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A review by emrysmerlyn
Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time by David Edmonds
3.0
This is an excellent and comprehensive look at the events surrounding the 1972 World Chess Championship. It provides pretty much all of the trivia and anecdotal stories you could ever want to hear about the event. It also has a lot of really strong research.
The weird thing about this book is that I think it could've been stronger if they had played up the trivia aspect in a way that didn't read like the book was trying to make the same stereotyped US versus communism argument that the media and popular audiences at the time seemed inclined to do. While not overtly stated, that is the impression that the reader gets through the first three quarters of the book (at least) before a pretty sharp about face occurs and the book begins delving into the personal and situational backgrounds that fascinatingly subvert that stereotype. This part of the book, while really well done is almost lackluster compared to the rest simply because it does not get the page time required to do combat with the preceding parts of the book. I actually think that the research could've been presented more effectively if I watched part of the conclusion of the book were to have been presented at the beginning instead of the end. The argument of the book would then have read "here's a brief review overview of all the complicating factors behind these two people and their governments," followed by an extensive, perhaps exhaustive, look at the ways that the media, the government, the people involved, the audiences, and even consumers do this match up into an ideological showdown of epic proportion. As a conclusion, that short overview fell flat. However, as an introduction it would have provided the reader with a far more nuanced view through which to consider the rest of the material presented.
Also, Bobby Fischer is a giant asshole. I vaguely knew that before, but this book really opened my eyes to the monumental levels of sheer dickbaggery he achieve in his lifetime. Too clever by half, but also a terrible person.
Shoutout to the match organizers. They were really put through the ringer.
The weird thing about this book is that I think it could've been stronger if they had played up the trivia aspect in a way that didn't read like the book was trying to make the same stereotyped US versus communism argument that the media and popular audiences at the time seemed inclined to do. While not overtly stated, that is the impression that the reader gets through the first three quarters of the book (at least) before a pretty sharp about face occurs and the book begins delving into the personal and situational backgrounds that fascinatingly subvert that stereotype. This part of the book, while really well done is almost lackluster compared to the rest simply because it does not get the page time required to do combat with the preceding parts of the book. I actually think that the research could've been presented more effectively if I watched part of the conclusion of the book were to have been presented at the beginning instead of the end. The argument of the book would then have read "here's a brief review overview of all the complicating factors behind these two people and their governments," followed by an extensive, perhaps exhaustive, look at the ways that the media, the government, the people involved, the audiences, and even consumers do this match up into an ideological showdown of epic proportion. As a conclusion, that short overview fell flat. However, as an introduction it would have provided the reader with a far more nuanced view through which to consider the rest of the material presented.
Also, Bobby Fischer is a giant asshole. I vaguely knew that before, but this book really opened my eyes to the monumental levels of sheer dickbaggery he achieve in his lifetime. Too clever by half, but also a terrible person.
Shoutout to the match organizers. They were really put through the ringer.