Endgame (61 page)

52
Nigro noted with proud amusement that his protégé was watching carefully
Author’s conversation with Carmine Nigro, May 1955, Brooklyn, NY.

53
Dr. Fine wasn’t playing for the United States CR
, July 1954, p. 199.

54
the man Bobby had played in a simultaneous exhibition three years previously
Ibid.

55
“He seemed to be a nice kid, somewhat shy”
Interview of Allen Kaufman by author, March 16, 2009.

56
“Chess spectators are like Dodger fans with laryngitis” NYT
, June 23, 1954, p. 27.

57
“No matter how talented by natural heritage, the amateur lacks that sometimes brutal precision” CL
, July 5, 1954, p. 4.

58
The following year, in July 1955 NYT
, July 7, 1955, p. 33.

59
There Khrushchev issued a policy statement NYT
, July 5, 1955, p. 1.

60
“Mr. Nigro introduced me around and when I got better it was easier to get a game.”
BFE, p. 2.

61
Kibitzers, always free with mostly unwanted advice
BFE, p. 5.

62
“Mr. Nigro, when is the food coming?”
Author’s conversation with Carmine Nigro, May 1956, New York.

63
So involved was Bobby in his games NYT
, June 20, 1955, p. 42.

64
Bobby was highly indignant PRO
, p. 10.

65
“We were glad when it was over”
BFE, p. 5.

66
He finished fifteenth, and was awarded a ballpoint pen NYT
, October 3, 1955, p. 27.

67
A few weeks later, however, while walking with his mother
BFE, p. 5.

68
The New York Times
ran a small story about the results NYT
, October 3, 1955, p. 27.

69
“My grandfather had shown little interest in [me] and knew nothing about chess.”
BFE, p. 5.

Regina Fischer’s diary entries about Bobby’s trip to Cuba offered illuminating anecdotes about his interactions with his teammates. Interviews of players such as James T. Sherwin, Allen Kaufman, and Anthony Saidy, and extracts from Bobby’s autobiographical essay, also elucidate aspects of his life at this time.

1
“We were looking for [a way] to get out of the heat …”
BFE, p. 4.

2
“I was so impressed by his play that I introduced the 12-year old to Maurice Kasper, the president of the club”
Letter from Walter Shipman, March 31, 2009, FB.

3
“perhaps half of all of the greatest players of the past hundred years have been Jews”
Saidy and Lessing, p. 179.

4
“I adored playing with Bobby”
Interview of Dr. Stuart Margulies by the author, February 19, 2009.

5
Nevertheless, the boy was impressed at being in the presence of a champion
Note by Bobby Fischer, undated, circa September 1955, FB.

6
Eighty-year-old Harold M. Phillips, a master and member of the board, wistfully
likened Bobby’s style of play
Author’s conversation with Harold M. Phillips, circa 1964, New York.

7
“You can’t win
every
game. Just do your best
every
time.”
BFE, p. 5.

8
“He would just get real quiet, twist that dog tag even more and immediately set up the pieces to play again.”
Mike Franett, “The Man Who Knew Bobby Fischer,”
Chess
, September 2001, pp. 8–10.

9
Regina called Bobby every day at an arranged time to see if he was all right
Press release, undated, circa March 1956, MCF.

10
“It gave me a big thrill”
BFE, p. 4.

11
One player, William Schneider, said he was embarrassed when he and Laucks—sporting his swastika
Interview of William Schneider by the author, circa 2005, New York.

12
Bobby gave a twelve-board simultaneous exhibition against members of the club and won ten and drew two
BFE, p. 8.

13
“The Cubans seem to take chess more seriously”
BFE, p. 5.

14
The New York Times
took notice of the Log Cabin tour NYT
, March 5, 1956. p. 36.

15
the unstructured routine enabled him
BFE, p. 5.

16
he disliked “any kind of formality and ceremony.”
BFE, p. 5.

17
“Bobby Fischer rang my doorbell one afternoon”
Collins, pp. 34–35.

