Neither Fauber not Larsen pulled their punches.
An Interview with the Lone Wolf
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Nov 15, 2021
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#3
Bent Larsen was quite ill at the end of his life. As I recall reading, he was a diabetic, and like many of us with Type 2, his heart was also damaged/weakened.
Nov 15, 2021
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#5
In 2000, Larsen had to have brain surgery to relieve swelling (cerebral edema). Cerebral edema can be caused by brain injury, such as a stroke.
Larsen eventually died in 2010.
Nov 15, 2021
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#6
Well, he was born before Fischer and outlived him. Death knocks on everyone's door eventually.
Awesome article. My kind of person. Blunt force panache. FTW.
Charismatic and talented. I can't imagine anyone not having some sort of sincere appreciation for Bent or his game.
Nov 15, 2021
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#9
Thanks for the great article. Fischer respected Larson enough to cede first board to him in the 1970 match of the rest of the world against the Soviets.
batgirl wrote:
Well, he was born before Fischer and outlived him. Death knocks on everyone's door eventually.
Nov 15, 2021
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#11
Larsen.....I bought his book about his best games, and I played through some.
He and Gyula Breyer are two players that I somehow cannot "digest". Eventually I will go back to him, but at the moment, it is not something that I can easily go into.
Again, this is purely intuitive. I know he has wins over Fischer, Petrosian, and other great players. But something in his style makes him inscrutable to me at the moment.
Bent bent and bent on winning:
Fabulous. As you say, no punches pulled. Side note - it seems that everyone at the time liked playing in Yugoslavia.
Sadly, Larsen's economic plans didn't work out. He eventually moved to Argentina when he married an Argentine woman, and made the terrible mistake of putting his money in Argentine banks. Eventually, Argentina's government effectively confiscated domestic bank accounts (the "corralito"), and Larsen was quite poor in his final years.
Of all the grandmasters in the world, the Dane, Bent Larsen, may be the easiest to interview. Getting him to talk is no problem at all. Although he thinks chess interviews are dull, because the interviewers always ask the same questions ("I suppose it's because their readers enjoy reading the same answers...), or dinner at Lone Pine 1978 he unburdened himself of a flood of opinions on virtually every subject imaginable for some two and a half hours.
A Weak and Unreliable FIDE
FIDE (the World Chess Federation) is "a very weak organization", according to Larsen. Partly he attributes this to the Russian stance on international chess finances; "They have no trouble coming up with rubles, but foreign exchange is a different matter." Consequently FIDE is under-funded and cannot play a vigorous role in international chess.
The clash of political ideologies also helps cripple the organization, Larsen feels, "but there is no more politics in it now than there was 20 years ago.
Larsen is particularly emphatic about FIDE's president. "Euwe is a liar," he said. (I thought he might be wanting to speak off the record and so I assured his I was not wired, spreading my coat for emphasis. "I don't care. I would say it anyway," he responded.) Too often, in Larsen's view, Euwe promises up and down to do something and then nothing happens.
Having to play his 1977 match against Lajos Portisch in Holland particularly displeased Larsen. He believes that Euwe took money from a Dutch company to bring the match to Rotterdam. He felt uneasy and not in a mood to play. He agrees that playing the Orthodox Defense against the Queen's Gambit was big mistake, "but I was not in a mood to play and didn't care."
The Life of a Chess Professional
Asked if, having reached midlife, his world championship ambitions had abated, he replied, "No, I still have hopes....I do not think my age will hurt me." The topic, however, did not interest him and one must suspect that his optimism about winning the world championship is largely rhetorical.
After 27 years of international chess he declares, "I have no regrets about being a chess professional....What I like is the freedom; nobody is your boss."
This sentiment is the touchstone of Larsen's personality. He claims absolute individual sovereignty to act according to his own lights—whether in choosing an opening or declining a tournament invitation.
Larsen recognizes that he enjoys a privileged position; "No other western European grandmaster has been able to live as I have." His special position, he believes, is more a matter of style than strength. His originality and his crowd-pleasing personality have opened the door to tournament invitations and journalistic commissions. "No one else has gotten the same opportunities."
