Play like Bobby Fischer! (part 2)
I saw quite a lot of interest in my previous blog (Play like Bobby Fischer!) and here is the 2nd part on Bobby Fischer. You will be able to find some interesting anecdotes and quotes from his life and an amazing annotated game.
Like most chess players, I find his personality and his chess life very interesting, so I found some interesting quotes and anecdotes from his life. At the bottom of the article you can also check an amazing game he produced (in my opinion one of the best games EVER played), when he was only 13 years old! I think every Grandmaster nowadays would be proud to play such a game.
Fischer quotes and anecdotes I found interesting:
I like the moment when I break a man's ego.
There are tough players and nice guys, and Im a tough player.
The turning point in my career came with the realization that Black should play to win instead of just steering for equality.
Yeah, I used to dress badly until I was about sixteen. But people just didn't seem to have enough respect for me, you know And I didn't like that, so I decided I'd have to show them they weren't any better than me, you know? They were sort of priding themselves. They would say, 'He beat us at chess, but he's still just an uncouth kid.' So I decided to dress up.
Lots of the time I'm traveling around. Europe, South America, Iceland. But when I'm home, I don't know, I don't do much. I get up at eleven o'clock maybe. I'll get dressed and all, look at some chess books, go downstairs and eat. I never cook my own meals. I don't believe in that stuff. I don't eat in luncheonettes or Automats either. I like a waiter to wait on me. Good restaurants. After I eat I usually call up some of my chess friends, go over and analyze a game or something. Maybe I'll go to a chess club. Then maybe I'll see a movie or something. There's really nothing for me to do. Maybe I'll study some chess book.
I haven't had any congratulations from Spassky yet. I think I'll send him a telegram. Congratulations on winning the right to meet me for the championship. Bobby Fischer (after defeating Petrosian in the '71 Candidates Final)
Chess is not a difficult game to learn. With the help of a book or a friend who knows the game you can learn the moves in about a half hour or so. I learned to play chess when I was six years old from my sister, Joan, in Brooklyn, N.Y. I liked other games like Monopoly and Parcheesi, but I found chess was much more exciting because it presented a greater challenge there was no factor of luck involved. It was more difficult than other games. From then on Id spend several hours a day playing against myself, something you can also do. I think I really loved the game from the beginning because e of the thousands of possible moves and the fascinating complex strategy that is involved. After I was playing a year or so, my mother took me to the Brooklyn Chess Club, where I took lessons a couple of times a week from Carmine Nigro, one of the best players in the club. The lessons cost me a dollar an hour. Im sure he wasnt interested in the dollar, but this was his way of making sure I took the lessons seriously. One of the biggest thrills of my life was when I won first prize at the YMCA childrens championship. (One critical game, incidentally, was against my teachers son. I was nervous in that game, but the training I got from my early games was important to me and gave me confidence.) I still have that medal at home. The next exciting tournament I remember was the one in which I won the U.S. junior Championship, when I was 13 years old. Here the competition was really tough, with players up to 20 years old competing. I remember that I earned a masters rating in chess that year, too. When I was 14, it was a very good year. I won the U.S. Junior Championship a second time, tied for first in the U.S. Open and won the N.J. Open and the U.S. Championship. To start off with it would be good for you to remember this dont try to bug your opponent with any of your idiosyncracies and dont make up any for the occasion. Also, when you touch a piece you must move it, unless youre adjusting a piece on the board and say so before you do so. Something else is well worth remembering with talent, study and a positive attitude, there is no limit to how far you can go. Many players make amazingly rapid progress. For example, Miguel Najdorf, one of our great players, learned the moves at 16 and won the Polish Championship the same year! |
Remember, Fischer was only 13 years old when he played this game!