18
The short, stunted man confined to a wheelchair and the growing boy went to movies
Peter Marks, “The Man Who Was Fischer’s Chess Mentor,”
Newsday
, September 28, 1992, p. 39.

19
Bobby said that he always felt Nigro was more of a friend than a teacher
BFE, p. 2.

20
With pupils, he’d often just set up a position and say, “Let’s look at this”
Interview of Allen Kaufman by author, March 16, 2009.

21
“I
think Jack helped Bobby psychologically, with chess fightingness”
Interview of James T. Sherwin by author, February 29, 2009.

22
“geniuses like Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci”
Collins, pp. 48–49.

23
She persuaded Maurice Kasper of the Manhattan Chess Club to give her $125 toward Bobby’s expenses
Letter from Regina Fischer to Maurice Kasper, June 24, 1956, MCF.

24
Bobby played a twenty-one-game simultaneous exhibition
International Photo, undated, FB.

25
Some of America’s youngest but strongest stars had ventured north of the border
Interview of James Sherwin by author, February 27, 2009, by telephone.

26
“I knew I should have won!”
From “Let’s Play Chess,” by William Oaker; clipping from unidentified newspaper, January 18, 1958. FB.

27
Freud held that dream content
Freud, pp. 350–51.

28
“I had no idea that I was talking to a future world’s champion”
Interview of Larry Evans by author, January 2010, by telephone.

29
“I’ll stop coming”
Author’s conversation with Regina Fischer, circa 1958, New York.

30
“Industry!” Regina yelled at Bobby
Conversation between author and Regina Fischer, circa 1956, New York.

31
Bobby’s remembrance of Streisand? “There was this mousey little girl”
Andersen, p. 41.

32
Indeed, he’d already begun making frequent visits to the Marshall
Recollection of author.

33
It was at this club that Cuba’s brilliant José Raúl Capablanca gave his last exhibition
Archives of the Marshall Chess Club, MCF.

34
Bobby’s habitual mufti of T-shirt, wrinkled pants, and sneakers was considered an outrage by Caroline Marshall
Author’s conversation with Caroline Marshall, May 1964.

35
Dark-haired, elegant in speech and dress, the twenty-five-year-old Byrne invariably held a cigarette between two fingers
Observation of author, and Golombek,
Golombek’s Encyclopedia
, p. 52.

36
“The onlookers were invited to sit right next to you”
BFE, p. 3.

37
Then, suddenly, he moved his knight to a square where it could be snapped off CL
, December 1956, p. 374.

28
“It was extraordinary: The game and Bobby’s youth were an unbeatable combination.”
Interview of Allen Kaufman by author, March 16, 2009.

39
As the game progressed, Bobby had only twenty minutes remaining on his clock to make the required forty moves CR
, December 1956, p. 374.

40
He wasn’t absolutely certain he could see the full consequences of allowing Byrne to take his queen
Fischer,
My 60 Memorable Games
, p. 65.

41
“Impossible! Byrne is losing to a 13-year-old nobody.” Hammond Times
, February 24, 1957, p. 15.

42
Yet, other than the rapidity with which he was responding to Byrne’s moves, Bobby showed little emotion NYT
, October 18, 1956, p. 44.

43
“Bobby Fischer’s [performance] sparkles with stupendous originality.” CR
, December 1956, p. 374.

44
Bobby’s game appeared in newspapers throughout the country and chess magazines around the world
Kasparov, p. 213.

45
The British magazine
Chess
relaxed its stiff upper lip, calling Bobby’s effort a game of “great depth and brilliancy” Chess
, November 9, 1956.

46
Chess Life
proclaimed Bobby’s victory nothing short of “fantastic” CL
, November 5, 1956, p. 3.

47
“I just made the moves I thought were best.”
AP wire story, February 24, 1957.

48
David Lawson, a seventy-year-old American whose accent betrayed his Scottish birth NYT
, December 28, 2008.

49
Lawson’s preference for dinner was Luchow’s
Author’s conversation with David Lawson, December 1963, New York.

50
“Many people imagine that the chess club …”
BFE, p. 12.

