The Pittsburgh Press Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Tuesday, January 23, 1979 - Page 48
Soviet defector and chess grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi says he intends to apply for Israeli citizenship and hopes to represent the Jewish state in international chess tournaments.
“The next time I come to Israel, I am going to apply for Israeli citizenship and settle,” the highly ranked chess expert said yesterday in Tel Aviv. “I feel such a good reception here,” Korchnoi said. “I feel I have a lot of friends here. I feel that I can help my family be released from the Soviet Union.”
Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 and now lives in The Netherlands. The Soviets have officially stripped him of his citizenship. His wife and 19-year-old son are still living in the Soviet Union.
Parliament member Samuel Flatto-Sharon, who brought Korchnoi to Israel for 10 days of exhibition chess matches, has invited former chess champion Bobby Fischer of the United States to Tel Aviv to play Korchnoi, offering a $3 million prize to the winner.
Fischer's good feelings toward Korchnoi (even telegrammed congrats to Korchnoi for defecting from USSR). But Bobby Fischer in 1979 is in the heat of his (RECENT) studies of USSR and the founding of the Israeli Apartheid regime… there's going to be MASSIVE hostilities from Fischer toward Korchnoi.
A Letter from Bobby Fischer to Pal Benko (26 February 1979)