The 48 Laws Of Power

show

up

ontimefor

thesecond

game.

Thistimethe

organizers

had had

enough:

Hewas

given

aforfeit.Nowhewasdowntwo

games

to

none,

at

position

fromwhichnoonehadevercomebacktowinachess

champi-

onship.

Fischerwas

clearlyunhinged.

Yetinthethird

game,

asallthose

whowitnessedit
remember,

hehadaferociouslookinhis

eye,

alookthat

clearly

bothered

Spassky.

And

despite

theholehehad

dug

for

himself,

he

seemed

supremely

confident.Hedidmakewhat

appeared

tobeanother

blunder,
ashehadinthefirst

game—but

his

cocky

airmade

Spassky

smell

a

trap.

Yet

despite

theRussian’s

suspicions,

hecouldnot

figure

outthe

trap,

andbeforeheknewitFischerhadcheckmatedhim.InfactFischer’sun—

orthodoxtacticshad

completely

unnerved

his

opponent.

At

theendofthe

game,

Fischer

leapedup

andrushed

out,

yelling

tohis

confederates

as

he

smashedalistintohis

palm,

“I’m

crushing

himwithbruteforce!”

Inthenext

games

Fischer

pulled

movesthatnoonehadseenfrom

him
before,
movesthatwerenothis

style.

Now

Spassky

startedtomake

blunders.After

losing

thesixth

game,

hestartedto

cry.

One

grand

master

said,

“After

this,

Spassky’sgot

toaskhimself

if

it’ssafeto

go

backtoRus-

sia."Afterthe

eighthgameSpassky

decidedheknew

what

was

happening:

Bobby

Fischerwas

hypnotizing

him.HedecidednottolookFischerinthe

eye;

helost

anyway.

Afterthefourteenth

game

hecalledastaffconferenceand

announced,

“An

attempt

is

being

made

tocontrol

my

mind.”Hewonderedwhetherthe

orangejuicethey

drankat

thechesstable couldhave been

drugged.

Maybe

chemicalswere

being

blownintotheair.

FinallySpassky

went

pub—

lic,accusing

theFischerteamof

puttingsomething

inthechairsthatwasa1»

tering Spassky’s

mind. The KGB went on alert: Boris

Spassky

was

embarrassing

theSovietUnion!

Thechairsweretaken

apart

and

X—rayed.

Achemistfound

nothing

unusual
in
them.The

onlythingsanyone

found

anywhere,

in

fact,

were

twodeadfliesina

lighting

fixture.

Spassky

began

to

complain

ofhallucina-

tions.Hetriedto

keepplaydng,

buthismindwas

unraveling.

Hecouldnot

go

on.On

September

2,

he

resigned.Although

still

relativelyyoung,

he

neverrecoveredfromthisdefeat.

Interpretation

In

previousgames

betweenFischerand

Spassky,

Fischerhadnotfared

well.

Spassky

hadan

uncannyability

toreadhis

opponent’sstrategy

and

useit

against

him.

Adaptable

and

patient,

hewouldbuildattacksthat

would

defeatnot

in

sevenmovesbutin

seventy.

HedefeatedFischer

every

time

theyplayed

becausehesawmuchfurther

ahead,

andbecausehewasabril-

liant

psychologist

whoneverlostcontrol.Onemaster

said,

“Hedoesn’t

just

lookforthebestmove.Helooksforthemovethatwilldisturbthemanhe

is

playing.”

Fischer,however,

finally

understood

that

thiswasoneofthe

keys

to

Spassky’s

success:He

played

on

yourpredictability,

defeated

you

at

your

own

game.Everything

Fischerdidforthe

championship

matchwasanat-

LAW 17 125