AClarion-Ledger Jackson, Mississippi Monday, December 04, 1950 - Page 8 — Communist The Same Even in Games of Fun — The New Orleans Item shows another side of the Russians' character. The lighter side seems to be just as deceitful, even in games of skill and fun the article shows that:
“Through the ages chess has been looked upon as the game of the intellectuals.
“Always it has been a contest between sedate gentlemen who have tried to out think each other in a neo-mathematical world which belongs exclusively to chess.
“In this rarefied atmosphere the charges of Dr. Edward Lasker, president of the Association of American Chess Masters, come as a definite shock.
“Says Lasker, in Russian chess tournaments the Communists cheat.
“Since there is absolutely no element of luck in chess, and since any good player can remember every move of the game, we were at a loss to figure how the Kremlin's king-to-king's-bishops-two boys worked it.
It seems that in match play games are apt to last a long time. After a certain number of hours the players take a little time off to stretch. There has always been a gentleman's understanding that during these recesses no contestant shall discuss the game with his associates.
“But not the Russians, according to Lasker. The minute the Communist players leave the tournament room they huddle and try to pool their knowledge to defeat “the enemy.”
“Of course we ought to be a little tolerant of the Russian chess masters.
“We understand the Kremlin has a tendency to send defeated contestants for a free vacation to Siberia.
“In other words, if you are a Communist chess champion, being checkmated by a capitalist may cause you to lose a great deal more than your king.”
Communist The Same Even in Games of Fun 04 Dec 1950, Mon Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi) Newspapers.com
