years old at that time, and a star in Baku, Azerbaijan (then a Soviet republic) — said that Fischer “single-handedly revitalized a game that had been stagnating under the control of the Communists of the Soviet sports hierarchy”.
Fast-forward to 2016, where Carlsen (the unassuming Norwegian) suddenly became the defender of Western values. Because his challenger Sergey Karjakin— who became the world's youngest chess grandmaster (at the age of 12 years, 7 months) — is an ethnic Russian who grew up in the city of Simferopol, Crimea …. and thus a citizen of Ukraine …. who supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and whose jingoism is said to be “More Putin than Putin”.
The Guardian has a more sober editorial, advising against beginning a new Cold War in chess:
It is wrong to portray him as a Ukrainian turncoat. He is an ethnic Russian who chose to side with Moscow on both patriotic and pragmatic grounds – in Russia he could get more skilled coaches and attract more sponsors. We can question the wisdom of his close identification with Vladimir Putin, but it is as a chess player that we should judge him.
Well said ….. ahhhh, who the hell am I kidding?!? Given what happened with outside interference with our presidential election, I won’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Hooray for Magnus Carlsen — even if he is an “imperialist running dog”, I’m glad that Vladimir Putin took one on the chin. Happy birthday, champ!
From this past week’s championship matchesIn honor of his 83rd birthday the other day: let’s close with an instrumental from one of the British blues ambassadors, John Mayall:
x YouTube VideoNow, on to Top Comments:
Highlighted by evolvingplanet:
In the diary by dano2l, offering a counterpoint to the much-talked-about rant by Markos — bluehammer offers a different take on identity politics.And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the front-page story about the unwillingness to concede the North Carolina gubernatorial race by Pat McCrory — a perplexed Anne Elk wonders … what has truly become of the Tar Heel State?
And in the diary by ursulafaw, praying that a comment by Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes on the Diane Rehm radio show — “There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore of facts” — will not lead to George Orwell’s “1984” ….... a helpful lynneinfla thinks Lewis Carroll might be just as apt a reference as Orwell.
And lastly: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
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