...Among the books I bought at the just concluded NBL chess tournament held in Lagos, Nigeria ( u can view pictures of the tournament on my page) was the classic "Bobby Fischer my 60 memorable games" . I believe every chess players should have this book in his/her shelf. ...Still hope hollywood brings out a decent film on Bobby!
On Bobby Fischer's passing away.... tribute.
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Dear platolag,
Many thanks for your concern. I'll surely see the pics at yr page. Yes, I've Fischers' My 60 Memorable Games -- an all time Classics!
Cheers!!
Well done article. Also a good book is the Larry Evans book on the Reykjavik match with a separate diagram for every move. Fischer was a force, may he now rest in peace.
Dear drumdaddy, many thanks for your nice words! Yes, I've got that book as well! Cheers!!!
A very good article yes, I was one of his fans but I felt sad to hear that he died
in 2008.
did you write this? or did you get it from some other website?
also, isn't this a little too late? because bobby fischer died two years ago.
Remembering Bobby Fischer ...
On Bobby Fischer's passing away.... tribute.
Robert James Fischer, former world chess champion from the USA died of a kidney failure in Iceland at the age of 64. He was born in 1943, the son of two physicists who divorced when he was two. He was a moderate player till his adolescence, from which he emerged as a genius. Nobody taught him chess; at Manhattan chess club he learnt and mastered the game himself. As Collins, a chess organizer cum coach at Manhattan chess club observes: "Geniuses, like Beethoven, Shakespeare and Fischer come out of the head of Zeus. They seem to be genetically programmed, know before instructed."
This chess legend, the greatest chess player on earth earned the rare reputation of being the youngest grand master and the youngest American champion; had been an unprecedented phenomenon in the chess arena across the world.
The separation of his parents forced him, as some tend to think, to be more detached from others, and he confined himself in a small room amid the swarming the chess books that ultimately paved the way for him to rise up to a phenomenal peak of magical intensity with which he outplayed all his opponents on the 64 squared board. He was considered to have an IQ higher than Einstein's!
World chess, since times after the world war two, had been a continuous affair of success for the super scientific Russian players; it was Bobby Fischer who made his appearance felt by all and brought about an end to the Russian chess era by defeating Boris Spassky in the historical Reykjavik world championship match in 1972; the match was dubbed as the "Match of the Century" – he won the match 12.5-8.5. Bruce Pandolfinni, the match commentator observed thus: “There was clarity to what he was doing on the board. You could see it happening, but helpless to stop it.” It was an indomitable Fischer who made an incredible winning streak of 21 games in a row before meeting Spassky. The Russian hegemony of chess had severely been hit and cut short, though till 1975.
Unfortunately, Fischer did not play the next title match with the challenger Anatoly Karpov, as the FIDE (World Chess Federation) did not heed to the demands on different issues raised by him. Fischer, all of a sudden, quit chess like a comet. The eccentric genius pulled him off the chess arena and started living in self-exile. It was in 1992 that Fischer made yet another appearance in a match with Boris Spassky, again, in a controversial match held in Yugoslavia—America put an embargo upon his playing there, but he continued and made himself the eyesore of the American administration.
Fischer's contribution to the chess world is multifarious: he was the sole fighter to stand for the interests of the chess players across the globe in terms of a prestigious field of professionalism. He had not only raised the prize money for the players but also spread the game throughout the globe in a hurricane speed and acclamation. It was that Fischer - Wave that helped Bangladesh, along with many other nations, reach the path of fathoming this unfathomable game with a new degree of intensity and vigour --- Bangladesh had her first grand master of chess Neaz Murshed in 1983. He popularized the game of chess across the world. Garry Kasparov, former world champion, told after Fischer’s sad demise: “Fischer’s contribution to chess was most revolutionary. He made chess more professional.”
Interestingly, Fischer's demands against any kind of odds or for the legal ones, whatsoever, those were once unacceptable to FIDE are now being implemented in terms of match-systems and the "time" frame for a single game --- FIDE is presently using the "Fischer – Clock" maintaining the Fischer prescribed time limit as well.
Fischer, as many used to think, used to notch out the opponents' psychology, had several times made it clear that " I don't believe in psychology"— rather " I believe in good moves" Indeed he used to make great moves that constantly took his opponents by the nerves. It was Fischer-Fever that had been a strange but strong phenomenon for the chess stalwarts of his time, rather on his way! Russian grand master Mark Taimanov felt it most with his 0 -6 loss to Fischer in the quarter final match for the 1972 final; same thing happened to Danish Master Bent Larsen in the semi final – same feverish 0—6 performance with Fischer sitting opposite as the opponent! These two tales of extraordinarily thrilling triumphs are still awesome- never to be heard the second time in the entirety of chess history till date. Who can forget the queen sacrifice by the young (13 year old) Fischer against the veteran Donald Byrne in the US championship that eventually led to a crushing victory only to be termed as "The game of the Century"?
The intrinsic poisoned pawn variation in the Sicilian defense, in the opening repertoire, went through a clinical precision of Fischer's innovative ideas; while the most positional Ruy Lopez variation became as simple as " Milking the Cow" in his hands!
In the endgame part of the game, Fischer brought about a revolutionary change. His overall contributions to the cause of the game will remain ever fresh to the players of this time and the ones to come in the time future.
Ironically, Fischer, the Cold War Hero, made out to be the reversed to the American administration after his anti-American and anti-Semitic outbursts on many occasions. He was denied the American citizenship, and was stripped off the glory, fame and the world acclaim that he once brought for his own country, in the bitter treatment that he was rendered to. This world icon of chess, with his millions of fans across the world, had to remain unfathomable even by his own people --- the extra-sensitive soul had to wander around till his last breath in Iceland on 13 January 2008.
Fischer wrote few great books, and "My Sixty Memorable Games" is one of them to be well relished and remembered by the chess players! Now that the Champion of the game has died, many tales will be told; many words will be coined --- some even may go to the extent of telling the readers that some sort of paranoia lately crept into the brain, once that bore the magic about it --- Fischer will remain a stark, erect personality with a clarity of thoughts and actions. His love for the game was as majestic as the stance for "truth" he had been taking throughout his life.
Bobby will be living through his unique games, through his equally unique sensibility, and his overall majestic spell upon the chess lovers across the world that he had once cast through his extraordinary moves on the 64-squared board --- he died at 64 too. May God bless this grand soul in rest.
With best regards,
r.i
Written on Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 11:04pm