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The match of all time

Fifty years have passed since the famous match that made Bobby Fischer the World Champion. Many books have been written about Firscher in general, and this match in particular. And recently, a new book was published in which one of the match organizers tells the inside story of the match and what happened behind the scenes, before, during and after the match. I was very excited to read this book, and I am ready to share my impressions with you.

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What can you expect from this book?

As mentioned above, The Match of All Time is a book about the World championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972. The match was played in Reykjavik, Iceland between July 11 and August 31. So this week, 50 years ago, Bobby Fischer became the 11th world chess champion.

The Match of All Time is written by Gudmundur Thorarinsson, who was the chairman of the Icelandic Chess Federation in 1972, and responsible for the team that was organizing the match between Fischer and Spassky. So he is in an excellent position to provide an inside account of the match.

The book has six chapters in all. The first chapter is a short introduction to the book itself. In chapter 2, Thorarinsson provides a short history of chess and its origins. And in chapter 3, we get a short presentation of the lives and careers of the official and unofficial world champions that came before Spassky, from the 1700s to the 1960s. While these chapters may be interesting for many readers, I do not really see their place in this book.

Chapter 4 is focused mainly on the events before the match. However, the chapter does only focus on the match itself, but also the candidates tournament. And we also get a more detailed presentation of the players (Fischer and Spassky). I find the structure of the chapter a bit confusing. It starts with a short presentation of the state of the chess world around 1970. We then get into a semi-detailed account of Fischer's participation in the candidates match, followed by a few pages on the bids for the world championship match. Only after all this do we get a presentation of the players. And then we return to the bidding process.

Chapter 5 is the main event of the book. This is where we learn about the match itself and all the drama that took place during and between the rounds. This is where most of the 'inside story' is told. Thorarinsson was in an excellent position to tell us about details that are likely unknown to the general public (I say likely because I do not have sufficient knowledge about what has been documented in other sources). Once again, the structure of the chapter is a bit confusing, jumping back and forth between various negotiations, letters from different people, match preparations, conditions and events surrounding the rounds. 

Chapter 6 concludes the book with a summary of the events that transpired after the match. The chapter gives a brief summary of how Fischer refused to defend his title against Karpov, the 1992 match against Spassky and Fischer's arrest and subsequent move to Iceland where he spent the rest of his life.

In my opinion, the author should have given more attention to the structure of the book. The lack of chronology is sometimes confusing, and there are examples stories and anecdotes that are presented several times and in slightly different versions. This detracts from the reading experience, and should have been weeded out during the editing process.

The match betwen Fischer and Spassky has been dubbed 'the match of the century', and not without reason. It's probably the most fascinating match in chess history, which is one of the reasons why Thorarinsson calls it 'the match of all time'. Overall, I think this is an interesting book, but I get the impression that 'the inside story' part of the book is rather limited. Most of the book covers topics that are well known, even to people who haven't studied the match in detail. 

I had big expectations on this book, but do not feel that it delivered. Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic, I don't know. But you should know that this is the first book I read about the match, so for readers who are well versed in the history and details of this famous match, you may assess the book differently. So if you're curious, read the book and find out for yourself.

Who should read this book?

Unlike many chess books, this book does not require any particular knowledge of chess. It's simply a story of the famous world championship match of 1972. My impression is that this book gives a good introduction to the events of the match, but if you are looking for the book on the match, this is probably not the book you're looking for.

About this book

Author:Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson
Title:The Match of All Time
Type of book:Biography
Level:Any
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