Death of Bobby Fischer

[Overlay]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2243058,00.html

Nothing good to say about the man from a personal standpoint, but arguably the greatest chess player ever. (I wonder how he would have done as a handicapper.)

[shanta]

R.I.P. Bobby

I learned how to play(age 6) from an uncle who was a very strong player.He would show me some things and then take out some games from Fischer to go over.

Became a fairly good young player and remember playing a simul exhibtion against G.M. Bent Larson at the local chess club. This was right after Bobby had won the title from Spassky. I asked Larsen about Fischer's play and he told me that nobody in history was a better player.

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[GaryG]

I was playing competitive chess at that time, so I followed all of his matches closely. I think I still have a book called Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. He seemed at home there in Iceland. The US was hounding him needlessly about the Yugo match.

[Dave Schwartz]

I know that there are some people (perhaps on this board) who absolutely revered Bobby Fischer.

If you are such a person, my condolences.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[Robert Goren]

I must be getting senile because I agree with Gary G. The US did needlessly hound him. I also have his book even though I no longer play chess. It is a great book.

[Tom]

I remember following the Spassky match every doy in the paper - they printed out those drawings of the board and the piece, had a move-by-move commentarty. Chess was very big around here in the late 60's early 70's - you would see people playing everywhere - parks, downtown benches, schools, diners......tournements every weekend. During the height of the cold war, beating Spassky was a very big deal.

I was following the games and hockey at the same time. Go figure.

[shanta]

I remember following the Spassky match every doy in the paper - they printed out those drawings of the board and the piece, had a move-by-move commentary.

I remember Shelby Lyman doing the commentary here on Ch 13. Good memories.

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Nf3

[Robert Goren]

Tuely a hero with feet of clay, but a hero none the less.

[kenwoodallpromos]

I think he helped popularize chess in the USA. I quit playing when I ran out of people who knew how to play (moved around a lot).

[Capper Al]

As nutty as he was, he'll be missed.

[njcurveball]

Ask anyone over 40 to name two chess players. Rarely will you get the Boris Spassky addition to the names Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov.

Even rarer is any other name. Especially an American name.

He was quoted as hating the United States and so we in the United States probably hate him back. :mad:

Still it is sad to lose an icon in a game where the next American to achieve the same popularity may never come.

[bigmack]

Has there ever been a more raging anti-semite that was Jewish?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TV3fZMo5cw

[Turntime]

It's sad that such a chess genius was also mentally ill, unable to function normally in society. It was reported that his IQ was astronomical (180?), not sure if this was fact or lore. My style was greatly influenced by his play - to this day I still open up with e4 (best by test) almost exclusively and defend e4 with the Najdorf Sicilian, both Fischer trademarks.

[Burls]

R.I.P. Bobby

I learned how to play(age 6) from an uncle who was a very strong player.He would show me some things and then take out some games from Fischer to go over.

Became a fairly good young player and remember playing a simul exhibtion against G.M. Bent Larson at the local chess club. This was right after Bobby had won the title from Spassky. I asked Larsen about Fischer's play and he told me that nobody in history was a better player.

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I would agree that - up to his time - Fischer was the greatest chess player in history.
I think it is an open question whether Fischer or Kasparov is the greatest chess player of all time.
The so-called 'Game Of The Century' was a learning experience for me.
I played nothing but the Grunfeld for about a year just to see what I could do with it.

[dutchboy]

Espn replayed a Jeremy Schapp story last night from a few years ago about his father Dick Schapp and Bobby Fisher. In the 60's Dick Schapp kind of treated Bobby Fisher as a son and would pick Fisher up and take him to Knick games and then take him home because Fisher as a teenanger could not find his way home to Brooklyn. Dick Schapp then wrote a book in which he said the Bobby Fisher did not have one sane bone in his body.

They showed what may have been Fisher's last press conference and Jeremy Schapp was there and after introducing himself to Fisher one of the first thing Fisher mentioned was the sane bone comment and referred to Dick Schapp being jewish. Jeremy's reply to the jewish comment to Fisher "as you are jewish" and then Jeremy walked out of the room.

[Tom]

I was shocked to hear all those things he has said.
I never heard them that I remeber.
What a derranged POS. Good riddence to him.
Hope his rook cooks in HELL!

I wondered what Dave meant by his post.....

[njcurveball]

I was shocked to hear all those things he has said.


Very similar to Ty Cobb! One of the greatest at the game and the worst at being part of the human species!

[hcap]

A link to the Philippine interview.
Way over the top. A genius, but flawed.
Too much hatred.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2002/03/0079099


"The following conversation between Bobby Fischer and radio host Pablo Mercado was broadcast September 11, 2001 on the Philippine radio station Bombo Radyo. In 1972, Fischer became the first American to win the World Chess Championship; he fled the United States in 1992 after the federal government indicted him for breaking economic sanctions by playing a chess tournament in Yugoslavia.

PABLO MERCADO: We have on the line a notable friend, a chess grandmaster–yes, he was the World Chess Champion–Bobby Fischer, and he would like to air his opinion and give some commentary on what happened at the World Trade Center just a few hours ago–it could be an attack at the White House and I think the Pentagon too. Here he is.

BOBBY FISCHER: How are you doing, Pablo?

MERCADO: Well.

FISCHER: Yes, this is all wonderful news. lt is time that the fucking U.S. got their heads kicked in. lt’s time to finish off the U.S. once and for all. Everybody knows how you…how you… uh….....



Read the rest. Pretty disturbing.

[PaceAdvantage]

Read the rest. Pretty disturbing.Really? Disturbing? Come on man, his stuff is par for your course...but you don't realize that....

[hcap]

Really? Disturbing? Come on man, his stuff is par for your course...but you don't realize that....
Another attempt to link those who disagrees with the righties on this board to the "rooting for the enemy" crapola. And YOU don't realize it.

When did I ever express sympathy for the 911 hijackers? Or show "disdain" for those who died at the twin towers? Grow up.

[jognlope]

What was he doing in an Iceland hospital at time of his death?

[OTM Al]

Iceland was the only country willing to accept him after some problems he had in, I believe, Japan.

[Tom]

Didn't he play and beat Spasky in Iceland? He was a local hero there.

[PaceAdvantage]

Another attempt to link those who disagrees with the righties on this board to the "rooting for the enemy" crapola. And YOU don't realize it.

When did I ever express sympathy for the 911 hijackers? Or show "disdain" for those who died at the twin towers? Grow up.It's the same mentality, only to a different degree. Bobby Fisher is at the top of your particular evolutionary (or is that devolutionary?) chain.