I compare chess legend Bobby Fischer to Winston Smith, Orwell's hero of "1984", because:

In 1984 Airstrip One (England) imprisoned Winston Smith because he had "unorthodox" thoughts about BIG BROTHER, the totalitarian organization that ruled all the world's governments.

In 2004 the USA (using Japan) has imprisoned Bobby Fischer because he has "politically incorrect" thoughts about the UNITED NATIONS, a totalitarian organization that rules all the world's governments.

After reading the following articles readers will understand why I compare Bobby Fischer to Winston Smith.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

BOBBY FISCHER IN ROOM 202

THE HOUNDING OF A CHESS LEGEND (The mind-addled couch-potato generation's short span of attention has barely been disturbed by news of Bobby's detention and the sad plight of their exceptional fellow human being.)

UNCLE SAM FINDS BOBBY FISCHER (Fischer was one of those rare individuals who took on the Soviet empire pawn by pawn..."I was never invited to the White House", he said in one of his radio interviews. "They invited that Olympic Russian gymnast -- that little Communist, Olga Korbut"...)

...Bobby Fischer, an independent thinker in other fields than chess, is definitely not Politically Correct. Apparently, even chess players are not allowed to stray beyond the narrow bounds of PC without being severely punished. When asked about the "sanctions" against him, Bobby heroically pulled out a letter from the U.S. Treasury, warning him that if he went through with the match, he would be violating UN sanctions and subject to fine and imprisonment. Bobby met this challenge by heroically spitting on the Treasury letter, and declaring that he doesn't recognize the sovereignty of the United Nations in fact, that the world would be a lot better without the UN. Bobby then magnified his deviation from the accepted norm by denouncing Zionism as racism, and declaring that "Bolshevism is a mask for Judaism." The stunned journalist pointed out that, as a lad born in Brooklyn of Jewish descent, Fischer is himself a Jew under "Jewish law" because his mother is Jewish. One wonders why the supposedly secular American press treats "Jewish law" as if it were the law of the land; would they accord the same reverence to, say, Muslim law?

So we are faced with the important question: are we going to insist that successful people in every walk of life, in order to maintain their positions, will have to sign on to the entire barrage of political correctness? Before we honor or consult a dentist, an actor, an astronomer, a baseball pitcher, a composer, are we going to run them through the gauntlet of p.c., quiz them unmercifully, and make sure that every one of them is sound on the Jewish, black, gay, Hispanic, disabled, animal rights, and dozens of other issues of the day? Are we going to fit everyone, regardless of occupation, to the Procrustean bed? How far are we going to forge the chains of totalitarianism in our society?...

1.Winston's Diary (Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference. Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed - would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper - the essential crime that contained all others in itself, Thoughtcrime...)

20.Thought Police (Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for awhile, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you...)

34.Ministry of Love (One did not know what happened inside the Ministry of Love, but it was possible to guess: tortures, drugs, delicate instruments that registered your nervous reactions, gradual wearing-down by sleeplessness and solitude and persistent questioning...)

1984 EXPOSES GOLDSTEIN CONSPIRACY and UNITED NATIONS IS BIG BROTHER

MCCARTHY'S UN THOUGHTS (Senator McCarthy was well aware that the U.N. Charter had been drawn up by the Communists and that the USA should get out from under the jurisdiction of that dangerous organization)

Uncle Sam still wants Bobby Fischer. KIRO TV, Dec 1, 2006
Bobby Fischer is still living the quiet life in Iceland, the home he adopted after being held in Japanese custody for nearly a year. He still refuses to play chess, at least the version that everybody else plays. And he's still a wanted man, as far as the U.S. government is concerned..."It's very sad," she said. "He can't travel anywhere. He's still on their list. He can't go back." The Chicago-born, Brooklyn, N.Y.-bred Fischer is wanted in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Cold War rival Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. The American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer became an icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, to claim America's first world chess championship in more than a century... He then fell into obscurity before resurfacing to play the exhibition rematch against Spassky on the resort island of Sveti Stefan. Fischer won, but the game was played in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic. He faces severe punishment in the United States -- if convicted, he could face 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. "He's never returned," Watai said. "Even Spassky has been allowed to visit."

Ancient chess may be ready for new tricks. TorontoStar, Nov 19, 2006
Board games are not, as a rule, known for historical longevity...Chess, on the other hand, has not only survived but flourished for the past 1,500 years, its basic rules and structure essentially unchanged...Enter Bobby Fischer, the eccentric former world champion who, since his 1972 triumph, has mostly made headlines for his reclusive nature and anti-American, anti-Semitic outbursts. Ten years ago, Fischer unveiled Fischer Random Chess, aiming to take the game back from computers and their like-thinking human competitors. Random Chess doesn't change the way the pieces move. What's different is the set-up of the pieces. Instead of the orthodox placement of the pieces at the start of a game, a computer program randomly assigns the places, with certain limits. The pawns start off in their traditional home squares, but everything in the back row is up for grabs, with two exceptions: the king has to be somewhere between the rooks, and the bishops have to be on opposite-colour squares. That may sound like a slight change, but it yields 960 variations on the opening position of the pieces..."It shows the talent of the players," Veselin Topalov, until last month the reigning world champion, told the Associated Press. "You forget all the (chess theory) books because they are completely useless. It's more or less like how people were playing chess thousands of years ago (when) they knew nothing."

Fischer on Icelandic Radio. ChessBase News, Nov 4, 2006
The 11th world chess champion discussed his public dispute with the Swiss bank UBS, international affairs and everyday life in his Icelandic refuge. He hasn't left Iceland since arriving for fear of being kidnapped and imprisoned...)

The game that shook the world. ChessBase News, Oct 10, 2006
Today, exactly fifty years ago, a 13-year-old boy played 17...Be6!!, sacrificing his queen and entering his name in the history books: Robert James Fischer, known to the world as "Bobby". The game was hailed as the "Game of the Century" and has been discussed in countless chess books and collections...)

Fischer's dispute with Swiss bank. ChessBase News, Aug 1, 2006
Without giving a reason the Union Bank of Switzerland, one of the world's largest, has transferred the assets of the legendary chess world champion Bobby Fischer to a bank account in Iceland, where Fischer now resides. The sum of three million Swiss Francs (US $2.4 m or €1.9 m) was transferred without Fischer's permission and against his will. Nobody knows why.)

Soviets cheated in chess matches. Student Life, Oct 25, 2006
Over 44 years ago, chess-master B obby Fischer accused his Soviet counterparts of cheating. Now, two Washington University professors are reviewing Fischer's charge. John Nye and Charles Moul, both economics professors, are sheding new light on a decades-old theory that Soviet players, when playing each other in international tournaments, would call premature draws. By drawing between themselves, the players would both be awarded half a point (as opposed to draws. By drawing between themselves, the players would boeth be awarded half a point (as opposed to zero for a loss), and would conserve energy for when they faced players from outside the USSR...)

UNCLE SAM LOST BOBBY FISCHER