Aryeh Davidoff: Chess Players and Chess Fans, Please Support This
Appeal!


Appeal
by Lev Khariton
To the participants of the chess tournament in Linares, all chess
players and chess journalists, all chess fans...

On March 9th Robert James Fischer, the 11th World Champion in chess
history, will be 60 years old. The chess world has always treated with
special reverence its champions. No wonder: they symbolized the
progress of our ancient game., their games were open manuals for
millions of chess fans throughout the world for generations. We have
always been interested in their lives and chess careers. Hundreds of
books and articles have been written on them and their careers.
Fischer was the first who made the chess world respect the game as a
profession. In fact, he can be justly considered to be the first chess
professional in the history of the game. He received a lot of "slings
and arrows", he was accused of greediness and money-grabbing, but
Fischer, improving the conditions for himself, insisting that
chess organizers pay fees to the participants of competitions, was
actually fighting for the rights of his chess rivals, was improving
their professional status. In this respect, he was a trail-blazer. No
chess player today would ever come to a competition without financial
remuneration. So, the world of professional chess should be grateful
to Fischer for what he did many years ago.We can only admire
that Fischer never exchanged his talent and the dignity of the chess
champion for the cheap temptations of the flimsy glory and the sparkle
of the yellow metal. We can recall numerous instances in Fischer's
life when he, without any qualms, spurned the most attractive offers
that promised him the breathtaking wealth and the awe of the whole
world. He always knew too well when chess was at stake and never
sacrificed the dignity of the game!

Decades have passed, and today, making a flashback, we can state that
in our world, alas!, far from being a model of freedom, Fischer has
always remained free and independent, he has never accepted the
circumstances imposed on him and the choice has been always his! He
has never bowed down before tycoons and despots!

In 1992 Fischer was playing a match with Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia
torn apart by the civil war. He was playing in spite of the economic
sanctions against this country. The US government and the Department
of Treasury decided to punish the chess champion. He was threatened by
a special Executive Order with a huge fine and imprisonment. Actually,
the government of his country closed the doors before Fischer. What
was the fault of the American grandmaster? He was playing chess - the
most peaceful war on Earth! He was playing chess when others were
sowing destruction and death. In point of fact, at that moment Fischer
was making the best propaganda of peace!

It can only be regarded as a most bitter paradox that the country that
has given refuge to millions of people from all over the world has
mercilessly turned into an eternal wanderer its greatest son, the
glory of American chess and culture! This idea is giving me, and I am
sure to many chess fans, an ever-rankling pain. This injustice is
unbearable!

Exactly 10 years ago when Fischer was 50, I pointed out in my article
in "La Pensee Russe", the Paris newspaper where I have been editing
the chess column for years, that FIDE, the organization in charge of
the chess life, forgot to congratulate Fischer, its glorious champion.
Now it is time ( who knows, maybe, history will never give us another
chance) to congratulate Robert Fischer on his birthday! I am sure that
all chess players and all those who love chess will join me. It is
also the right time now to appeal to the American government to cancel
the executive order vis-а-vis Fischer, in other words to correct
the gross mistake committed years ago. I have no doubts that many
people will support this stand. This is our moral duty: we can no
longer remain indifferent facing the injustice. This is our
responsibility before Time and History.

Dear friends,

I would consider your signature under this appeal as a token of
joining me in this campaign for Honesty and Justice!

Lev Khariton
New York
March 8, 2003

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Aryeh DAvidoff