On the trip home from China, I read this story of the Cold War chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. The central events in the story took place in 1972. I was nine years old. Nixon was in the middle of trouncing McGovern -- the Watergate story had not yet unfolded -- and Vietnam was the focus of American political discussion. In the middle of all of that, I remember hearing about Bobby Fischer, and having warm feelings toward him. He was, after all, an American doing battle against the Soviets ... at least that is the way I viewed it. That is the way Bobby Fischer wanted me to view it.
This book restored some of my memories of those times, and destroyed any lingering fond feelings that I had toward Bobby Fischer. The authors have done an exhaustive job researching the chess match of the century, speaking to many (other than Fischer himself) who had a hand in the match, including Spassky, and researching both FBI and KGB documents. Their descriptions of Fischer's behavior seem almost too bizarre to be credible, but Fischer's own record (check out this website [Warning! This site contains lots of anti-Semitic material. Click at your own risk.], which is operated by Bobby Fischer or this story in The Atlantic) suggests that he is a deeply troubled individual whose brilliance at chess cannot redeem him.
By the way, if you are into the chess, check out this site, which allows you to see every move in every game of the Fischer-Spassky match.
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1. Posted by Anonymous on May 24, 2004 @ 6:58 | Permalink
The Bobby Fischer website has quite a few anti-Semitic comments on it: you might want to delete that link.
Just a concern I thought I would voice.
2. Posted by Gordon Smith on May 24, 2004 @ 8:22 | Permalink
That was my point ... Fischer is a creep. I had not followed his career closely enough to know about his Holocaust denial and persecution complex, so this was a real surprise to me. Frankly, I was embarrassed to have thought well of him, but my impressions were formed when I was nine, and at that time, he was mainly portrayed as an eccentric chess player, not a raving anti-Semite. The irony is that he has Jewish ancestry from both parents. Anyway, I added a warning so that people can avoid the site if they wish, but I found it interesting to see the site because the news reports cannot convey the depth of his perversity.
3. Posted by Denise on May 29, 2004 @ 5:42 | Permalink
I was just leaving high school when they played that match. Like you, I thought very highly of Bobby Fischer; I even bought a book on chess written by him. It was really only in later years that his true character was revealed as something more pernicious than eccentric. Heck, when I was nine, I thought that General Custer was a hero -- so much for what we know at nine. I'm over the embarrassment.
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