The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

now the executive director of Diplo- matic and Consular Officers, Retired and of the DACOR Bacon House Foundation. Diplomatic Games Bobby Fischer Goes to War David Edmonds and John Eidinow, HarperCollins, 2004, $24.95, hard- cover, 342 pages. R EVIEWED BY R OBERT H ILTON Despite its title, Bobby Fischer Goes to War is not intended for the serious chess player who would like to improve his or her game by studying the famous 1972 championship match between Fischer and Boris Spassky. The 21 games played are discussed only in general terms, and the authors don’t even list all the moves. But the rest of us have here a most readable work that encompasses psy- chology, international relations and diplomatic history, Icelandic studies, and even film studies and furniture design. In fact, no knowledge of chess is needed to fully enjoy this book. While the momentous events chronicled by journalists David Edmonds and John Eidinow are now three decades in the past, many Americans can likely identify Bobby Fischer as the young genius who cap- tured the nation’s attention while win- ning the world chess championship in a theatrical match played in Rey- kjavik. His exploits were front-page news at the time, and his name has remained common currency because of works such as the book and movie titled “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and the London and Broadway musi- cal “Chess.” And he’s still in the news today, as he attempts to avoid arrest for violating a U.S. executive order prohibiting transactions with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. (Fis- cher and Spassky played a re- match of sorts in Yugoslavia in 1992, despite a warning from the Treasury Department.) Edmonds and Eidinow place the match in its Cold War context, focus- ing especially on the development of detente. However, they rebut the perception that the players were champions of their respective sys- tems. Spassky was no model Soviet man, laboring for the glory of the state, and Fischer’s consistently bad behavior while overseas probably A P R I L 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 53 B O O K S