Answers.Body: <p>Authoritarian governments will punish its representatives who do not live up to the standards they set.</p>
  
  <p>Iraq - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uday_Hussein">Saddam later appointed Uday head of the Iraqi Olympic committee and soccer federation, and ... tortured athletes who failed to win.</a></p>
  
  <p>China - <a href="http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=1007&amp;catid=12&amp;subcatid=79">Players that towed the party line and upheld Marxist values were rewarded. Those that didn’t were punished.</a></p>
  
  <p>Bear in mind, these standards are not necessarily reasonable or attainable.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T19:00:06.473Z
Answers.Text: US didn't treat Fischer much better.
Answers.UserDisplayName: AnonymousLurker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T19:40:50.643Z
Answers.Text: References please?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T19:47:52.853Z
Answers.Text: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer
Answers.UserDisplayName: AnonymousLurker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T20:46:42.010Z
Answers.Text: I'm not reading all of that. Which part supports your statememt?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T22:47:25.697Z
Answers.Text: particularly, the "detention in Japan" part
Answers.UserDisplayName: AnonymousLurker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-21T23:10:24.887Z
Answers.Text: He violated US law and was treated like anyone else would have been treated.  I suppose I don't see how this is anything like what happened to Iraqi athletes who committed no crimes.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-22T04:51:19.957Z
Answers.Text: Playing chess in Yugoslavia is certainly a bigger crime than bombing it, sure.
Answers.UserDisplayName: AnonymousLurker
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-26T19:13:38.753Z
Answers.Text: Maybe the US government treated Bobby Fischer severely, but he had shown great contempt. In any case, the dispute was not over a sporting result as for Taimanov and some other lesser known cases occurred in soviet times.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Andrea Mori
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2012-07-04T02:44:25.290Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2012-07-04T02:44:25.290Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Body: <p>I was reading the following <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Taimanov" rel="noreferrer">wikipedia article on Mark Taimanov</a> and I was very shocked (I guess I shoudn't be knowing how the Soviets took chess so seriously) that when Taimanov lost to Fischer 6-0 , the Soviet Government was embarrassed and found it "unthinkable" that he could lose a match so badly to an American, so they ended up taking away his salary and did not let him travel overseas.  Later, they "forgave" saying the reason for punishment was that he brought a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn into the country, but from the article, I guess many speculate that Fischer's defeat of Bent Larsen 6-0 probably had more to do with the Soviet government "forgiving" Taimanov.  So in a nutshell, do these things types of things still happen, not just with the countries that used to be a part of the USSR, but in other parts of the world?  This maybe difficult to answer, because I guess if it did happen, it would be kept very secretive?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-04T02:42:00.190Z
Comments.Text: The part you are quoting is about half of the article on Taimanov. Surely Taimanov, who was a top 10 player at his peak, deserves better than that.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Akavall
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-04T02:48:23.240Z
Comments.Text: "defeated 6 world champions..."
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-04T17:34:35.413Z
Comments.Text: @Akavall - This has nothing to do with `Taimanov`. This has to do with the Soviet treatment of their chess players.  It could have been anyone.
Comments.UserDisplayName: xaisoft
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-04T17:44:30.350Z
Comments.Text: @xaisoft, I was just making an observation regarding the wikipedia article. It seemed to be overly focused on one issue.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Akavall
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-05T13:03:19.023Z
Comments.Text: @Akavall - OK I get you, not my question, but the wikipedia article itself :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: xaisoft
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2012-07-07T01:35:09.737Z
Comments.Text: @xaisoft I have heard Spassky became persona non grata also when he lost to Fischer. That's one reason he moved to France in 1976.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tony Ennis
Tags: <history><famous-players>
Title: How is chess viewed in USSR vs Post-USSR?
ThreadText: # How is chess viewed in USSR vs Post-USSR?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-03)
  
  I was reading the following [wikipedia article on Mark Taimanov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Taimanov) and I was very shocked (I guess I shoudn't be knowing how the Soviets took chess so seriously) that when Taimanov lost to Fischer 6-0 , the Soviet Government was embarrassed and found it "unthinkable" that he could lose a match so badly to an American, so they ended up taking away his salary and did not let him travel overseas. Later, they "forgave" saying the reason for punishment was that he brought a book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn into the country, but from the article, I guess many speculate that Fischer's defeat of Bent Larsen 6-0 probably had more to do with the Soviet government "forgiving" Taimanov. So in a nutshell, do these things types of things still happen, not just with the countries that used to be a part of the USSR, but in other parts of the world? This maybe difficult to answer, because I guess if it did happen, it would be kept very secretive?
  
  **Tags:** history, famous-players
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: The part you are quoting is about half of the article on Taimanov. Surely Taimanov, who was a top 10 player at his peak, deserves better than that.  
  > **username_2**: "defeated 6 world champions..."  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 - This has nothing to do with `Taimanov`. This has to do with the Soviet treatment of their chess players.  It could have been anyone.  
  > **username_1**: @username_0, I was just making an observation regarding the wikipedia article. It seemed to be overly focused on one issue.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 - OK I get you, not my question, but the wikipedia article itself :)  
  > **username_2**: @username_0 I have heard Spassky became persona non grata also when he lost to Fischer. That's one reason he moved to France in 1976.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2012-07-04. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  Authoritarian governments will punish its representatives who do not live up to the standards they set.
  
  Iraq - [Saddam later appointed Uday head of the Iraqi Olympic committee and soccer federation, and ... tortured athletes who failed to win.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uday_Hussein)
  
  China - [Players that towed the party line and upheld Marxist values were rewarded. Those that didn’t were punished.](http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=1007&catid=12&subcatid=79)
  
  Bear in mind, these standards are not necessarily reasonable or attainable.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: US didn't treat Fischer much better.  
  > **username_2**: References please?  
  > **username_3**: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer  
  > **username_2**: I'm not reading all of that. Which part supports your statememt?  
  > **username_3**: particularly, the "detention in Japan" part  
  > **username_2**: He violated US law and was treated like anyone else would have been treated.  I suppose I don't see how this is anything like what happened to Iraqi athletes who committed no crimes.  
  > **username_3**: Playing chess in Yugoslavia is certainly a bigger crime than bombing it, sure.  
  > **username_4**: Maybe the US government treated Bobby Fischer severely, but he had shown great contempt. In any case, the dispute was not over a sporting result as for Taimanov and some other lesser known cases occurred in soviet times.  
  
  ---
  
  