“I hope you beat those commies.”

Cool anecdote from this Susan Polgar profile of Rex Sinquefield, rich guy that bankrolled the posh club that just hosted the US Chess Championship.

He told me that once, years ago, he was on a trans-Pacific flight that happened to also be carrying Bobby Fischer and then-FIDE-president Florencio Campomanes. Rex instantly recognized Fischer, but Campo warned Sinquefield that Bobby was in a foul mood, not even talking to his traveling partner. ‘But you can try,’ Campo said.

“Even when faced with the force that cracked the biggest egos, Sinquefield couldn’t pass up an opportunity to meet the greatest ever, and he knew his audience. He stopped by Fischer’s seat. ‘I hope you beat those commies,’ he told Fischer. The champ came out of his pout. ‘I will,’ Bobby said.”

It’s a crying shame that the crazy genius commie hater ended his days hating Jews and America with even greater fervor.

About the championship–21 year-old Hikaru Nakamura won it on Sunday, for the second time.  The Fischer Memorial Prize, a $64,000 kicker on top of the first-place prize money to be awarded in the event of a 9-0 sweep, went unclaimed.  (Fischer swept the tournament for the first and only time in the 1963/64 championship.  It’s unlikely to occur again any time soon.)

#2 train to e4.