This whole fuss did not only damage Fischers image, but that of the USA as well. The way the Americans treated one of their most popular citizens did not make a positive impression worldwide. – Anatoly Karpov
The nature of catastrophe is, after all, reasonably unvarying in the way it ruins, destroys, wounds and devastates. But if something can be learned from the event – not least something as profound as the theory of plate tectonics – then it somehow puts the ruination into a much more positive light. – Simon Winchester