Author: Tony Petters
Date: 07:20:36 07/16/04
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http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessNews/evans/040126.php FISCHER vs SPASSKY 1992 Is Bobby Fischer a criminal? In December 1992 the following article in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel won an award from the Chess Journalists of America. THE FISCHER INDICTMENT by GM Larry Evans and Larry Parr The indictment of Bobby Fischer raises the issue of whether it was a criminal act for an American citizen to play chess for money in Yugoslavia. Before the massive growth of our federal government, there was a clearcut distinction between criminal and illegal behavior. One exception back in those days was Prohibition, when millions of Americans who dared to sip nightcaps of cream sherry suddenly became criminals. Did Bobby commit a criminal act when he pushed his king's pawn two squares against Boris Spassky (who is not being prosecuted by France)? Did Bobby become a gangster when he played 7 b4 in game 11? Arguably, he acted illegally when he violated an executive order signed by President Bush. An executive order? Not a law passed by Congress? That's right. The American Leviathan state now has provisions for locking up people who won't obey the stroke of a president's pen and, perhaps even worse, who injure the egos of Washington bigwigs by spitting on their orders. The bottom line is whether Rembrandt, were he alive today, would become a criminal by putting brush to canvas for money and producing a portrait of, say, match organizer Jezdimir Vasilyevic. Using the logic of the mammoth modern state in which unpopular and, perhaps, illegal behavior is equated with criminal conduct, then Rembrandt ought to be tossed in the slammer for ten years. Using the logic of both common and natural law, then Rembrandt would remain free to contract his services to the highest bidder. To be sure, Rembrandt practiced the high art of painting, whereas Fischer practices the lesser art of chess. But chess is indisputably an art, and anyone who wishes to play ought to be able to do so anywhere in the world. In this country, it's still called freedom of expression. In 1964 GM Evans enraged the right wing by defying a State Department ban on Cuba and competing in the Capablanca Memorial. In 1981 GM Evans enraged the left wing by lecturing on chess in South Africa. There are always people who would allow the government to stifle our basic right to travel anywhere in peacetime. The Bricker Amendment In the 1950s conservative senator John Bricker (R. -- Ohio) introduced an amendment to make our Constitution the supreme law of the land in all instances. If memory serves, the amendment failed by one vote, defeated by a coalition of "moderate" Republicans and liberal Democrats. You ask: Isn't the Constitution now the supreme law of the land? No. The Supreme Court ruled that U.S. obligations under international treaties take precedence over rights guaranteed to citizens in the Bill of Rights. The UN Treaty Against Genocide is a case in point. If ratified by our Senate, the treaty provides penalties for causing "mental harm" to any member of a minority group. A black rapper, for example, who advocates rough sex with a Jewish Princess, could face penalties if a Jewish Princess decided the song caused her emotional distress. Or someone who administers IQ tests reflecting differences in racial performance could be liable to penalties if the test results caused anyone distress. So, then, Bobby Fischer won 10 games, lost 5, drew 15, and got paid a little over $100,000 for each of those games. Now we are suddenly told that he is a criminal even though his actions produced no direct victim. He killed no one and injured no identifiable individual; he just played chess. Except in the most compelling circumstances, the authors do not believe in punishing people for victimless crimes. City on a Hill America was once distinguished from Europe and the rest of the world by its economic opportunity, minimal state, and wide-ranging freedoms. The First Amendment still stands, and the Bill of Rights is basically healthy. But if we all ignore the difference between illegal and criminal behavior, and if we all accept the idea that people can go to jail because of an Executive Order, then the distinction between America, once a Shining City on a Hill, and the remainder of the world, will be lost. Where and how to play chess should be left to the individual conscience. Our conscience would not permit us to play chess in the Yugoslavia of ethnic cleansers; Bobby's conscience, assuming that he has one, permits him to take money from evil men who do evil things. Bobby may not be a man whose hand you would shake. But he is not a criminal.
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