Anthony Saidy (born May 16, 1937) is an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, a retired physician and author. He competed eight times in the U.S. Chess Championship, with his highest placement being 4th. He won the 1960 Canadian Open Chess Championship. The same year, he played on the U.S. Team in the World Student Team Championship in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. The U.S. team won the World Championship, the only time the U.S. has ever won that event. Saidy is the author of several chess books, including ''The Battle of Chess Ideas'', and ''The World of Chess'' (with

Norman Lessing Norman Lessing (June 24, 1911 – October 22, 2001) was an American television screenwriter and producer, playwright, chess master, and chess writer. Biography Lessing grew up in New York City, and played a great deal of chess as a youth, reach ...

). His most recent book
''1983, a Dialectical Novel''
is a work of "what if"

political fiction Political fiction employs narrative to Political commentary, comment on political events, systems and theories. Works of political fiction, such as political novels, often "directly criticize an existing society or present an alt ...

inspired by Saidy's four sojourns in the USSR, during which he was able to get to know Russians from all walks of life in both public and intimate settings.

Harrison Salisbury Harrison Evans Salisbury (November 14, 1908 – July 5, 1993), was an American journalist and the first regular ''New York Times'' correspondent in Moscow after World War II. Biography Salisbury was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He gradu ...

, Pulitzer Prize-winning Moscow correspondent of the ''New York Times'', said that it had the "ring of truth." As an older mentor he befriended Robert James Fischer (

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11� ...

). It was in Saidy's family home in Douglaston, Long Island that Fischer secluded himself prior to the World Chess Championship 1972. Saidy and others successfully encouraged the apparently reluctant Fischer to go to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, where he won the world crown in a match against holder

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...

. Saidy is the son of playwright

Fred Saidy Fred Saidy (February 11, 1907 – May 14, 1982) was an American playwright and screenwriter. Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Saidy began his writing career in 1943 with the screenplay for the Red Skelton comedy '' I Dood It''. The ...

Books

*''1967 U.S. Open Chess Championship : Atlanta, Georgia'' (with L. Dave Truesdel Jr), International Chess Imports, 1967 *''The World of Chess'' (with Norman Lessing), Random House, 1974 *''The Battle of Chess Ideas'', RHM, 1975 *''The March of Chess Ideas'', McKay, 1994 *''1983: A Dialectical Novel'', Seagull Press, 2013

External links

* * *
1983, a Dialectical Novel
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Saidy, Anthony American chess players Physicians from New York City Chess International Masters American non-fiction writers American fiction writers 1937 births Living people American chess writers American people of Lebanese descent American male non-fiction writers People from Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens Sportspeople of Lebanese descent