Fischer: The Russians Have Fixed World Chess
After his fourth-place finish in the 1962 Candidates tournament in Curacao, Bobby Fischer subsequently complained that the "Russians" (the Soviets) had "fixed" the competition against him by agreeing to draw amongst themselves. That may not seem like a brilliant strategy (let alone cheating), but over the course of a 28-round tournament the energy the players saved by doing this - energy that would be spent in preparation, play, and if necessary, adjournments. Considering the way top players complain about being out of energy at the end of a nine-round event nowadays, there is something to be said for the complaint, even if it's unlikely that Fischer would have won in any case. A more serious charge, and one which is less often repeated when Fischer's article is mentioned, is that the "Russians" would discuss his games while they were in progress, and would continue to do so when Fischer's opponent would join them!
But why bring this up now? It's 51 years after the event, and Fischer is dead while the USSR no longer exists. The answer is that a reader (Ross Hytnen) wrote in with a link to the famous article alluded to in the previous paragraph. Most U.S. readers middle-aged and up have heard of Fischer's famous article entitled "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess", but how many of us have read it? It's of historical interest and written in Fischer's characteristically punchy style, so it's worth a few minutes of your time to read if you haven't already.