Who is Bobby Fischer?

[ZURKE]

Who is Bobby Fischer?

[jabarnutcase]

Hi ZURKE....

Famous Chess Player from yesteryear (http://www.geocities.com/chesschampions/fisher.html)

[Eutychus]

According to The Fan Site (http://bobbyfischer.net/)

• Born: March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois
• Learned the rules of chess at age 6!: 1949
• First recorded tournament game: July 1955
• International Grandmaster title: 1958
• U.S. Champion eight times in eight attempts!: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966
• Winner of every tournament and match in which he participated from December, 1962 through World Championship match 1972 with the exceptions of Capablanca Memorial, 1965, (2nd place - 1/2 point behind Smyslov), and Piatigorsky Cup, 1966, (2nd place - 1/2 point behind Spassky).

Many Fischer apologists argue that today Bobby Fischer is in fact deranged, and that as such he deserves not public castigation but psychiatric help because of his raging anti-Semitism, acute paranoia, and tenuous grasp on reality.

A scathing article entitiled:
Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame (http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/chun.htm)

See what a little Googling can produce?

[jabarnutcase]

HeHe...Yea, I "Googled" too. (Even though I remember him well...Hmmm Showing my age!)

Mine report isn't quite as comprehensive....Just grabbed the first one I saw. :p

[Eutychus]

Hehe. Yeah, there was no reply when I started mine and when I posted there was yours. I was surprised to learn that he has gone around the bend. But I've heard that the line between genius and idiot is thin.

I also remember Fischer from the 60's as the great American hope against the Russian chess master - forgot his name...

[ZURKE]

Thanks, I read thru most of it.

Dont all geniuses go a bit batty at some point.

Maybe it is some chemical in the brain or the amount of information they have stored in there head.

Something I wont have to worry about:)

[jabarnutcase]

Something I wont have to worry about
That makes two of us. :D

Hey ZURKE...Just curious. What brought up Bobby Fischer??? Man, I haven't heard that name in a looong time. :confused:

[Jiggy]

Bobby Fischer now theres a chess player a man that keeps himself to himself, his chess moves are used in our local paper in the chess bit.

[ZURKE]

Jabarnutcase,

I saw yawningdog's post and he said when there was talk about Bobby Fischer among other things then he would be interested in contibuting.

I believe it was the priority reminder from ixl post.

I had heard the name before but never paid attention to why it was being mentioned.

[Mark Miller]

The best chess player of my early life. Saw him play Boris Spassky 2-3 times in Ny. Very weird guy but a true genius.
Mark :)

[yawningdog]

Yes, It was I who brought it up. The link by Eutychus is fascinating and you should read the whole thing when you have a few minutes.

Bobby Fischer actually lost the first two games against Spassky at Reykjavic in 72. The first game he lost because of claims that the TV cameras were distracting him. He refused to play the second game until the cameras were relocated to a more suitable position for him. The USCF refused to accommodate him and he lost by forfeit. On the third game, an agreement was reached and Fischer slaughtered Spassky in four straight games.

He now does anti-semitic and anti-American broadcasts from radio stations in the Phillipines and hasn't played chess since he beat Spassky again in a comeback exhibition match in 92. The U.S. government forbade him to play that series because it was in Yugoslavia and at the time he was in violation of political sanctions against that nation, thus his federal arrest warrant and subsequent exile.

I'm a chess junkie myself. I play at Yahoo games, under the name yawningdog2002 if you care to give me a game.:)

[computer mutt]

Dont all geniuses go a bit batty at some point.

I think its a requirement for exceptional people. It's where they get their ability to think "outside the box." Just sooner or later they lose touch with reality. Hey I could be wrong, just my two cents worth.

I love chess, but have never been good at it. My seven year old son beats me quite reguarly! :(

yawningdog, I might have to look you up at Yahoo games. I could use the practice! :D Of course how fun would it be playing someone a seven year old can beat.

Computer Mutt

[Budfred]

The idea that genius and madness are associated has been largely debunked by research into the issue. There are cases of apparent geniuses who seem to be mentally ill, but in most cases they have a form of autism that makes generally unsociable, but is part of the reason they exhibit genius in very limited areas: like Bobby Fischer.

There are obviously a few geniuses in the history of the human race who have been mentally ill, but this is noticed primarily because their genius made them famous. If you think of most geniuses you can think of in the next five minutes, you will probably have a hard time thinking of any with a legitimate mental illness.

Van Gogh apparently suffered from heavy metal (mainly cadmium) poisoning by the way, this caused his apparent mental illness and probably led to his early death...

[ZURKE]

Great, so I deffinitly have nothing to worry about.:)