The Eccentric No More
Bobby Fischer played chess. Despite the controversy that overshadowed this his later life, that’s what Bobby Fischer did; perhaps better than anyone ever has.
In 1972, he, and the game, were turned into objects of Cold War confrontation when he played Russian Boris Spassky, defeating him to become the only World Chess Champion the United States has ever produced. Unfortunately, the contest was publicized not as a chess match, but rather a confrontation between East and West, diluting the point of the match and leaving Fischer disenfranchised.
Bobby Fisher’s accolades include becoming the youngest US junior chess champion, a record that still stands, and a Grand Master at the age of 12. At the age of 14 he became the youngest US national chess champion, a record that also has yet to be matched.
In my opinion, there is no question that Fischer’s genius was touched with madness. Following his reappearance after simply vanishing in the mid 70’s, he began making wildly controversial anti-Semitic remarks despite the fact that he came from a Jewish background, as well as a laundry list of other actions and statements that displayed the probability of mental distress.
I am not going to say that these things should be overlooked when remembering Fischer, and am well aware that to many they will overshadow his accomplishments with regards to the game. I suppose it ultimately depends on how you view chess – as simply a game or as something that, at its highest levels, requires a brilliance that is singularly unique.
Bobby Fischer died today at the age of 64 from an undisclosed illness in Iceland, which granted him citizenship in 2005 to avoid deportation back to the United States for breaking international sanctions by playing Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992.
Fischer won the rematch, though many of the world’s chess elite, including then World Champion Garry Kasparov, claimed that he was past his prime after observing it.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:44 am
That’s too bad. I read a summary on him a while ago, and they said he used to frequent the online chess world from time to time, dropping in and playing the odd game with people even still.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Have you seen the movie ? Is it worth renting ?
January 18th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I’ve never won a game of chess in my life. :( I know how to play, I’ve just never won.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I thought the movie was great.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Wrt to the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer”, it is a great movie that centers about another real life chess prodigy (Josh Waitzkin) and blends in some of Fischer’s history. It is one of my favourite movies and, back in the day, is what got me interested in the game.
As for Fischer himself, I’m somewhat shocked at his death having just found out about it from this website. I remember back in highschool playing through many of his games both from the book “My 60 most memorable games” and his clashes with Spassky where he championed the Grunfeld defense which, I think, blew a lot of people away, especially for a guy who had declared his love of king side openings. Anyway, regardless of his antics (some of which was quite hurtful to many people), his accomplishments had a significant impact on my life so this is sad news.
-Max
January 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Weird, I somehow ended up at his wiki page on monday or tuesday and he dies the same week. I think I’m going to go wiki don rumsfeld now ;)
January 18th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Hey Matt-
Do you play chess? Or did you just have an interest in this story because of the connection between creative genius and madness that seems common amongst artists of all types? I am convinced that all the best artists walk that tightrope - that there is something in the mind that when slightly marred on this side, produces exceptional creative ability on that side. Fischer was one of the best, if not THE best, chessplayer ever. Chess is more than just a game. It’s part artistic creativity. So unfortunately for him, he was doomed to some sort of dementia by virtue of his genius. And I say this as a huge Matthew Good fan and a tournament chess player myself. Maybe we can play a game next time you’re in Buffalo ;-)
January 18th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
whoa he died on my birthday
January 18th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I love playing Chess…
“Fischer’s genius was touched with madness”
most probably true…..
genius and madness usually go together….
January 18th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
“something that, at its highest levels, requires a brilliance that is singularly unique.”
So what do you think of Garry Kasparov’s political career, Matt? I saw him on Bill Maher and I was really impressed. I’ve never been a chess player myself, but I recognize the acumen required to excel at it, so I am excited to see what Mr. Kasparov can accomplish.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
It will be interesting to see, that’s for sure.
