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The U.S.S.R. has produced few, if any, romantic, slashing players like Alekhine, who grew up under the Czars. Instead, modern Russian players tend to concentrate on establishing strong defensive positions. This, it has been suggested, may reflect a national feeling of threat by encirclement. Certainly the Russians seldom launch a blitzkrieg early in the game, preferring to win by attrition and a later counterattack. Consciously or not, this could be a re-enactment of both Napoleon's 1812 campaign and the 1941-45 war in which Hitler's blitzkrieg was eventually defeated by Russian doggedness. Furthermore, Soviet players seem to be more willing than most to settle for a draw, which salvages half a point, rather than going for broke and risking the loss of a whole point.
Among the Russian champions, Spassky represents the calm, collected and efficient competitor that Reuben Fine includes in the "non-hero" class, able to do well in fields other than chess. Fine also notes that the easygoing Spassky is a depressive personality, perhaps because in childhood he endured the siege of Leningrad and spent some years in an orphanage. Spassky's father left the family when Boris was very young, and the future champion was raised by his mother. Fischer, too, was deserted early in life by his father and raised by his mother. Her name, incidentally, was Regina, a fact that has given Freudians an opportunity for endless speculation. Unlike Spassky, Bobby is considered by Fine to be a perfect example of the hero players, "who use chess to satisfy their fantasies of omnipotence."
For Fischer, these fantasies are confined to chess. He is as monocentric as he is egocentric. Chess is his whole life, leaving little room for conventional social relationships with men and women. Some supporters deny that he is a misogynist, but he has given ample evidence of it, and Fine says that Fischer is afraid of women. Much of his openly outrageous behavior can be attributed to his emotionally deprived childhood. And his struggle to the summit since then has left him still without the inner security needed to accept defeat. He is a killer—not necessarily in the Oedipal sense—because he must win.
In the lower ranks of the chess hierarchy, the character traits of world champions are usually expressed in less extreme forms. U.S. Grand Master Larry Evans, in fact, takes a coolly pragmatic approach to the game. "In chess," he says, "what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just." Being a chess professional, says Evans, "offers freedom, unlimited travel with all expenses paid. To me, the opponent is a neutral figure. Winning pays the rent."
It is among the players who are frank (and in some cases rank) amateurs that the motivation for chess is more likely to be affective, at the level of ventilating aggression. Jim Rathmann, 23, bartender at the Bismarck Inn in Chicago, has identified with Fischer during the current match. As he chalks up a new win for the challenger, he exults: "He's going to crush Spassky! He's on an ego trip, but he's still the greatest chess player ever." As for himself, Rathmann says simply, "Winning gives me a feeling of power."