Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship, has died. He was 64.
Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Fischer was wanted in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. In 2005, he moved to Iceland, a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph.
Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess champion, said Fischer’s ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was “a revolutionary breakthrough” for the game. But Fischer’s reputation as a genius of chess was eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies…
An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.
As regards how average people cannot comprehend what makes genius what it is is this quote from I-Forget-Who: (I paraphrase from memory)
Society wants geniuses – but then it wants them to act like everyone else.
Nothing could be truer, as Fischer’s life and public reputation demonstrates.
To society, he was a nutcase, but yet his chess moves were relentlessly logical, hardly a hint of eccentricity.
Tens of thousands (sorry, I was already playing) of North Americans took up tournament chess because of Bobby, but I wonder if his match with Spassky didn’t have a more meaningful effect on the other side, in the Soviet Union. Chess was their game, and he beat them, so where’s the superiority of Communism? For what are you making all those sacrifices?
And a mere 18 years later, Communism-as-we-knew-it, kaput.
Bobby Fischer, Champion of the ‘cold-war.’
Chess is for wussies. Dominoes, a game for real men.
Fisher was a great chess player, and an utter mess of a human being. I might even find most of his acts of defiance cute. I don’t think the same about his open anti-semitism, however. (Which was particularly strange in light of his upbringing).
In all a twisted, but somewhat fascinating, life story.
#2, don’t underestimate that superiority angle. You can bet the Soviet press did not cover the match just in case such a thing were to happen. Between the wildly successful Apollo missions and the complete implosion (har!) of the Soviet space program, they didn’t have a whole lot to feel superior about anymore. OK, we’ll give them ballet.
You are 100% right, Olo…
What…not catchy post title such as
“Check and Mate for Fischer”
“#6 yet both Barishnikov and Nureyev ended up in Hollywood”
Wow, pedro. You’re hittin’ ’em outta the park today.
Wrong and even wronger.
Would you like a do-over? 🙂
Bobby Fischer was no more an “anti anything” than Adam Pearlman aka Azim the American. Bobby Fischer was a Brooklyn Jew he knew it and his people knew it.
A genius what did he ever do but play chess? He did not even have a high school diploma! But after the genius myth he went into hiding and made people think he was crazy then he would carry on an act just like Adam Pearlman aka azim the bozo.
He was a Double Agent of Zion don’t be fooled by Jerry Springer acting.
Nice picture of him at his prime.
pedro? The little pink pills? Did you take them?
Did you click on the links in my post? The ones that demonstrate that your post #9 was, how you say, divorced from reality? Showing the Hollywood experience of the gentlemen you mentioned?
…or… maybe you were making a – ¿como se dicé? – “joke”? ??? Impossible to tell which of your utterances you intend to be taken seriously any more…
Chill guys! They’re still Russians (Soviets at a time) and they were still the greatest. At ballet, for whatever that’s worth. We had Evel, they had dancers. I’m good with that.
the great soviet union was control by cuba lol
Don’t know about other coverage during the match; but, Shelby Lyman was covering it on Ch.13 in NYC. And, several times, he lost the feed from Iceland and simply switched over to Radio Moscow to give him the info.
All we ever got to see through most of the match was Shelby in a room with a bunch of chess players while he duplicated the moves. Outside of the first couple of matches, there was no live TV. Though, most of the matches were taped.
Shelby Lymman! I remember it well! I was an eighth grader, watching the games at my friend’s house on our local PBS affiliate. Lyman stood in front of a huge felt chess board and pieces, talking with another chess master named Bruce Pandolfini. They would discuss the position as it was at that moment, and then the phone would ring. It would be Edmar Mednis, phoning in the latest move! When the phone rang, my geeky friend and I would both say, along with Shelby Lyman: “Hello! Edmar!”
I always tell my kids I was a nerd before people had computers… 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TLF2d4_uRM
Remember Borat? Same thing with Bobby Fischer or Alex Linder!
Get the Truth from Dr. David Duke and Dr. William Pierce! Don’t Listen to the double Agents!
By way of deception!
He was probably bored to death waiting for the other guy to move.
What the connection between chess and political dissent?
Or is it just coincidence that Garry Kasparov is also a political rebel in his own country Russia.
Cripes,
pedro the insignificant vs the Three Headed Moran.
Hiisss, scratch, scratch, hisss, hisss,
I wonder if anything better is on TV.
From that era were a few things that made the Soviet Union realize they were only human.
The US landing on the moon in 1969.
The Fischer-Spassky Chess match, 1972.
The Canada’s best beating USSR’s best hockey match. 1972
The US Olympic Hockey team beating the Soviets. 1980.
All of these events grabbed our attention. Three of these events took teams. Only Fischer did it by himself.
Watch a chess game? I’d rather watch grass grow. Or maybe even golf, but the grass is more exciting.
Omar: Chess, like art, is studied by those who appreciate it. If watching grasss grow lights your candle, who am I to criticize?
I hitchhiked to St. Petersburg, FL just to play at their well known chess club that meets at the downtown shuffleboard club. When I first got there a lot of people were just crowded around two players having a really good game. Most of them were homeless, but they were all enjoying it. When it was over, one derelict trned to me with a beatific smile and said, “Chess is such a beautiful game.” It’s probably the only time he and I could be on the same channel.
Several years before his famous match with Spasksy, he did a monthly chess column in Boy’s Life (Boy Scouts) magazine.
Hmm, given two data points, what can we infer about the mental state of all columnists?
Fischer was great in his time. Unfortunately, when he played Spassky in 1992, it was clear his genius was no longer there. Kasparov commented during the matches that he figured that Fischer was playing around 2600 or so. By comparison most of the top grandmasters are well over 2700 and Kasparov hit over 2800 at one point. He had flashes but overall he just wasn’t the same man. Spending your life on the run will do that.