The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

made as many enemies for our nation as his skill did admirers. Tiny Iceland was a fine stage for the championship, and the Icelan- ders who were closest to the drama are vividly rendered by the authors. Two Foreign Service officers at Embassy Reykjavik — Theodore Tremblay and Victor Jakovich — play important parts in the story. The Foreign Service reader will alternately cringe and chuckle while reading how these two (as well as others at the embassy and the U.S. Naval Air Station at Keflavik) coped with the consequences of Fischer’s incessant demands and mercurial temperament. Attempting to explain Fischer’s complexity, the book draws on sources as varied as “Rebel Without a Cause” and game theory. The authors probe deeply into his family history, having used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the FBI’s files on Fischer’s mother. Further enhancing the depth and credibility of the work are interviews with many of the principals, including Spassky (but not Fischer). Quotes from American and European newspa- pers are sprinkled throughout the book, giving a sense of the intense international interest in the match and the players. Soviet archives and Russian-language periodicals provide useful perspectives from the other side of the Iron Curtain. Reykjavik was the high point of Bobby Fischer’s career and, appar- ently, of his whole life. He refused to defend his title, and it passed back into Soviet hands in 1975. He became increasingly reclusive, his behavior more and more erratic; despite being Jewish, he has es- poused anti-Semitism as well as anti- Americanism. The government of Iceland has now offered him a resi- dency permit, if he can avoid arrest by U.S. authorities and get there from his current home in Japan. Perhaps the final chapter of his tortured life will be written where the greatest chapter was 30 years ago. Whatever becomes of him, his time of tri- umph is superbly depicted in this book. ■ Robert Hilton, an amateur chess play- er and Foreign Service officer since 1988, has served in Tunis, Sanaa, Riyadh, Dhaka, Moscow and Wash- ington, D.C. He is currently the pub- lic diplomacy officer for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. 54 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 5 B O O K S Home Suite Home The next time you’re going to be in DC for an extended stay, make yourself at home at Georgetown Suites. With our discounted monthly rates and large, comfortable suites, you’ll feel right at home. Plus we’re near the State Department. Call today! Georgetown Suites the fun place to stay in DC 1-800-348-7203 www.georgetownsuites.com sales@georgetownsuites.com