Ludodiplomacy and Gastropolitics in the Cold War:The International Chess Tournament in the Chile of Salvador Allende 1972

Within the framework of the Cold War, and the cooperation of the Soviet Union with the government of Salvador Allende in Chile, we examine the implications of the International Chess Tournament of La Serena (ICHTLS, 1972), where the USSR champion, Vladimir Savon, participated together with several Latin American champions. This tournament was a special attraction because simultaneously Robert Fischer (USA) and Boris Spassky (Soviet Union) played the match for the world title, which attracted great global attention, and even the personal intervention of the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Like never before, chess became a symbolic battle fi eld of the Cold War. For the Soviet Union, chess was an activity of strategic value and a symbol of prestige, given that its players had held the world title for half a century. The presence in Chile of Vladimir Savon, an icon of the prestigious Soviet chess school, was an express support of the USSR to its ally in the Southern Cone of America. It was a case of ludodiplomacy, within a general strategy of soft power. The venue of the tournament was the city of La Serena, capital of Chilean pisco, the emblematic distillate of the Southern Cone and the fi rst Appellation of Origin in America. The ICHTLS was promoted by the lawyer of the main pisco company. So, the tournament generated the conditions for the chess tournament to contribute to the visibility of the typical product, in a gastropolitics strategy, as has happened in other places in the world - like for example in Spain, with the Villarrobledo tournament and the promotion of Manchego cheese. These tournaments meant a renewal of the old strategy of strengthening the symbolic value of wines and distillates, by bringing the product closer to royalty fi gures, changing the source of prestige for world chess geniuses. To achieve this goal, the tournament has to be organized every year in the same place, as announced by the organizers of the I International Chess Tournament of La Serena. The study is supported on various sources such as interviews with key informants, review of the press of the time, and the minutes of the Board of Directors of the main pisco company: the Control Pisquero cooperative. These sources reveal the high level of con fl ict that arose between the political power and the pisco industry, due to the decision of the Allende government to radicalize Agrarian Reform, with the expropriation of vineyards and artisanal pisco distilleries. This meant a radical change with respect to the fi rst stage of Agrarian Reform, in which the vineyards were left out and the pisco industry was supported by the government policy. But from 1971 the situation changed and State -business relations deteriorated rapidly, culminating in the vandalism of the pisco distilleries, which broke trust. Only government agencies, state enterprises and leftist militants supported the tournament. As a result, the tournament did not have the expected impact and its continuity was frustrated. In addition, after the 1973 coup the Pinochet dictatorship persecuted the leaders of Agrarian Reform, along with the students and professors of the Universities who supported the tournament. The original idea of using the ICHTLS as a means to make a territory and its agri-food heritage visible through the world chess geniuses was a strategy of gastropolitics and enodiplomacy. La Serena, capital of Chilean pisco, would become the capital of the main chess tournament in South America in 1972. Radicalization of the Agrarian Reform promoted by the Popular Unity government generated a distancing from the initial plan. For the Allende administration, ICHTLS was an experience of ludodiplomacy, as a mechanism to make visible the support of the USSR to strengthen its government against its internal adversaries. In the context of the uncertainty that Chile experienced during the Allende administration due to internal tensions, the tournament served as an act of demonstration of power and indirectly, it revealed the development potential that Chile would achieve in the event of deepening its strategic alliance with Moscow. In the ICHTLS, the fi gure of Savon made a triumphant stroll and defeated all the Latin American champions he faced. This demonstration of intellectual superiority, built worldwide by the Soviet chess school, had the potential to transfer to social, economic and cultural life: with its help, Chile would surpass the countries of the region to enter a new stage of welfare and development. The Soviet Union had generated a fl ow of contributions to the Allende government: they sent him fi shing vessels, tractors, machinery and technical assistance, although at limited levels. The sending of Sav & oacute;n represented a renewal of the commitments and for the militants of the government, this served as moral support and visibility of all the potential that the support of the USSR had for the future. In this way, the Soviet Union sent a message of trust in the dream of building a socialist Chile. Within these plans, pisco had a central role: the Empresa Pisquera del Estado was to become the symbol and fl ag of the new socialist Chile. However, the process was interrupted with the 1973 coup; the pisco industry was never expropriated and the state company was never created. The political manipulation of ICHTLS by the government in 1972 caused the same criteria by subsequent administrations. None of which was able to separate the circumstantial interest of Allende to show the support of the USSR from the permanent interest of the La Serena, in the sense of having an event of international prestige that would contribute to make visible, promote and give value to its territory and its agrifood heritage through the prestige of chess. The case study concludes that to ensure the viability of the strategy of ludodiplomacy and gastropolitics, consensus among political and economic actors is indispensable; if this condition is not accomplished, the strategy is doomed to failure because it cannot survive over time and remains an isolated effort without continuity. However, as other successful cases around the world have shown, such as Manchego cheese, chess can be an appropriate means to develop the symbolic value and international diffusion of typical heritage products.