[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: The Reykjavik Chess Festival and Fischer Memorial, and the USCF

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
The Reykjavik Chess Festival and Fischer Memorial, and the USCF
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205304287.shtml


   To commemorate what would have been [1]Bobby Fischer's 65th birthday,
   his adopted country of Iceland dedicated the [2]Reykjavik Chess
   Festival to his memory and arranged a side event starring four of his
   contemporaries (Pal Benko, Vlastimil Hort, Lajos Portisch and Fridrik
   Olafsson, with Boris Spassky as the referee and William Lombardy as
   commentator) to boot. (Portisch and Hort shared first with 4/6,
   according to [3]Chess Today.) Kudos to Iceland!
   Not to be outdone, the United States Chess Federation dedicates 11
   pages in the current issue of Chess Life to Fischer. Is that
   unbelievably awesome or what? Meanwhile, [4]Europe Echecs, a
   French-language chess magazine, has dedicated all of their [5]current
   issue to Fischer. This is understandable, given that he never lived
   nor won any events in France.
   Maybe the USCF thinks it's being patriotic or making a stand against
   Fischer's anti-Judaism; I don't know. I myself am completely repulsed
   by Fischer's anti-American and anti-Jewish remarks, and I'm not
   inclined, as many are, to blame this on some sort of mental illness.
   All the same, to practically disregard one of the greatest players of
   all time, clearly the greatest American player of all time, and
   possibly the main reason why the USCF has any financial assets
   whatsoever, does not speak well on its behalf. Spend a few pages
   excoriating his vile comments and noting his character flaws and
   eccentricities - that's appropriate. But give his legacy the attention
   it deserves, not just a short article by Larry Evans and a few pages
   of quotations presented in a space-wasting format. Present a special,
   perhaps extra issue of the magazine dedicated to him. Rename an event
   for him. Have an invitational event for American players he competed
   with, like Evans, Pal Benko, Robert Byrne, Arthur Bisguier, et al. In
   short, pretend Fischer (really) mattered, both to the chess world at
   large and to the United States in particular...because he did.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205039895.shtml
   2. http://www.skaksamband.is/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5752&Itemid=418
   3. http://www.chesstoday.net/
   4. http://www.europe-echecs.com/
   5. http://www.europe-echecs.com/revue-du-mois.php