Arizona Daily Star from Tucson, Arizona • Page 53

TUCSON, SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1972 THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR SECTION FAG! FIVI Can Anybody Name The No. 2 Chess Player In The United States? By LARRY ELDRIDGE Th Christum Sciwict M.nilw NtWI iKVICt When Russian tanks rolled Into Czechoslovakia In 1968, chess grandmaster Lubomir-Kavalek decided It was time to get out. The 24-year-old genius was already famous In his homeland as one of the world's leading players, but he knew that wouldn't make any difference. Much more important to the Communists was the fact that his movie director father had left the country in 1949 to many Americans could name No. Try out the name Lubomir Kavalek on the next person you meet, and see if you get anything more than a blank stare and a set of directions to UN headquarters.

Such is the fate of the chess master in this land where the Joe Namaths, the Arnold Palmers and the Willie Mays are kings. Kavalek's importance to the American chess scene, though, can hardly be overemphasized. The brilliant big role. Also the will to work." When he was 21, Kavalek suffered a serious Injury in a skiing accident. He lay immobile in a hospital for three months, then had to learn to walk all over again.

After his recovery, he concentrated on chess. He won the international master title, then surged to the international grandmaster rank (the highest there is) with a pair of successes in Bulgaria and East Germany. And where does Lubomir work for Radio Free Europe not exactly the credentials to make the Kavalek family a favorite of the regime. The Russian power play thus became the young man's invitation to make a quick exit or risk unpleasant consequences. He chose the former course.

Now as a somewhat delayed result the United States has a new world class player who ranks second on the rating list of his adopted country. Bobby Fischer, of course, is No. 1. Just about everybody knows that by now. But how the current regime)," Kavalek recalls.

"It was my Christmas wish that year to play against him." Kavalek says. "He agreed to meet me, and he explained that chess is not so easy." So young Kavalek studied and developed his obvious talent for a couple of years, then worked under Pachman's tutelage for two more. "I went through theoretical books, and studied five or six hours a he says. "By the time I was IS, I was al Czech refugee Is looking forward to representing his new country in the chess Olympics at Skopje, Yugoslavia, next fall and his presence there will give the U.S. team a much better chance of emerging victorious.

Meanwhile, he keeps busy playing in tournaments, working as a writer, broadcaster and translator for the Voice of America, and telling anyone who wants to listen how he found life under communism. 'Under a regime like that, you're a machine. The ordera come from upstairs. Even af ter I became famous in chess, I couldn't go to the West to compete in a tournament unless someone came along to watch over me." Kavalek's chess career be. gan at the age of 11, when he learned the game from some friends and Immediately took to it.

"I was so ambitious that within half a year I called Fachman (Ludek Pachman, a grandmaster and Czechoslovakia's leading player at the time; he has since been arrested and imprisoned by ready pretty strong. I won the championship of Prague, Then when I was 19, I became the youngest person ever to win the Czechoslovakian championship." What is It that separates a player of this caliber from the general run of chess enthusiasts? Can it be identified or analyzed? "It's a matter of talent, but it's hard to describe," he says. "Some people think it's a question of logic and science, but I still feel it's a game of imagination. Fantasy plays a Kavalek, who at 28 Is th same age as Fischer, fit Wit today's scheme of things? Does he too have world title aspirations? "If you don't have that ambition, you'd better stop play in? chess," he says. "How ever, I realize it's very hard to come close to such a player as Bobby if you are working and not playing chess full-time." "Let's say I'm a little bit skeptical about myself," he says, "but I feel I have try." hm fen) a te fejos vm (fefftanKg Save $1.64 a day (that's $600 a year) and it becomes over $41,000 in a savings account, plus monthly income of $171 that lasts forever.

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