The Magic Bag
Evgeny Yakovlevich Gik, Moskovskij Komsomolets, December 12, 2015
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, as FIDE President, has travelled back and forth around the world, and was in touch with many famous people. But his most memorable encounter — ipse dixit — was with Bobby Fischer in the early 90s.
At the time Fischer was at odds with Russians, because they did not ever pay him royalties for the translation published in Moscow of his best seller book “My 60 Memorable Games”. Indeed there was not such a duty: the book was published in 1972, and the USSR joined the Universal Copyright Convention only in 1973. But Fischer did not interest himself about such trifles: “Just gimme the money”, he demanded.
So Ilyumzhinov decided to repay the long-standing debt with his own money in order to personally meet with the living chess legend. He flew especially to Budapest with a package of cash (Fischer did not trust banks at all). They met in the home of Andor (André) Arnoldovich Lilienthal, with whom at the time Fischer was in frequent contact.
The chess King was glad to eat caviar — straight from the knife — and drink Stolichnaya — which were being offered as a gift by Ilyumzhinov. And then, with the same knife, he cut open a bank package containing ten $10,000 packs. He very carefully counted them out, stacking the banknotes on the table.
When he counted out about half of the amount, Lilienthal persuaded him that everything was alright, and that there was no need to count it all. Fischer said “OK”, and put the dollars... into a basic mesh string bag. Only after then he relaxed a little, toasted to Ilyumzhinov and hugged him, he being very grateful of not having been cheated (at least once in a lifetime). However, he vehemently refused to pose for a photo with the President: “We have not talked about it before”.
Then Fischer accompanied Kirsan Nikolayevich to the airport. He also took with him the string bag containing the money, waving it back and forth. Dollars were about to fall and scatter, and people looked askance at the strange man. It was only when Bobby took off his jacket and wrapped the money in it, holding it tight to his chest, that Ilyumzhinov could breathe a sigh of relief.
Evgeny Yakovlevich Gik, Moskovskij Komsomolets, December 12, 2015
Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov, as FIDE President, has travelled back and forth around the world, and was in touch with many famous people. But his most memorable encounter — ipse dixit — was with Bobby Fischer in the early 90s.
At the time Fischer was at odds with Russians, because they did not ever pay him royalties for the translation published in Moscow of his best seller book “My 60 Memorable Games”. Indeed there was not such a duty: the book was published in 1972, and the USSR joined the Universal Copyright Convention only in 1973. But Fischer did not interest himself about such trifles: “Just gimme the money”, he demanded.
So Ilyumzhinov decided to repay the long-standing debt with his own money in order to personally meet with the living chess legend. He flew especially to Budapest with a package of cash (Fischer did not trust banks at all). They met in the home of Andor (André) Arnoldovich Lilienthal, with whom at the time Fischer was in frequent contact.
The chess King was glad to eat caviar — straight from the knife — and drink Stolichnaya — which were being offered as a gift by Ilyumzhinov. And then, with the same knife, he cut open a bank package containing ten $10,000 packs. He very carefully counted them out, stacking the banknotes on the table.
When he counted out about half of the amount, Lilienthal persuaded him that everything was alright, and that there was no need to count it all. Fischer said “OK”, and put the dollars... into a basic mesh string bag. Only after then he relaxed a little, toasted to Ilyumzhinov and hugged him, he being very grateful of not having been cheated (at least once in a lifetime). However, he vehemently refused to pose for a photo with the President: “We have not talked about it before”.
Then Fischer accompanied Kirsan Nikolayevich to the airport. He also took with him the string bag containing the money, waving it back and forth. Dollars were about to fall and scatter, and people looked askance at the strange man. It was only when Bobby took off his jacket and wrapped the money in it, holding it tight to his chest, that Ilyumzhinov could breathe a sigh of relief.
(English translation by I, Robot)
Budapest, December 15, 1995: Fischer’s autographed dedication to Ilyumzhinov. Photo courtesy of Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov. |
No comments:
Post a Comment