Fridrik Olafsson, Iceland's first chess grandmaster, died on 4 April at the age of 90. Born in 1935, he was one of the best players in the world in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1958, FIDE awarded him the title of International Grandmaster. It was Olafsson's successes that triggered a chess boom in Iceland and led to the world championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky being held in Iceland in 1972. Many young people turned to chess, and in the 1990s Reykjavik was the city with the highest density of grandmasters in the world.
In his last video interview, Fridrik Olafsson talks about his friendship with Fischer, whom he met at the 1958 Interzonal Tournament in Portoroz. Fischer was only 15 years old at the time and still very childish, Olafsson says. But after a conversation between rounds, Olafsson and Fischer became friends. Fischer was still very open at the time and told Olafsson about his expectations. The 15-year-old Fischer believed that he would become world champion in two years at the latest. "Bobby, you're in a bit of a hurry", Olafsson replied to him at the time.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Olafsson and Fischer played a few tournaments together. Then Olafsson finished his law studies, left the professional circuit, and they lost sight of each other. Fischer changed a lot in the 1960s after he became involved in all kinds of conspiracy theories, Olafsson says.
Zürich, 21st May 1959. Friðrik Ólafsson (Iceland) is pictured in play v. Bobby Fischer (USA) in the 3rd round of the international tournament held in city's Kongreßhaus.
— Douglas Griffin (@dgriffinchess) June 19, 2020
This encounter features in Fischer's 'My 60 Memorable Games'.
(Photo: Ullstein Bild.) #chess pic.twitter.com/RlcxeyGDzU
After he was elected FIDE President in 1978, FIDE formulated minimum standards for the organisation of chess tournaments under Olafsson's leadership. These hardly existed before. Professionals should be able to expect that at least a few basic rules should be respected when taking part in a tournament.
Olafsson also recounts how the first chess computers appeared around 1979/80 and challenged the professionals. The first devices were still very weak, and Olafsson defeated one of these early chess computers in 15 moves at a demonstration in Austria. The companies gave money to advertise the devices, and Olafsson saw this as a positive effect.
Olafsson started playing tournament chess around the age of 11 or 12. After he was offered the job of secretary to the Icelandic parliament, he gave up his professional career. He has no regrets, Olafsson says in the interview.
Olafsson was very close to the drama during the 1972 World Championship match in Reykjavik. He recounts how he was in Fischer's hotel room with Lombardy and both tried to persuade the stubborn challenger to play the second game.
On his role as FIDE President
Fridrik Olafsson: I think it was in the tournament in '76. He came to me and asked me whether I would be available to become the next runner [for FIDE presidency]. I was very surprised, of course. I had never given much thought to it, but actually I thought that the conditions for the players were not quite good enough.
So I had a group of chess players of about my own strength who had the same opinion. We thought, "Well, maybe if you are ready to sacrifice yourself for a few years just to try to do something about this - to get inside FIDE and rectify the conditions - well, we would really support you".
If you're a President of FIDE, I mean, you cannot just forget to play chess. You have to follow what's going on because you have to know what's happening underneath and appreciate how the players are doing. I don't know if you are a chess player... [but] a real chess player cannot really just forget all about it and say, "Well, this phase I'm going to leave it here, and then, later on, I will pick it up".
So that's what happened. We made rules about the minimal conditions in tournaments. That was the first thing we did. And of course, when I say "we", there were a lot of chess players - like English players, players mostly from Western Europe, I must say - but we started making things more stable for players so that if they played in a tournament, they could expect to have some minimum rules. They could show it to the organizers and say, "Well, you are not following the rules". This is how we saw it because we were the sufferers.
On computers in chess
The computer was coming up at that time, around 1978, '79, '80. I think I attended the first World Championship for computers. That was in Austria. But then the computers were really bad. I beat one of them, the world champion, in 15 moves, so they had a long way to go. But anyhow, the computer companies, they gave money to chess.
You can always do something better, so I don't think I was too sorry [to leave the presidency]. When I came back to Iceland, I got a good job as the General Secretary of the Icelandic Parliament. So if the chess world didn't want me, there were no problems for me.
On his chess career
It's a very strange thing that already from a young age, when I was starting to play chess and I realized that I might make a very good chess player, I also thought at the same time that I should not become too dependent on this. I don't know why - I was a young kid, I think 10, 11, 12.
So I started my career as a lawyer. I became a lawyer from a university here in Iceland. And from that point, I played chess, but I decided that I would never let chess take over my life.
FIDE today and FIDE when I was there are completely different situations, and it's very difficult to compare. I know it's much more work to do today. The technique is quite different. To get in tocuch with someone in Africa, it was absolutely impossible - if you wanted to send a telex or something, this would cost thousands. It's very difficult to compare, but FIDE today, as far as I understand, is enjoying all the benefits of modern techniques today.
On Bobby Fischer
I met him first time when he was 15. We played in a tournament in Portorož, and that was in 1958 - a long time ago. But we became immediately good friends. He was very childish, of course, as boys are, and I think already the first day we met, or the second day, we had a chat, and he told me about his expectations and how he saw the immediate future before him.
He said he would be World Champion in 2 years, and I said, "Bobby, please, I think you're a bit in a hurry". I liked him a lot, and he was very sincere as a boy.
I don't know how he learned all these theories about science, the Soviet Union, FBI, and all these things - they completely changed him. He was not the same nice young Bobby Fischer. I played him in '58, I played in '59, '60, '61, but after that, I finished my studies and got my job as a lawyer in Iceland. So I didn't see him much from about '61 to '67, '68, and then he had changed quite a lot. It was not the same boy, the same nice boy.
On the Fischer-Spassky match
I knew them quite well, both of them. I had to be careful not to stay in the middle, I had to be careful not to say anything, because it could always happen that there was a problem, and if something happened, I might be able to solve the problem by intervening. So that is why I kept in the shadows.
Bobby Fischer had conceded - I mean, he said okay... I was in his suite with Lombardy, and we both tried to persuade him to come and play the second game. But in the end, he said, "Okay, but then you have to turn back the clock". So that was the problem. I called Lothar Schmid [the arbiter] and told him this, and Lothar said, "This is not possible according to the rules of chess". So that's what happened.
I knew Spassky very well, and he was one of my good friends in the chess circle. It's a secret, really, but I had good feelings for both of them, and it was just for me that one of them had to win, and I would stay on good terms with both of them.
It was not easy to play Bobby Fischer. I can say that for me - Bobby Fischer was probably the most difficult player I played in my life. If he made a move, you could sense that this was the right move, and you know, just feel the strength of his character. Some say animal character, you know? Yes, that's what Spassky said. He said that [Fischer] was influenced by some animal power.
On Fischer's final days
When he was in the hospital, I visited him quite a lot. That was the last month of his life. And I did my best - I was one of those who did their best to convince him, to persuade him to let his doctors do what they could do to help him.
I am told it would have been a rather minor operation, but I have been told later that it was maybe not so easy to adjust to this illness, which had to do with the kidneys. It was very sad to see him just waste away, disappear, because he was a very stubborn guy. But he kept to his own... as one of the doctors said, "He fought his own battle".
He got the short straw, but he won because he never failed - he never strayed away, you know? I don't know, this is a little bit philosophical, but if Bobby decided to do something, you couldn't let him waver or take another road [than the one] he had selected.
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