Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

[Wayne Komer]

My report of Bobby Fischer's simultaneous at Hart House in Toronto is attached.

The editor of CHESS asked me about the conditions of play at the simul and printed my letter in the June 17, 1964 issue:

“The director of play requested that no one should ask to ‘pass’ during the simul. This is invariably stated before the games begin, at all the displays that I have attended and the players generally adhere to the request. One player did ask to pass but Bobby agreed immediately and went on to play the next board with total unconcern.
Two or three players had a small gallery of spectators, some giving advice – one especially, who was playing a Fischer-Tal French Defence, but Bobby seemed so absorbed in the games that he either didn’t notice or didn’t care. If I recall correctly he won on all the boards where advice was being given; if this is generally true he would naturally be unconcerned.

His score of four losses in fifty boards seems a little higher than the usual one or two losses that I understand occurred in Detroit, Rochester, Westerly, R.I and Pittsburg.

A recent Chess Life photo caption mentioned that Fischer’s tour would continue through April and May and conclude with a 100-board exhibition in New York City in early June. This would rule out all possibility of his competing in the Interzonal in Amsterdam.

Something which nobody has brought up in all the long articles about Fischer is the fact that there is compulsory military draft in the United States and Bobby should be due for service soon.”

There is a book of the North American tour entitled A Legend on the Road: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simultaneous Tour by John Donaldson (1994) with a second edition, revised and enlarged, Russell Enterprises (2005).

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

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Something which nobody has brought up in all the long articles about Fischer is the fact that there is compulsory military draft in the United States and Bobby should be due for service soon.”

He may have been exempted, deferred or disqualified. That's likely why it was never an issue.

[Hugh Brodie]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

According to http://www.nndb.com/event/806/000140386/ , Fischer received a "draft deferment".

From http://bobbyfischer.net/fischerquotes.html

"He has hurt and abandoned those who have helped him, those who have admired him, and those who have loved him. He has rejected calls from his friends, his community of fellow chess players, and from his country to do what was right or fitting. He has displayed a McCarthyite, commie-bashing, jingoistic political stance while inexplicably avoiding military service, despite having been a 1A-draft candidate, attaining a very convenient rejection from his local draft board. His erstwhile cold war patriotism was later much diluted by his defying, and spitting upon, State Department edicts. He skulked away from the first challenge he had for the, not his, world title, and was happy to let the world think he was victimized. He cloaked his fearful evasion with an over- elaborate pretense of remaining steadfast and principled, a favorite trick of his, and gulled many thanklessly loyal supporters into making tortured and quasi-moral excuses for him. Yet before this pathetic farce, he played not one single game, not one, as champion. What cabal or KGB conspiracy was responsible for this craven non- performance?" -- Paul Kollar

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

Hugh, the list you pointed us to is populated with ex-presidents and ex-vice-presidents. Also assorted other politicians. Funny how that works, isn't it? ;)

I never heard of the guy who wrote that opinion piece. Sounds like a frustrated A class player working on sentence construction. Probably an American feeling patriotic. I wonder what he thinks about those who were burning draft cards and flags back then.

[Kevin Pacey]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

I can't recall where I saw it, but I once read that Fischer was exempted(?) from US military service due to failing the medical, for undisclosed reason(s). In any case, this isn't discussed in the wikipedia entry concerning Fisher that I just quickly skimmed over, as far as I could notice.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

There is an extremely interesting website:

http://www.nndb.com/event/806/000140386/

which lists famous American men, born before 1955, deferred from the military draft 1964 – 1973.

With Bobby Fischer, others deferred are:

Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom Clancy, Al Franken, John Irving, Stephen King, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, O.J. Simpson, Sylvester Stallone, Donald Trump and Steve Wozniak.

If you click on the name in blue, you get a potted biography. For some, the reason for deferment is given as a letter code.

For example, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s reason is 4-F (too tall).

[Ken Kurkowski]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

Wasn't it possible to get a deferment due to attending university? That might have accounted for some in the above list.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

From Bobby Fischer Profile of a Prodigy
By Frank Brady, Dover (1973)
Chapter IX, pp 79-80

The question of Fischer’s potential military service was an acute one, since as a “1-A” candidate, he was scheduled to undergo his physical examination at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station on Whitehall Street in New York, and at that particular time it was believed that he might play in the Interzonal at Amsterdam. I had a few talks with Fischer on life in the military and related some of my brief experiences. Fischer is as patriotic as anyone I know but at that stage, two years in the army was the last thing he wanted.

Harold M. Phillips, past president of the U.S. Chess Federation, had been a member of a local draft board for years and I called him to see if he could suggest a way that Bobby could qualify for a temporary deferment until after the Interzonal was completed. He suggested that I contact General George B. Hershey, head of the Selective Service Bureau, and, to my surprise, Hershey was quite cooperative, though not particularly hopeful.

“A temporary deferment, on almost any grounds, is usually an easy matter to secure from a local board,” Hershey told me “but eventually Fischer will probably be drafted.” He suggested I send an appeal to Fischer’s local board and then wait until they contacted him.

There was one other way a deferment could be secured: if Bobby entered college. Alfred Landa, then Assistant to the President of the New School for Social Research assured me that Fischer would not only be allowed to matriculate into the college but he would be given a scholarship. When I relayed this to Bobby, he thought long and hard. His experience with schools was still distasteful. He negated the idea.

Eventually, Bobby took his physical examination and was rejected for reasons that have never been made public. Perhaps the local board decided that this young American would be much more valuable sitting across a chess board in the capitals of the world than he would be toting a bazooka through a Vietnamese jungle. Whatever the reason, Fischer never served in the military.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simul at Hart House

The document shows deferred. Brady says disqualified for health. Is it both? Not that it matters.