Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Mikhail Botvinnik—Former world chess champion

Valeri Chamanin—Soviet embassy interpreter

Piotr Demichev—Communist Party of the Soviet Union Central Committee secretary responsible for ideology

Anatoli Dobrynin—Soviet ambassador to Washington, D.C.

Efim Geller—Grandmaster, second, and trainer to the world champion

Viktor Ivonin—Deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Committee for Physical Training and Sport, in charge inter alia of chess (deputy sports minister)

Anatoli Karpov—Future world chess champion

Nikolai Krogius—Psychologist, grandmaster, second, and trainer to the world champion, future head of the USSR state chess organization

Ivo Nei—Second and tennis partner to the world champion

Sergei Pavlov—Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Committee for Physical Training and Sport (sports minister)

Tigran Petrosian—Former world chess champion, defeated by Fischer in Candidates

Larisa Spasskaia—Second wife of world champion

Mark Taimanov—Grandmaster, defeated by Fischer in Candidates, concert pianist

Dmitri Vasil’iev—Second secretary, Icelandic embassy

Aleksandr Yakovlev—Acting head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Party Central Committee

Various apparatchiks, psychiatrists, journalists, and shadowy figures from the KGB

THE ICELANDERS

Gissli Gestsson—Cameraman

Freysteinn Johannsson—Icelandic Chess Federation press officer

Olafur Johannesson—Prime minister

Fridrik Olafsson—Icelandic grandmaster, later clerk to the Icelandic Parliament

Saemundur “Saemi-Rock” Palsson—Fischer’s police bodyguard

Gudmundur Thorarinsson—President of the Icelandic Chess Federation, chief match organizer, and responsible for gaining match for Iceland

Various car dealers, salmon fishers, technicians, scientists, doctors, stonemasons, and blond dancers

MATCH OFFICIALS

Gudmundur—Assistant arbiter (referee)

Arnlaugsson Max Euwe—Dutch president of the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) and former world chess champion

Harry Golombek—British chess master and vice president of FIDE, The Times correspondent

Lothar Schmid—German grandmaster and chief arbiter (referee)

OTHERS

Leonard Barden—British chess player and journalist, friend of James Slater

Dimitri Bjelica—Yugoslav journalist

Svetozar Gligoric—Yugoslav grandmaster and commentator on match

Bent Larsen—Danish grandmaster, defeated by Fischer in Candidates

James Slater—Multimillionaire British financier

Bob Wade—New Zealand international master, helped Fischer prepare

WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONS TO 1969

1886 Steinitz

1894 Lasker

1921 Capablanca

1927 Alekhine

1935 Euwe

1937 Alekhine

1948 Botvinnik

1957 Smyslov

1958 Botvinnik

1960 Tal

1961 Botvinnik

1963 Petrosian

1969 Spassky

ALSO BY DAVID EDMONDS AND JOHN EIDINOW

Wittgenstein’s Poker

Copyright

The lyrics from Chess by Benny Andersson, Tim Rice, and Bjorn Ulvaeus are reprinted with the kind permission of 3 Knights Ltd. The Prefab Sprout lyrics are reprinted with the kind permission of Kitchenware Management. The lines from Selected Poems of Evgeny Rein are reprinted by kind permission of Bloodaxe Books.

BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR. Copyright © 2004 by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.

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EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-03924-8

FIRST EDITION