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From "THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS (revised edition)" by GM Larry Evans
"1961 MATCH WITH RESHEVSKY
Sammy, then 50, was the touchstone against which my generation
measured our progress. He was Bobby’s chief rival and there was no
love lost between them during their stormy match in 1961. They stopped
talking. They wouldn’t ride to the games in the same car. Both were
determined to win and neither gave an inch. They fought over every
detail. If Sammy wanted the air conditioning turned on, Bobby thought
it was too cold.
Their duel was to consist of 16 games, the first four in New York, the
next 8 in Los Angeles, and the final four in New York again. After 11
games it was tied at 5½ points apiece. The 12th game was set for
Saturday, but as an Orthodox Jew Reshevsky could not begin until after
sundown and it might last into the wee hours. So it was rescheduled
for 1:30 Sunday afternoon. However, the sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky
planned to attend a concert by her husband, the distinguished cellist
Gregor Piatigorsky, and she didn’t want to miss the game. So the
starting time was advanced to 11 A.M. Bobby told the referee in no
uncertain terms that he could not and would not play at such an early
hour. He failed to appear and Reshevsky was declared victor of the
match. Bobby sued but the case was dropped in a few years.
The press depicted him as a prima donna but I thought he got a raw
deal and defended him staunchly. "As a general principle I see no
reason why the schedule of a match between two players cannot be
arranged to suit the convenience of BOTH. If the announced timetable
was changed to suit Reshevsky, then it was unfair to force Fischer to
play at 11 next morning. Bobby told me he was ready, willing and able
to make it at 1 instead. I would prefer to see the forfeit declared
invalid and the match resumed," I wrote in Chess Life.
I always battled bureaucrats to fight for the players. Maybe that’s
why Bobby trusted me. He didn’t consider me a jealous rival and knew
had no great ambitions in chess.
The Piatigorskys were Jewish and Bobby had always ranted against the
Jews. This incident fueled his anti-Semitism. One day his mother, who
was Jewish, tired of his tirades. "What makes you think you’re so
ure?" she snapped. As fate would have it, Bobby later learned that his
eal father also was Jewish.
We once watched a documentary about Nazi Germany and upon leaving the
theater Bobby said that he admired Hitler. I asked why. "Because he
imposed his will on the world," he replied. Unlike his hero, Bobby
sublimated his aggression into chess. A penniless, uncultured high
school dropout from Brooklyn suddenly got a taste of power and it went
to his head."
"1961 MATCH WITH RESHEVSKY
Sammy, then 50, was the touchstone against which my generation
measured our progress. He was Bobby’s chief rival and there was no
love lost between them during their stormy match in 1961. They stopped
talking. They wouldn’t ride to the games in the same car. Both were
determined to win and neither gave an inch. They fought over every
detail. If Sammy wanted the air conditioning turned on, Bobby thought
it was too cold.
Their duel was to consist of 16 games, the first four in New York, the
next 8 in Los Angeles, and the final four in New York again. After 11
games it was tied at 5½ points apiece. The 12th game was set for
Saturday, but as an Orthodox Jew Reshevsky could not begin until after
sundown and it might last into the wee hours. So it was rescheduled
for 1:30 Sunday afternoon. However, the sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky
planned to attend a concert by her husband, the distinguished cellist
Gregor Piatigorsky, and she didn’t want to miss the game. So the
starting time was advanced to 11 A.M. Bobby told the referee in no
uncertain terms that he could not and would not play at such an early
hour. He failed to appear and Reshevsky was declared victor of the
match. Bobby sued but the case was dropped in a few years.
The press depicted him as a prima donna but I thought he got a raw
deal and defended him staunchly. "As a general principle I see no
reason why the schedule of a match between two players cannot be
arranged to suit the convenience of BOTH. If the announced timetable
was changed to suit Reshevsky, then it was unfair to force Fischer to
play at 11 next morning. Bobby told me he was ready, willing and able
to make it at 1 instead. I would prefer to see the forfeit declared
invalid and the match resumed," I wrote in Chess Life.
I always battled bureaucrats to fight for the players. Maybe that’s
why Bobby trusted me. He didn’t consider me a jealous rival and knew
had no great ambitions in chess.
The Piatigorskys were Jewish and Bobby had always ranted against the
Jews. This incident fueled his anti-Semitism. One day his mother, who
was Jewish, tired of his tirades. "What makes you think you’re so
ure?" she snapped. As fate would have it, Bobby later learned that his
eal father also was Jewish.
We once watched a documentary about Nazi Germany and upon leaving the
theater Bobby said that he admired Hitler. I asked why. "Because he
imposed his will on the world," he replied. Unlike his hero, Bobby
sublimated his aggression into chess. A penniless, uncultured high
school dropout from Brooklyn suddenly got a taste of power and it went
to his head."