“The Applause”

In 1917, Russia saw great change. Russia had abolished the monarchy and taken up a
socialist government after two revolutions and a bloody civil war. After the revolution in
February, Tsar Nicholas III agreed to step down to ease the tension and the Provisional
Government was put in place. In October, the height of the Russian Revolution was reached
with Vladimir Lenin’s far-left Bolshevik Party overthrowing the Provisional Government. They
established their own government: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).
The revolutionary period continued up until 1923 with the Bolsheviks facing resistance from
their enemies known as the White Army. Eventually, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
was formed, and the Bolshevik Party would remain in power until 1991 when the Soviet
Union was dissolved.

Communism is a far-left ideology in which all property is owned by the community, and
everything is distributed “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”,
which is a slogan made popular by Karl Marx in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Programme.
Critics of communism argue that communism has often led to totalitarianism regimes such
as the Soviet Union and various other dictatorships such as in China. They also claim that the
system itself, even if it were successfully reached without totalitarianism, would go against
our very human nature. Some would argue that due to the lack of material incentive,
innovation may diminish, and society may collapse. Of course, Communism has its responses
to these criticisms, but I won’t discuss them here.

After World War II, the victorious sides emerged with contrasting ideologies; Great Britain
and the US were capitalist whilst the USSR was communist. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine
was created in order to stop the spread of communism worldwide as the US viewed it as a
dangerous ideology and didn’t want the USSR’s power over Europe growing further. The
conflicting ideologies led to major tensions between the world’s great powers and was one
of the most significant factors in causing the Cold War.

During the Cold War in 1972, the World Chess Championship was played between Boris
Spassky and Robert James Fischer in Reykjavík, Iceland. This match was a major event in the
context of the Cold War, as the Soviets were particularly strong in chess. In fact, the Soviets
dominated the chess world so much that the last ten chess world championships had been
won by Soviet players. This game was a metaphor for the tensions between the East and the
West. This symbolism is reflected in the way Bobby Fischer describes chess: “Chess is a war
over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.”

In the sixth game, Fischer opened with 1.c4 (instead of his usual 1.e4) for only the third time
in a serious game. This led to a position that Fischer himself had criticized and described as
an inferior position for white, so we can only speculate as to why he played this opening
move. For many players, it may have been an attempt to gain a psychological advantage by
throwing off the opponent, but this seems unlikely in Fischer’s case. He famously said, “I
don’t believe in psychology, I believe in good moves.” The game then proceeded in a
Queen’s Gambit Declined, Tartakower Defence where Bobby played a slower style of chess
to how he normally played. Ironically, it was more in the spirit of a ‘Soviet’ player than
Fischer. Spassky, on the other hand, made many mistakes mistakes until, what was a drawn
position, ended up being a win for Fischer. And after this win, which put Fischer ahead in the
match for the first time, Spassky stood up and joined in with the audience in giving Fischer a
round of applause.

This game of chess is now one of the most famous in history. Why I find this so interesting, is
because you can almost sense the historical tensions going on at the time by simply studying
the moves of the chess game. From the very first move, it doesn’t feel like Bobby Fischer
playing with the white pieces and black isn’t playing with the precision which was typical of
a ‘Soviet’ player. This demonstrates the impact of war on individuals. Whilst I am only
speculating, I think it is sensible to assume that the cause of Fischer’s timidness and
Spassky’s mistakes was the global politics interfering with the ‘war over the board’.

More importantly, Spassky’s applause at the end of the game was almost like the destruction
of a barrier between the two nations. The beautiful game of chess allowed Spassky to see
past the political tensions and congratulate his opponent on his good play. Fischer received
this well and complemented Spassky on his sportsmanship. So, in times of political tension
like today, remember this game of chess. See past the wars and hate and appreciate the
beauty of the world, just as Spassky could appreciate the beauty of the game of chess, even
in the face of defeat.