January 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
The rumours of Fischer visiting online chess servers are widely believed to be false. Fischer publicly denounced the current form of chess because, at the highest levels, opening preparation is extending upwards of 30 moves deep, which he believed detracted from the game. Instead, Fischer preferred to play “Fischer Random”, also known as Chess 960, where the starting placement of the pieces is determined at random, thus eliminating opening preparation altogether. I remember the buzz surrounding a mysterious figure signing into chess servers and completely demolishing his opponents, and at that time there was speculation that only Fischer could accomplish that. However, given Fischer’s hatred of modern chess it’s much more likely that a strong GrandMaster with computer assistance was responsible for those games.
In response to Maxwell’s comments, I’m not sure that the fact that Fischer loved king pawn openings was what shocked people after he employed the Grunfeld, since you can’t really play “king side openings” against 1.d4. Rather it was because the Grunfeld was widely regarded as a second-rate opening system until Fischer produced some very nice games with it.
In any event, Fischer’s death is extremely sad news. R.I.P. Bobby.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
“Drops off the face of the earth… Bobby is my hero,”- Invasion 1
January 18th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
“In response to Maxwell’s comments, I’m not sure that the fact that Fischer loved king pawn openings was what shocked people after he employed the Grunfeld, since you can’t really play “king side openings” against 1.d4. Rather it was because the Grunfeld was widely regarded as a second-rate opening system until Fischer produced some very nice games with it.”
Yes, my comment was expressing surprise that he would choose to counter d4 with such an obscure defense given his preference for e4; it seems there were more standard (and proven defenses) that he could have adopted and just left it at that. But his tastes/distastes obviously didn’t stop him from delving into new and exciting stuff.
-Max
January 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Computers can beat people at chess, computers can’t beat people at poker. Does that mean chess is a less challenging game? I play both and the fact that poker is a game of incomplete information means it is more of a challenge.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I haven’t played chess in years. I miss it, it’s a good game.
January 18th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
[quote comment="39237"]…the fact that poker is a game of incomplete information means it is more of a challenge.[/quote]
I once lost a poker game to a guy who had 4 Aces when I had 4 Kings. I had pocket Kings and he had pocket Aces. I went all-in before the river the card and he called. The river card was his fourth ace.
The moral of the story is that no matter how perfect you play, poker is nothing more than a game of luck. If you play perfect chess, the game is yours to lose. Poker will never be more challenging than chess.
January 19th, 2008 at 12:20 am
I can just imagine the epitaph on his tombstone: “Checkmate.”
January 19th, 2008 at 12:33 am
In some sense I think it’s a strange comparison, and mostly just a matter of taste as to what you consider hard. Dan is right, if you play perfect chess (ie. map out all possible sequences of moves) you cannot lose if you are white, in theory. And computers are *slowly* making that theory a reality - using a combination of brute force and heuristics to beat the best human players. Some might argue that using brute force removes the creative aspect of chess and the success of such a brute force method suggests chess is somehow not very challenging. But then all deterministic human games are “not challenging” by similar reasoning, such as Go - it just requires more brute forcing, more than we can do at the current time.
As for poker never being more challenging than chess because it contains randomness, okay, you might get outdrawn despite your best efforts (sucks when that happens :). So if we say it’s not hard because skill doesn’t always trump, then fine. But poker is most definitely more than a “game of luck”. While luck can play a significant role, especially as the blinds get higher, it does not solely dictate who wins and who loses. Luck averages out over the long run which is why we see many skilled players making it to the final table much more often than not. Poker also incorporates a number of interesting aspects that chess can’t - some aspects of human psychology and game theory, which I think make the game most definitely challenging.
January 19th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I saw his biography a couple weeks ago on the biography channel and it said he suffered from mild autism/asbergers syndrome.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:14 am
When i was a kid i played competitive chess- so at an early age, i learned about this cat… So sorry to see the world has lost such a wonder. Regardless of his controversial statements, he was truly a genius…what was his IQ?? like, 162 or 180???
January 21st, 2008 at 8:08 am
Fuck Bobby Fischer. I hope he had a slow painful death………………..cocksucker!!!
He came out after 911 saying he was happy that it happened and wanted all of America dead.
Fuck him in his neck!!