Apparently there is a problematic NIC interview -- 5/2004 according to http://www.avlerchess.com/chess-mis... Maybe someone could look it up.

<Some excerpts :

"..our beautiful Jewish Gulag." (B.S. , p. 32 , obviously trying to put the blame for the
SOVIET Gulag on the Jewish community -- and with a very bad kind of irony !

"All champions of the world knew the so-called Jewish problem". ; B.S. , p. 33 ; (???? : what is he talking about ??)

"The first revolutionary government (in Russia , I presume ; CvdV) was 100 per cent Jewish." ; B.S. , p. 33

Then , on page 34 , he (B.S.) is insinuating that the Jewish people are selling out all the Russian factories , land , gold .. .

(Unfortunately Dirk ten Geuzendam , doing the interview , is supporting him :

"You mean the Jewish problem in general." ; DJtG, p. 33 ; WHAT problem ?!?!

"You just spoke highly of Mischa Tal .. Did you discuss these Jewish matters with him?" (DJtG , p. 35) ; WHAT matters ??)

"..if you are quite intelligent or quite well-educated, you must know this problem". (B.S. , p. 33 , obviously meaning
this strange paranoid "Jewish problem" .. )>

Also:

So far as I know, there is no broad consensus on who is Jewish and who isn't. One can be religiously Jewish, culturally Jewish, or Jewish by descent. (One friend of mine says one can be gastronomically Jewish!) And though a large segment of the religious Jewish community regards "Jewishness" as descending along the mother's line, I've certainly known people who are descended from a Jewish father only who regard themselves as Jewish. And one can even convert to Judaism (though not all groups of religious Jewish people may acknowledge ones conversion: http://www.convert.org/ )

I think one sense of "Jewishness" involves self-identification as Jewish, and another (often unwelcome) sense involves "other-identification" of one as Jewish (sometimes by some entity that wishes to set limits on Jewish participation.) This site, I have found, has some pretty good answers to questions about Judaism and Jewish culture, etc.:

http://www.jewfaq.org/

I have also found that one of the more insightful treatments of anti-semitism is a book by the (non-Jewish) French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre titled, "Anti-Semite and Jew : An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate":

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...

I do not agree with all that Sartre says in this book, but he does say much that is worthwhile about this sad phenomenon in human history.

Incidentally, I'm not Jewish myself (except perhaps in the gastronomic sense :), but a disproportionate number of my friends have typically been Jewish at most times in my life. I've always attributed this to the fact that I am a lover of learning, and much of Jewish culture has placed great value on learning (historically).

I hope these links are helpful!

♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗

<the sad fact is that anti-semitism has played a significant role in the history of Chess> The sad fact is that this discussions have played a significant role in the post-christ history, all the way up to the present. Anti-semitism is still a hot topic (e.g. in the Eastern-European countries), and while the anti-semitists blames most thing on the jews, some jews often accuse any critics of beeing anti-semitists (happens to me "all the time").

When discussing anti-semitism of the past (e.g. at the 19th and the beginning of the 20th cenutry), one must remember that this was not an extreme view in those days. In Norway, our constitution forbid jews to enter the country as late as 1851 (jesuits was allowed into the country in 1956!), but in the society the anti-semtitism was comme-il-faux up World War II.

Considering where and when Spasskij grew up, it is not surprising he has this wiews (still I must admit I am a little disappointed).

This topic seems to pop up whatever is beeing discussed, so it seems anti-semitism is alive and kicking even today. In my view the current israeli politics, supported by USA, is one of the main driving force behind modern anti-semitism, and the hate mongers find support for any of their paranoic conspiracy theories in this.

And then suddenly, the Palestine people is accused for the agression.

Wake up and smell the fish! Haven't you seen this before? It's a sly strategy playing good guy/bad guy, giving the world hope for progress. The corrupt, massmurder and war criminal Sharon (Shabra and Shatilla) will soon find an excuse to tighten the thumbscrews again. This man is EVIL! He hates Palestinans and enjoy killing them.

Imagine that Israel had the nerve to demanded that Syria respected one UN resolution, having neglected 40-50 resolutions themselves.

Let me just say that elections under foreign military occupation is a perverted joke, in Palestine as in Iraq. Israel had put strict limitations on the election platforms and the propaganda. They have always harrassed and murdered people they don't like. Abbas was the preferred candidate of Israel and the USA so it's not surprising he "won". (And yes, he got 62% of the votes, but then again there was only a 46.7% turnout of eligible voters, meaning less than 30% voted for him - http://peaceandjustice.org/article....)

One friend of mine, a professor of philosophy (who happens to be Jewish) is quite active with the group "Americans for Peace Now":

http://www.peacenow.org/

Though not perfect (to my thinking), here are some of the proposals this group supports:

http://www.peacenow.org/about/posit...

This friend is also one of the many American Jews to sign this open letter concerning peace between Palestinians and Israelis. It is worth reading. If there is a "shape" of enduring peace in the Middle East, I have to think it's something like this:

http://www.peacemideast.org/

Among the points in the letter:

=> Israeli and Palestinian lives are equally precious.

=> The Israeli and Palestinian peoples have equal rights to national self-determination and to live in peace and security.

=>The Israeli and Palestinian peoples have equal rights to a fair share of the land and resources of historic Palestine.

I think my friend's views are very common among American Jewish people and I suspect among many Jewish people around the world.

It is my sincere hope that one day the children of Abraham will live together in peace. I do not expect to see it in my lifetime (and I'm hardly old, at 43), but I don't think it's unrealistic to hope that children alive today will live to see that day.

Salaam, Shalom to all...

♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗

The references to Alekhin and Fisher from my viewpoint meant to emphasize that Spassky was not the only one. In music it was also very well known tendency (Richard Wagner, for instance), which does not expell the composer from the top of the list. Just facts.

Imagine the world of chess without ever having Jewish players. Take a look at the list and then look at Zurich 1953 (http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/525...)

Even the clicking the button which says Kibitz is a Yiddish word.

Even if there were no Jew among the world best players, antisemitism is a shame for everyone who publicly expressed it.