And he definitely had no access to all that wiki info you linked , so blaming him that way is pointless.

From http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour... (part 1 ) and http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour... (part 2 ) , Kingston´s Interwiew with Y Averbakh.

Thanks.

<And it was just the same with his letter to Pravda. Botvinnik had his own political ideas, that it was possible to transform the world toward communism without a third world war. >

Worth pointing out that this was orthodoxy under Krushchev within a few years of Botvinnik's letter.

Just few (approx) quotes from Karpov :

<...he was reading ˝Legends of ancient Greece˝ , playing tennis ... he liked to play tennis...>

< ...and for the last 20 days he did nothing...absolutely NOTHING ...>

<Cheering on the sidelines as millions of your fellow citizens are being executed for political reasons is probably not a crime, but it makes Botvinnik a despicable human being who is probably not even worthy of being called a human being.>

This is one I'd never heard, and certainly goes against Botvinnik's image as the personification of Soviet Man.

<AVRO38: <It's not like Botvinnik directly committed any crimes> Cheering on the sidelines as millions of your fellow citizens are being executed for political reasons is probably not a crime, but it makes Botvinnik a despicable human being who is probably not even worthy of being called a human being.>

Neither did Keres, so far as we know, but he was fortunate to escape the hangman's noose.

'BF goes to war'

An article about the possible victory of Socialism in the west shouldn't count as "pro-liberalization remarks", should it?

What you refer to is probably Botvinnik's greeting of the soviet recognition of the jewish state in 1948. He wrote a letter (to Prawda?) at that time (and might have gotten into trouble afterwards ...).

The other well known "liberal act" was Botvinniks refusal to sign the petition against Korchnoi. But he didn't comment on that. =)

Then again Averbachs interview to me sounds strange. Should we believe, that a guy, that was known for his preparation, would offer a unprepared solution "to everything"? And contrary to Averbachs suggestions ("the man who thought he could do everything") Botvinnik did apparently work on chess computers/programs. For quite some time.

<An article about the possible victory of Socialism in the west shouldn't count as "pro-liberalization remarks", should it?>

Victory without war was considered very "pro-liberalization" and occasioned complete disgust in China. See below, "Two Different Lines on War and Peace" and "Peaceful Coexistence -- Two Diametrically Opposed Policies."

Outrage in Russia as Spassky puts name to rabidly anti-Semitic petition

By Bojan Pancevski

Boris Spassky, the former chess world champion, has caused uproar in Russia by signing a petition that demands the country's state prosecutor bans a number of Jewish organisations.

Spassky was among 5,000 Russians who put their name to a letter calling for a ban on all religious and national groups acting on the principles of the Shulchan Aruch, a repository of Jewish law originally written in the 1560s.

The "Letter of 5,000", sent three weeks ago, branded Judaism "anti-Christian and inhumane" and accused believers of "committing ritual murders".

It warned of a "hidden campaign of genocide against the Russian people and their traditional society and values", and was backed with quotes from anti-Semitic literature from the 19th century.

Late on Friday, after constant criticism from religious leaders and figures in the chess world, Spassky tried to distance himself from the campaign. He did not deny that he had signed it, but said: "The appearance of my name was a mistake. As a 'Chess King' I have always tried to fortify and unite the multinational kingdom of chess, and not to cause division within it. I will remain faithful to that principle in my old age."

Evgeny Gik, a Russian chess master and writer who is a long-term acquaintance of Spassky, had condemned the letter in a Russian newspaper. He recalled how, in the 1990s, Spassky travelled from his home in France to the St Petersburg chess club to be the guest of honour at a dinner party.

There, according to Gik, Spassky remarked: "Everything is good in Russia, but I don't know how the Russian people can have allowed so many big-nosed people into government." Gik said that several grandmasters left the table in protest.

Lev Ponomarev, a respected human rights activist, also condemned Spassky's involvement in the letter. "I am ashamed that people of such high moral authority are taking the lead in creating a kind of orthodox Taliban," he said.

Spassky, who was born in 1937 and learned to play chess at five, became world chess champion in 1969 - a title that he held until 1972, when he was beaten by the American, Bobby Fischer. The match was perhaps the most legendary chess duel of all time.

Many leading Soviet-era players were Jewish, including Garry Kasparov, officially the highest-ranked in the world but now retired. The intense competition created a "them and us" division between Jewish and non-Jewish players, who include Spassky. Although this is the first time that Spassky has given vent to anti-Semitic feelings in public, Fischer - whose parents were, in fact, Jewish - has frequently exposed himself as a Holocaust denier and anti-Semite.

In an interview in 1999, he said that Jews were "criminals, parasites, liars and thieves" and described America as a "farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards."

The American was detained in prison in Japan last year for travelling on a passport that had been revoked by the US. He was wanted for breaking a trade embargo by playing a rematch with Spassky in the former Yugoslavia, in 1992. The wording of the petition signed by Spassky was almost identical to an earlier "Letter of 500", signed by key Russian politicians and sent to the prosecutor, Gen Vladimir Ustinov, in January.

Since when did Russians start believing what they read in print?

This is why I push steel around a factory in my old age when I should be on the Golf Course.

Words were invented to describe actions. Words, by themselves, are not illegal.

Stupid, yes, in Spassky's case.