| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 6/20/2005 9:23:13 PM | The Grand Champion of the chess world was released and is on his way to Iceland. Was it neccessary for the US Gov't to pursue him as they did? Would their time have been better spent going after more notable and dangerous criminals instead? Was this a put up?
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/specials/fischer/index.html
what do you think? | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 6/21/2005 8:23:36 AM | | He went to Bucharest to play chess at a time when the US was putting strong military and economic pressure, including not allowing its citizens form going there. His presence was used by a brutal regime for propoganda, and he broke US law in going. Couldn't really ignore it. On the other hand the guy's an anti semitic loon despite the fact that his mother's Jewish. He only had a tenuous grip on reality in the 70's and it's just gotten worse. Under the circumstances, I think the authorities handled it pretty well. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 6/21/2005 8:22:42 PM | | He is that! I don't know how John(Bosnich) put up with him. The inside track on this is the Japanese gov't and the US gov't made a deal. They could keep the US deserter Jenkins if they gave up Bobby. Both parties knew that he had been living in Japan for the last 10yrs and that he travelled out of the country every 6 months on average. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 4:05:48 PM | | It was just on the news that he passed away. He wasn't the nicest guy, but his victory over Spassky and the Russins to win the championship was the greatest achievement in the history of chess. Those Russians had a lock on the game and he broke them all by himself. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 5:31:16 PM | Ahh, RIP. Chess genius?, yes, a wacko? that too.
Last time I saw him was last summer, sitting on a bench in downtown Reykjavík, listening to his small radio, probably the BBC world service. I was going to say hi to him next time I´d see him.. guess that ain't gonna happen now. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 6:58:35 PM | There's an old saying: "Show me a hero, I'll write you a tragedy."
Bobby Fischer, bringing the world chess title to the US at the height of the Cold War. Such a triump.
Dead at age 64. In Reychevek. 64 squares on a chess board. Reychavek, site of his greatest triump.
Let us remember him for that glorious summer in 1972 when he took on the Evil Empire in Chess - and brought the title home to the US.
Yes Bobby, your conduct in later years may have been labeled bizarre, but in the summer of 72 you displayed pure genius. I'll always remember you for that. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 7:35:52 PM | In Fischer's world, the only thing that existed WAS chess. 
He was probably mentally unbalanced , as evidenced by his very many statements that defy any sort of logic. That illness may have also helped his play, as there were few other things in his life besides chess and R&B music. When one is that deeply into something, you climb up into that crow's nest high above us all , and pull the ladder up after you. The rest of the world is rather secondary.
( Loved that observation of 64 years, btw. Had he waited a couple of more months to knock over his king in his chess match with mortality, he'd of been sixty-five.)
It might be a good time to re-watch "Searching for Bobby Fischer" again, although it really has nothing (and everything) to do with him. It's a look into a very special world of competition, especially in regards to young people playing chess.
Bruce Pandolfini: [sets each chess piece up] Now, which one is you?
Josh Waitzkin: What do you mean?
Bruce Pandolfini: Which one is you?
Josh Waitzkin: They're just pieces.
Bruce Pandolfini: [places King in front of Josh] This is you!
The government didn't have much choice in prosecuting him, being such a high profile person. To have not done so would have been risking others following suit. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 8:28:34 PM |
The government didn't have much choice in prosecuting him, being such a high profile person. To have not done so would have been risking others following suit.
Hi profile? The guy was a recluse. Probably would have made news in Belgrade or Sarejavo, but most of the US would have said the same thing they are saying today... "Bobby who?" | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/18/2008 9:13:36 PM | In the late 60s, early 70s Bobby was the only player in the world with a winning record against the Russians. When he won the championship in 72, for a few weeks, playing chess was actually a cool macho thing to do.
A player doesn't get to the expertise of chess that Fischer and a few others have without going a little bit wacko. He lived as a recluse in the Los Angeles area for many years, once being arrested for vagrancy until the police realized who he was and let him go.
Making him a fugitive for playing a chess match never really made much sense to me.
OK, so it was technically against the law. Considering Fischer's accomplishments as a representative of the U.S. in 1972 I always thought that a pardon would have been in order.
Although Gary Kasparov has far outranked Fischer in the official standings for many years, at his height I always thought Bobby was a better player technically. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/19/2008 7:14:12 AM | Bobby Fischer was one of the greatest chess player in the world for all time. He brought chess into American living rooms.
This is another reason I detest all politicians, why did they have to bar him from playing chess in another country, communist or not? The political idiots did the same thing with 1980's Olympics in Moscow. If we can keep church and state separate, we should also keep sports and state separate.
Too bad Bobby didn't say anything against the Arabs, he would be praised like a God by
Fischer-haters of this forum. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/19/2008 9:27:36 AM | Many 'geniuses' aren't exactly the most 'balanced' people......
Bobby Fischer also had the misfortune of being used (by both sides, apparently) as a sort of Cold War icon figure head.
If you strip away all of that, what's left is that he was pretty much the only non-Russian who could hang with the Russians at the time.
Didn't matter, even so much as admitting knowledge of the game is basically social suicide in America.
