United States Chess Clubs

In the surreal setting of war-torn Yugoslavia, reclusive chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer emerged to meet Boris Spassky.

At about 3:30 PM on Sept. 2, Bobby Fischer shook hands with Boris Spassky over a chess board in a hotel conference room on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia, then quietly pushed the white's king's pawn two squares forward. Fischer has always preferred the king's pawn opening-he has long touted it as white's best first move-and let history note that it may have been the only predictable act to Occur so far in this match, and through all the days leading up to it. Indeed, it came as part of a scene so surreal as to suggest no less than a dream. Exactly 20 years and one day had passed since the final game of that riotous summer of 1972, when Spassky, then the world champion from the Soviet Union, and Fischer, the eccentric, temperamental chess genius from Brooklyn, faced each other for nearly two months across a chess board in Reykjavik, Iceland, fighting for the world title in an internationally celebrated match that left them as symbols of their time: steely cold warriors doing battle with wooden cannons in the ultimate mind game, at the height of East-West tensions.

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Angry voices rattled the door to Bobby Fischer's hotel room as I raised my hand to knock. "Goddammit, I'm sick of it!" I heard Bobby shouting. "I'm sick of seeing people! I got to work, I got to rest! Why didn't you ask me before you set up all those appointments? To hell with them!" Then I heard the mild and dignified executive director of the U.S. Chess Federation addressing the man who may well be the greatest chess player in world history in a tone just slightly lower than a yell: "Bobby, ever since we came to Buenos Aires I've done nothing but take care of you, day and night. You ungrateful ---!"

It was 3 p.m., a bit early for Fischer to be up. Ten minutes later, finding the hall silent, I risked a knock and Fischer cracked the door. "Oh yeah, the guy from LIFE. Come on in." His smile was broad and boyish but his eyes were wary. Tall, wide and flat, with a head too small for his big body, he put me in mind of a pale transhuman sculpture by Henry Moore. I had seen him twice before but never so tired.
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Fischer's games are so full of ideas, from opening adventures to the themes of composed endings, that they are in themselves the best introduction to the pleasures of the game. In the arduous path to chess mastery, enjoyment is the surest driving force. In the words of Bobby Fischer, "You can get good only if you love the game."

So much has been written about Fischer as a personality that the general public, including the chess fraternity, has been blinded to his chess. His games have been analyzed over and over in the chess journals. He has published three books himself, with varying degrees of help from other authors. Yet his winning methods, his unique contributions to the larger body of chess knowledge, and his rightful place in the history of the game have been overshadowed by all the publicity.
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There is probably no other topic that intrigues chessplayers as much as the inner machinations of the mind of Bobby Fischer. Among world chess champions of the past, there has always been a strong equation between their demonstrable talents in other intellectual areas and their supreme proficiency in chess - despite attempts by the general press to depict them as bizarre, egotistical, single-minded renegades from society. Emanuel Lasker was a noted mathematician, philosopher, and friend of Albert Einstein. Alexander Alekhine paused in the middle of his pursuit of the championship to take a law degree at the Sorbonne and was a prolific writer in several languages. Mikhail Botvinnik has been highly decorated by the Soviet Union for his work as an engineer and has done pioneer work in the field of computer chess. Capablanca was a diplomat - honorary, it is true, but effective nevertheless. Euwe has been a professor of mathematics and is currently the president of FIDE, the world chess organization. And I could go on down the list of other great players.
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AMERICAN justice may have finally caught up with Bobby Fischer.

Wanted for defying an American ban on doing business with Yugoslavia in 1992, the one-time world chess champion was arrested by Japanese immigration officials this week as he tried to fly out of Tokyo's Narita airport. Fischer, who was headed to the Philippines, stands accused by the Japanese of travelling on a revoked American passport.

He now sits in an airport jail facing deportation and arrest by US marshals as early as today.

Returning to the United States in handcuffs would mark a bitter homecoming for the Brooklyn-raised exile. In the 1960s and 1970s, Fischer transformed chess from nerdy to sexy and became a Cold War-era hero by vanquishing Boris Spassky, the Soviet Union's best, in the legendary 1972 world championship.

He has been a recluse almost since then. Now 61, Fischer has emerged in public only fitfully in recent years, usually to berate the US government for what he regards as its evil foreign policies.

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(NEW YORK, NY; LINDSBORG, KANSAS) The United States Chess Federation (USCF) is pleased to announce a six-game Brain versus Beauty - Clash of The Titans Chess Battle between 7-time World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov and 4-time Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar.

The legendary World Chess Champions will compete in the most exciting triple challenge of Rapid Chess, Blitz Chess and Advanced Chess. This historic colossal battle and unique match will mark the first ever official chess match between a Men’s World Chess Champion and a Women’s World Chess Champion. Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar have long been true ambassadors to chess. This time, their mammoth battle is designed to help promote chess in the United States.

World Champion Susan Polgar, a three-time Olympic Champion and six-time Olympic medalist will also lead the US Women’s Olympiad team in the upcoming 2004 Chess Olympiad in Mallorca, Spain in October 2004. The US Women’s Olympiad team will attempt to bring home the first ever Women’s Olympiad medal for the United States. World Champion Anatoly Karpov will be participating in the 57th Super Russian Championship in Moscow in November 2004. The Russian Championship is the strongest and most prestigious national championship in the world.

On Saturday, September 18, 2004, the Brain versus Beauty - Clash of the Titans Opening Ceremony will start with a Chess Parade. It will be held in downtown Lindsborg, Kansas from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM. The King and Queen Parade headed by World Champions Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar will lead a group of top chess grandmasters and scholastic chess teams. These teams will participate in the Champion’s Cup Scholastic Tournament followed by exciting strategic chess exploration. The official media press conference will be held immediately after the Parade.

The Battle of two World Champions will be held at the Bethany College Theater on September 18-19 in 6 exciting matches with 2 Rapid games at the time control of 20 minutes with 5 seconds delay, 2 Blitz games at the time control of 5 minutes with 3 seconds delay and 2 Advanced Chess at the time control of 25 minutes with 5 seconds increments.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has officially sanctioned the match. The Karpov - Polgar match is supported by the State of Kansas and the city of Lindsborg. Play Free Chess!

Thursday, May 20, 2004 By Valerie Strauss The Washington Post
WASHINGTON--Fifth-graders Leeander Ragland and Steven Brooks sat facing each other during a class lesson at their District of Columbia school, fixated on their schoolwork. The assignment? Playing chess.
Whittier Elementary is one of hundreds, maybe thousands, of schools in the United States where chess is being taught to kids.
Teachers and students say chess teaches patience, concentration and how to follow rules. Players also learn that they must think ahead or risk losing badly. Kids say they like the game because there is no luck involved. No spinning dice. No picking cards. It's all about how well they plan moves.
``If you make a bad move, you suffer because your piece gets taken away. But if you make the right move you are happy,'' said Veronica Morris, 11. ``And that's the same thing in life. Because if you make the wrong move in life or open the wrong door then you suffer. But if you make the right move or open the right door and think before you do it, then you will be really happy.''
At Whittier, chess is taught once a week to the entire fifth grade. Teachers Harry Hughs, Sanjay Singh and Ruth Turay said they have seen math scores improve since the kids have started learning to play chess. And they said that some kids are behaving better in class since they took up chess. That's what Leeander said happened to him.
``I used to be bad in school,'' he said. ``When I started playing chess I started being obedient and quiet. Chess helped teach me how to do that.''
The chess instructor is Douglas Goralski, called Mr. G., who works with the nonprofit U.S. Chess Center in Washington. "
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