Endgame

Arbiter's Assistants
Did you make it clear
That he has to be here?
Does he understand
There are no exceptions?

Arbiter
How straight forward the game
When all the rules are respected...

Arbiter's Assistants
Did you make it clear
There are no exceptions

Arbiter
...And these rules are the same
For a champion or for a novice
No show, no dice, no appeal, no exceptions, no way!

Merchandiser's Assistants
Do you think he knows
What it's going to cost him

Merchandiser
Does the player exist
In any human endeavor...

Merchandiser's Assistants
Do you think he cares
What it's going to cost us

Merchandiser
...Who's been known to resist
Sirens of fame and possessions?
Threaten to cut off supplies and he'll come out to play

Russians
He's a broken man
Good as back in Moscow

Nikolai
It's the weak who extol
Tawdry untruths about freedom...

Russians
What a way to learn
Home is where the heart is

Nikolai
Prostituting the soul
Chasing some spurious starlight
Trinkets in airports sufficient to lead them astray

CIA Man
Selfish little creep
Everybody suffers

Ben
I'm no expert in Chess
But hazard this prognostication...

CIA Men
Selfish little creep
Everybody suffers

Ben
That the late Mister "S"
Has better chances of winning
The Kentucky Derby than keeping his title today

CIA Men
Selfish little creep
Everybody suffers
We don't see the jerk
Even coming second

Journalists
We are all aware of reputation
But one empty chair is comdemnation
Of a man who blew it scuttled with dishonor

Merchandisers & CIA Men
No one give a damn
For his dilemma
Just another scam
We're sick of them, a
Lot of jobs at stake
With Russia's primadonna

Arbiter and Assistants
We can hardly begin to
Imagine why he'd risk all he's put into
His calling through the years
The blood, the sweat, the tears
The late, late nights, the early starts

More Journalists
Of course the effect is
Exactly what observers would expect viz.
The world is set to cheer
The only one who's here
The bad guy's gone and won their hearts

Everybody
Is he still in bed?
Or in the shower?
Even if he's dead
They won't allow a
Man to show up after the appointed hour

Anatoly
They all think they see a man
Who doesn't know
Which move to make
Which way to go
Whose private life
Caused his decline
Wrecked his grand design
Some are vicious
Some are fools
And others blind
To see in me
One of their kind

Freddie
So he's gonna fight
This situation
Where's my appetite
For concentration
Why is he so focused
When my thoughts are straying?

Looking at this man
It's her I'm seeing
Once my greatest fan
And now her being
It still gets to me
And screws the way I'm playing

Anatoly
Here I see a man caring
About a minor sporting triumph, sharing
A show with esoterics
Paranoids, hysterics
Who don't pay attention
To what goes on around them
They leave all those they touch the way they found them
Is this the life I need
A childish, selfish greed
While those who love me bleed to death?

When I think of her
Her and her father
What would she prefer?
I know I'd rather
Live my life alone than feel
That I had harmed them

Freddie
At last he's made a mistake!

Anatoly
I cannot go on hurting all the people who have trusted me

Freddie
He cannot escape from here

Anatoly
Well here we are -
The final stages of a soul destroying game
The sacrifice of someone I will never find again

Freddie                       Anatoly         
Check!                         Never!
Check!                         Never!
Check!                         Never!
Check!                         Never!
Check!                         Never!

Freddie
Backed the losing side
Florence Vassy
Took you for a ride
Florence Vassy
You just haven't got the instinct of a winner

Anatoly
There is nothing more to do
No hope, no way
To save the game
The end of play!
So I lose today
And tomorrow

All
We have just witnessed history made
Power moves West ending an era
This is a great day for American Chess
USA! USA! USA!