As opposed to Europe where every single boy learns at least the basics growing up. | |
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| Glad he's dead
Posted: 1/19/2008 9:48:36 AM | | He cheered for 9/11, and wanted to see America "wiped out". So personally, I'm happy the little piece of crap is dead. | |
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| Glad he's dead
Posted: 1/19/2008 12:07:38 PM | I'm sorry but it's a dirty little secret that most of the world would like to see America just picked up and tossed into outer space. It's not the American people, who are for the most part wonderful, it's the thugs that run the place.
There's a lot of things you can call Fischer. "Stupid" isn't one of them. Neither is "tactful", "compassionate" or "friendly" :-) | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/19/2008 5:22:24 PM | | The part of his mind used for playing chess was overdeveloped. The rest of his mind was jello and got worse with time. He had a super-ego and that is why he defied US law to go play chess. Good ridance. I will not mourn his passing. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/20/2008 8:43:47 PM |
Good ridance. I will not mourn his passing.
How could one mourn a stranger, or talk bad about him/her either way ? To judge someone for their talent or lack of, seems a bit shallow. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/21/2008 1:09:00 AM |
He went to Bucharest to play chess at a time when the US was putting strong military and economic pressure, including not allowing its citizens form going there. His presence was used by a brutal regime for propoganda, and he broke US law in going. Couldn't really ignore it. On the other hand the guy's an anti semitic loon despite the fact that his mother's Jewish. He only had a tenuous grip on reality in the 70's and it's just gotten worse. Under the circumstances, I think the authorities handled it pretty well.
Belgrade...he went to Belgrade.
And the whole was blown way ouy of proportion...largely by Fischer I suspect.
I'm sure that going to the former Yugoslavia and playing a chess event wouldn't have earned him (IF he'd been prosecuted and convicted) anything more than probation and a fine.
But I think that Fischer dragged this matter out as a way to keep him in the public eye and keep his name in the papers.
Just like the anti-Semitic remarks.
And his odd behavior.
While Japan and Iceland have some eccentricities of government that are questionable..neither country is going to detain or admit as a citizen a person who is (or was) seriously mentally ill.
Neither country would need the bad publicity that would come from that.
Nor,I'm sure,would they like to be seen as a "sanctuary" for the nut jobs of the world.
Bobby Fischer took two "accomplishments" and stretched them into a lifetime of fame (or infamy).
That wasn't crazy
That took skill. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/21/2008 12:24:49 PM | No, it would have been more than a fine and probation. He went there against a direct order at a time when the US was leveling sanctions against Yugoslavia. If he was extridited to the US, he would have been tried as a traitor.
There was a chess master in the 1860's named Paul Morphy who lived in the New Orleans area. He was a savant, much like Fischer. He would play 8 boards blindfolded simultaneously, and would often win 7 and draw 1, or win all 8. At the time, he was regarded as the greatest player of his day. However, towards the last years of his life, he was found wondering the streets, homeless, muttering to himself about how someone was always out to get him. He died, alone, destitute, and on the street. There is something in the mind that snaps when you are truly that brilliant. It happened to Morphy and it happened to Fischer.
I enjoyed growing up, playing chess, and replaying Fischer's games. He was a brilliant study in one man's obscession. On the board, he was a masterful artist much in the same vain of Van Gogh, daVinchi, and Picasso. However, off the board, he was recluse, a paranoid lunatic, and anti-semetic.
I don't grieve for the loss of Fischer. My loss came after the 1972 championship, when he stopped playing, and we were deprived of his genius and his creativity. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/21/2008 9:40:37 PM | ^^^^^^^^^
To be tried as a "traitor" one has to:
1) Make war against the United States or advocate it's violent overthrow.
2) Provide aid and comfort to an enemy during a time of war.
Those two conditions are the ONLY reason that somebody can be tried for treason.
John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla (who were both charged w/ a variety of serious crimes)
were never tried for treason.
And,arguably,what they were accused of (and in Lindh's case,pleaded guilty to) were far more serious than playing a chess in a country against which US and the UN had leveled sanctions.
You may have valid points...but checking your facts and not engaging in hyperbole will make you sound more credible. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/22/2008 5:42:51 AM | | Bobby Fischer didn't seem to be a bad person. He was a person who just thought about playing chess and didn't want to deal with politics. Obviously, he should not have played that game, but for him it was a matter of playing his game. I think some people can understand that. He should have been pardoned since the Cold War was over... | |
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Morinn
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Joined: 2/24/2006
Msg: 23 | |
| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/22/2008 2:32:05 PM | Just FYI. He was buried yesterday in a small cemetery out in the countryside, with only his wife, priest and 3 other persons who knew about the funeral.
I guess this was his last move, checkmate! | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/22/2008 2:45:05 PM | | Thanks for letting us know. Is the grave marked? I don't think he was a bad person. I think his antics were a result of mental illness. He was the greatest chess mind who ever lived and I think he should he honored for that. | |
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| Bobby Fischer Much ado about nothing?
Posted: 1/22/2008 3:36:29 PM | There is something of duality here! Fischer was undoubtedly the greatest player of his time! Chess has changed so much with computerrs and internet.
He brought chess to a professional status.
His games will be remembered forever. The Byrne game and also the Miagmasurren slaughter.
Once he beat Spassky, he went away from the game. This second 36 years of his life was a dispicable existance of odious lies and statements. We will always remember the chessplayer Bobby Fischer.
However, may he rot in hell. I do believe there will be no sympathy from the Devil for him! Good Riddance!! You **stard!!! | |
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