With remarkable frankness Larsen says that this translates economically into an income of $35,000 to $50,000 a year. Only about $12-15,000 of this comes from prize funds. His books bring in little revenue, and newspapers and magazines supply most of his income.
He moved from Denmark to Las Palmas because the Danish income tax took about half his yearly income. Now he is banking what would have been tax in Danish banks—"I don't like to speculate with my money"— against the day when it is time to retire from competition. "In a few years I shall have saved enough that I shall not have to worry about continuing to play when I am 60."
Iceland Yugoslavia, and the Philippines
Larsen has very definite opinions on where he likes to play and why. He thinks that Iceland and Yugoslavia have the best now tournaments. There are always lots of chess fans there; "In Iceland and in Yugoslavia there are crowds at the tournament." He likes to play for an audience. "It makes a difference in how I play." He likes Holland, too, but his idea of a Dutch treat is a Holland without Euwe.
Other parts of the globe attract his as places to play because they are also planes to visit. "I like places where there is a good mixture of people," he said. The first place he mentioned was the Philippines "where there are Malayans, Spanish, Filipinos, and Americans". He likes people to come in different colors.
There is a candor about everything that Larsen says (sometimes he advances his rook pawns "because I cannot think of anything else to do") which gives the impression that here is a very open an honest person. Furthermore, he does not appear to be totally wrapped up in himself and his chess.
Our conversation interspersed chess topics with questions from Larsen about which are the good California wineries. We talked about American history and culture—on which he is well-informed. (What other foreign grandmaster is fluent in the political infighting of the Progressive Era and the impact of the New York Armory art show of 1913?)
The Lone Wolf
As the conversation progressed over the hours, however, another impression of Larsen's character began to develop. Here was a man who asserted that he was a law unto himself. There is a quiet arrogance to his frankness—as of the lone wolf, indifferent to the opinion of the other animals in the chess forest. The quintessential Larsen Is a man alone.
* * *
Larsen has both style and imagination. He has wide interests and broad culture. He is a delight to be with and seems to be entirely devoid of professional jealousies and resentments. There is nothing petty about him. But his frankness is more aggressive than outgoing. His personality gives out more light than warmth. He is likable, but not lovable.
Chess is a lifetime race for Larsen, which he has chosen to run alone. He needs the thunder of applause from the crowds at tournaments to push back an existential dread in the echoes of silence.
* * *
Editor's note. Readers may wish to compare this Larsen interview with the more conventional one printed in the July 1978 issue of Chess Life & Review. [published on chess.com here]
I came upon this interview in a roundabout, let's say serendipitous, manner. Someone (Max Burkett, many time New Mexico State Champion in the 1960s) had mentioned Richard Fauber, a name I thought was unfamiliar with but actually had come across before (unlike Mr. Burkett, some people, such as myself, don't age too gracefully), in connection to California Chess sponsorship in the 1970s-1980s. Kerry Lawless, who has (and continues to) archived, preserved and made accessible for us countless periodicals and information on California Chess, directed me to "Chess Voice" by informing me that NM Fauber had been it's editor for a short time. While perusing issues, trying to get a sense of the man, I came across this interview and decided on the spot it was worth sharing. After getting it prepared for the chess.com forums, I looked for more information on Fauber. His obituary was published in the California State University at Sacramento Retiree Association archives.
Fauber (1936-2013), who received his BA degree from the Univ. of Wisconsin and a MA degree from UC Berkeley with a deep interest in Economic History, taught at CSUS, full-time, then part-time. His real love was chess, as a player, a sponsor, a journalist, a teacher and an author. Ranked a National Master during the 1970s, he edited (besides "Chess Voice") a chess column for the "Sacramento Bee" for 18 years. He also authored a well-received book called "The Impact of Genius: 500 years of Grandmaster Chess."
His obituary depicts him as a connoisseur of fine wines, fine classical music and, of course, fine chess. Besides teaching, he was a highly successful stock investor.
Archives to "Chess Voice"
California State chess history
A Conversation With Boris Spassky by R.E. Fauber