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#5197276 in Books Ishi Press 2012-06-26Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x .50 x 5.50l, .63 #File Name: 4871874931216 pages | File size: 51.Mb

Ludek Pachman : Checkmate in Prague The Memoirs of a Grandmaster before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Checkmate in Prague The Memoirs of a Grandmaster:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. About Cold War politics the Soviet hegemonyBy Keith HalonenI noticed there were no previous reviews of this fine book and considering recent revelations about the US Government's intelligence efforts with respect to its own citizenry, I decided it was well worth a few words of praise. I purchased it long ago, before there even was an Internet. Sorry, , but some of us are only a little younger than dirt.If you are just a wee tad paranoid (the only fitting degree, really) about the news in 2013 concerning Internet Service Providers cooperating with US Government intelligence agencies, then "Checkmate in Prague" should open your eyes to how extreme such obsessions can become. There is no chess per se in Grandmaster Ludek Pachman's biography, only his account of intensive mistreatment at the hands of Soviet authorities in his native - where, incidentally, he was National Chess Champion seven times! This is anecdotal testimony to the manic-depressive (as in lurching back and forth between terrifying and hilarious) nature of the Communist Party's obsession with its #1 National Sport, Chess, and the cadre of top-flight grandmasters who dominated world-class tournaments and matches during the Cold War and largely continue to do so right on up to the present day despite the demise of the USSR as we once knew it. The most important agenda for the Soviet regime was to maintain a public image of controlled superiority in their Socialist milieu, and saving face became an imperative for the KGB and its intelligence operatives.Pachman's story details the sudden implosion of his life following the 1968 Soviet invasion, when tanks rolled into the streets of the capital on the heels of the liberal Prague Spring reforms. If you think pre-programmed dumb-as-doornail computer software taking notes about what numbers you dial on your cellphone and what numbers are dialing your number and what time of day and how often, etc., try living with three shifts of thuggish KGB agents parked outside your flat 24-7. A truly remarkable narrative, bearing in mind that the omni-powerful Communist Party of the Soviet Union never comprised more than 10% of the adult populations over which it held sway! It was never a party one could join willy-nilly. You had to be nominated and sponsorship was integral to becoming a "card-carrying" member in the literal sense. Furthermore, it was heavily male-dominated. Women never exceeded 29% of Communist Party members. Within three years of coming to power, the Communist Party outlawed all other political parties, thus creating the single-party state system. In this political environment, Ludek Pachman was a tremendously talented chess player who enjoyed a measure of privilege unavailable to ordinary citizens. But all that changed... ALL of it! By 1969, chess grandmaster Pachman seemed to have it made. Although not personally satisfied. with the lack of freedom in his Soviet-dominated native land, he was a hero in his country: Champion of Czechoslovakia seven times and a shining star of international chess competition. Suddenly his world collapsed. He was arrested and thrown into prison. He was charged with subversion, sedition, defaming a member of the government, and holding illegal meetings. After countless Kafkaesque interrogations, investigations and examinations where various charges against him were made and withdrawn, after detentions, releases, re-arrests, and a total of two years in assorted jail cells, Pachman was finally brought to ldquo;trialrdquo; three years after his initial arrest. He was sentenced to two years - which he had already served, and released. In the meantime, he had been "banned" from chess by the Czech Chess Federation, expelled by that organization and prohibited from representing his country in international tournaments, the first chess player ever to be expelled on political grounds. His appeals to FIDE, the international chess body, were of no avail and to this date he is banned from the game because that international body is afraid of a Soviet boycott if they were to readmit Pachman. Not being able to earn a livelihood (his wife had been dismissed from her job) and unwilling to give up his quest for Freedom, Pachman was finally allowed to emigrate to the West after being forced to deed all his property to the state. Ludek Pachman's account of his political struggles is interspersed with numerous chess anecdotes about many of the masters he faced in tournament play, such as Alekhine, , Botvinnik, and Tal; he also tells about his meetings with Castro, about his activities during the Prague Spring, and about his early chess career under Nazi occupation. Checkmate in Prague is a remarkable document of a man's determination to survive, and his unwillingness to surrender his love of liberty.

About the AuthorLudek Pachman was born in Bela pod Bezdezem, Czechoslovakia on May 11, 1924. Czechoslovakia went to political extremes, first being occupied by the Nazis and then being liberated by the Communists. Pachman was in the middle of all of this, first being sent to a Nazi concentration camp and later being imprisoned by the Communists. Pachman's first big break came at an international tournament in Prague in 1943 with Alekhine and Keres. Pachman finished in the top half and created a sensation. Pachman led a remarkable and amazing but somewhat tragic life. Although one of the world's strongest players who won 15 international tournaments, he missed qualifying to the World Champion Candidates Tournament by a half-point twice. He got into serious political trouble by first being a staunch pro-Communist who supported the 1968 reforms of Alexander Dubcek, the head of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. He spent months in prison without being charged. He was released in 1970 but was rearrested in January 1972. He was released again in the summer of 1972. In November 1972, he was allowed to leave the country with his cat and he settled in West Germany. Ludek Pachman died on March 6, 2003 in Passau, Germany.

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