Chess Inc., versus the late Bobby Fischer

I'm a chess fan, so at first this may seem pretty obscure, but bear with me; it gets interesting very quickly.

Bobby Fischer was a chess sensation of the 1960's and early 1970's. America's only world chess champion, and basically one of a couple of masters at a time when the Soviets dominated chess play.

Fischer was always wildly eccentric, and became paranoid, refusing to play at all except under conditions he dictated. He often complained that there was a world-wide conspiracy to silence him and remove him from his "throne" of the greatest chess player of the 20th century.

You can read about his life here: Wikipedia article: Bobby Fischer

What I'm particularly interested in, is not his own antisemitism, but his complaint that chess games at the top of world-class competition are all faked; that every match is now pre-planned, in the manner of American pro wrestling.

Fischer's original claim from the 1960's was that the Soviet teams would "throw" a game so that another Soviet player could gain an advantage in having more time to rest between matches, while he, the lone American, was made to compete almost non-stop for a month or more to win the world title.

His claim has been compared to a lone sprinter being forced to compete against a relay team, that passes the baton to fresh players in order to keep the title out of "enemy hands."

His claim recently (he just died in exile in Iceland) was that with the end of the cold war, the "Soviet Team" and its control of world chess was taken over by corporate interests, and has grown to the point where FIDE (the world chess federation) is completely controlled, and all championship games are controlled.

I wonder if there are any other chess buffs on ATS. My questions are:

1. Are you a member of FIDE or USCF?
2. Do you think there is merit to Fischer's charge?
3. Do you think the US and United Nations unfairly hounded Fischer?
4. Do you think his arrest and beating by the Pasadena police in 1992 was politically motivated?


Here is a well-known chess website discussing Fischer's claim, which at least one of them, apparently still in contact with fischer, believe:

chessgames.com chat

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