51
“The King stands for the boy’s penis”
Reuben Fine,
The Psychology of the Chess Player
(New York: Dover Books, 1956), p. 12.

52
“You’ve tricked me”
Fine,
Bobby Fischer’s Conquest of the World’s Chess Championship
, pp. 24–25.

53
“it becomes one of the ironic twists of history”
Ibid.

54
“Ask me something unusual” NYT
, February 23, 1958, p. SM 38.

55
“I went to the phone booth and called my mother …”
BFE, p. 12.

56
“it was the title that really mattered”
BFE, p. 13.

57
“it was, of course, ridiculous for us to consider,”
BFE, p. 13.

58
“Bobby Fischer should finish slightly over the center mark” CR
, January 1958, p. 12.

59
“Reshevsky’s busted.” NYT
, February 23, 1958, p. SM 38.

Letters to Bobby’s teacher, Jack Collins, and to his mother, about his visit to Moscow, followed by his entry into the Interzonal, Portorož 1958, illuminated how he felt about his first international tournament. The FBI files on Regina Fischer and the KGB files as paraphrased in the book
Russians Versus Fischer
also added further evaluative information.

1
hoping to supply information to the House Un-American Activities Committee
Letter to FBI under FOI Act, sent July 24, 2009.

2
To others he proclaimed
Shakhmatny Bulletin
“the best chess magazine in the world”
Johnson, p. 131.

3
Bobby made a mental note of which openings being played around the world won more games than others
Fischer,
My 60 Memorable Games
, p. 18.

4
At the Four Continents, Bobby bought a hardcover Russian-language copy of
The Soviet School of Chess
for $2
. Kotov and Yudovich, p. 8.

5
When Bobby was 14, he gave an interview to a visiting Russian journalist CR
, January 1959, p. 8.

6
“I watch what your grandmasters do.” CR
, January 1959, p. 8.

7
Bobby pored over Buschke’s holdings for hours, looking for that one book PRO
, p. 11.

8
When Bobby won the U.S. Championship, Buschke gave him a $100 gift certificate PRO
, p. 27.

9
Her oft-quoted statement that she’d tried everything
Johnson, p. 127.

10
She also compiled the addresses and telephone numbers
Copies of various address books of Regina Fischer. MCF.

11
I. A. Horowitz, the editor of
Chess Review,
claimed that she was a “pain in the neck”
Author’s conversation with I. A. Horowitz, July 1972, New York.

12
“I hope Bobby will become a great chess champion”
Letter from Regina Fischer to Maurice Kasper, October 1, 1957, MCF.

13
“Keep it up but don’t wear yourself down at it. Swim, nap.”
Letter from Regina Fischer to Bobby Fischer, August 8, 1958, MCF.

14
The
$64,000 Question
was so popular that even President Eisenhower watched it every week
Metz, Robert,
CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye
(New York: NAL, 1976), p. 78.

15
“It made interesting conversation while it lasted, anyway.”
Bobby reflecting on The $64,000 Question in an essay he wrote, circa 1958, MCF.

16
“I’m not afraid of anything,” Regina answered, “and I have nothing to hide.”
FBI file, p. 139.

17
Consequently, there was a sweeping investigation taking place of her activities, past and present
FBI file.

18
The confidential FBI report on Regina
FBI.

19
Undercover agents rifled through Joan Fischer’s records at Brooklyn College
FBI.

20
“My mother,” said Joan Fischer, “is a professional protester.”
Joan Fischer, undated and unsourced clipping, FB.

21
Regina had been “kicked out” of the Communist Party
FBI report to the director from SAC, NY100-102290, August 24, 1953, p. 1.

22
She sent a letter directly to Premier Nikita Khrushchev
Johnson, p. 128.

23
Agents and informers continued to spy on the Fischers
FBI report to the director from SAC, NY100-102290, August 24, 1953, p. 2.