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. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, 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 Canadian Open Chess Championship is Canada's Open chess championship, first held in 1956, and held annually since 1973, usually in mid-summer. It is organized by the Chess Federation of Canada. The event celebrated its 50th rendition in 2013. ...

. The same year, he played on the U.S. Team in the World Student Team Championship in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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

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

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, 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 Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

). 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 a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

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

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilyevich Spassky (; January 30, 1937 – February 27, 2025) was a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. Spassky played three world championship matches: he lost to Tigra ...

. Saidy is the son of playwright Fred Saidy.

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

References

External links

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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