A nice and true Story.
Soviet World Champions
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Maladyets, Spektrowski. Ochen interesno. Could I respond with a true chess story from Northern Ireland, where I live.
In the 1980s, Viktor Korchnoi came to Newtownards - a small town not far from Belfast - and he gave a simultaneous display against the best of Northern Irish players. Now, Korchnoi is not renowned for suffering fools gladly, especially stubborn Irish players who refuse to resign, when the outcome is obvious.
Finally, at the end of his patience, he came to one particular player who was proving to be particularly stubborn. "Tell me, my friend, " said Korchnoi, in ever so silky tones..."Do you believe in God ?"
"Oh yes, I do,"the Irishman assured him..."Well, let me tell you, my friend", retorted Korchnoi.."even God can't help you in this game."....
Amen to that.
I don't know whether it's a true story, but it's nevertheless amusing.
In the early 1980s, a German graphologist asked his friend, the correspondence Grandmaster Yakov Estrin, to get autographs from all Soviet World Champions - he wanted to study their character, basing on their handwriting.
First, Estrin called Botvinnik.
"I'm waiting for you in my lab tomorrow at 10:35," Botvinnik replied. "But if you come but a minute late, you won't get an autograph."
Smyslov was next.
"An autograph?" Smyslov asked. "I haven't given any autographs in a long time. Right now, we're resting together with Nadezhda (Smyslov's wife), tomorrow I'm going to play in a tournament, the next day I'm going to sing in the Conservatory. Try to call me a month later."
Estrin managed to find Tal in a chess club at 2 a.m. Surrounded by pretty girls, he was giving an interview for two newspapers, radio and TV simultaneously. Tal didn't even ask Estrin why he needs his autograph and just signed a sheet of paper. But he held a cigarette in his hand instead of a pen, so he had to sign again.
When Petrosian heard what's needed, he asked immediately:
"Did Botvinnik agree? And Smyslov? And Tal? Well, I'll have to think about it."
Spassky already lived in Paris by that time. Estrin called his French home.
"Yakov Borisovich, I would like to help you, but you know that I don't give any interviews and autographs to Soviet press."
Karpov was home too. He told Estrin that he already met the norm today by giving 15 autographs, and tomorrow he would go to Rio-de-Janeiro.
Estrin also approached Kasparov. He wasn't a World Champion by then, but it was clear that he'll eventually become one, and Estrin decided to take an autograph in advance.
"I'm sorry, but my mom decides on such issues. You'd better contact her."
The next day, Estrin called his friend and told him about the results. The graphologist said, "Thank you very much, I don't need their autographs anymore."