Vote for your favorite!
Josh Waitzkin vs. Bobby Fishcer both at age 20. Who wins?
Sort:
Fischer.
Good choice. I think that since they were both child prodigies that it should be a balanced game.
Not even close: Fischer.
Well then, anyone for Waitzkin?
Lol Fischer is good to though.
Josh Waitzkin never reached GM strength or earned the title, while Fischer became the youngest GM ever (until then) when he was just 15 years old.
Fischer would have crushed Waitzin. I doubt Waitzkin could have won one game out of 10, and he might not even have been able to draw a single game.
Good point. Although you left out the part that Fischer ran off and didn't come back until like, ten years later only to defend his title.
Bobby easily he mowed down everyone in his way.
Okay, now I feel like I asked a stupid question.
Don't feel too bad. For the forums, it's only mildly numb. 
You people don't give Waitzkin enough credit. The man has played many remarkable games and even drew Kasparov at a young age. I believe that while Fischer may have been the stronger player, Waitzkin in his own right would have given Fischer plenty to think about each and every game.
Anyway, I would side with Waitzkin out of principle as he isn't a complete dick about every little thing.
joshfischer1 wrote:
Good point. Although you left out the part that Fischer ran off and didn't come back until like, ten years later only to defend his title.
He didn't run off until he was 29 or so, and it was almost 20 years before he played again (publicly).
Phylar you are officially awesome. And DrSpudnik, thanks I feel better now. 
Correction. 
No, it wasn't a stupid question but Fischer at the age of 15 or 16, let alone 20, would have easily defeated Waitzkin.
Fischer was also super strong at blitz.
By 1971 the Russian and Moscow 5-minute championships had been going several years with Tal, Bronstein and Petrosian all having success. Earlier that year Fischer played in a blitz tournament organised by the Manhattan Chess Club scoring 21½/22.
The first unofficial "Speed Chess Championship of the World" (or World Blitz Championship) was held in Herceg Novi on 8 April 1970. This was shortly after the first USSR versus the rest of the world match (in Belgrade), in which ten of these players also competed.
Eleven Grandmasters and one International Master played a double round-robin tournament. Fischer won first place, with a score of 19 points out of a possible 22. Fischer scored seventeen wins, four draws, and one loss (to Korchnoi). Mikhail Tal was a distant second, 4½ points behind. Fischer won both games against each of Tal, Tigran Petrosian, and Vassily Smyslov; all of whom are past World Champions.
Yeah, I don't really agree with what he did, but he's a genius so I sort of respect his decision.
Phylar wrote:
You people don't give Waitzkin enough credit. The man has played many remarkable games and even drew Kasparov at a young age. I believe that while Fischer may have been the stronger player, Waitzkin in his own right would have given Fischer plenty to think about each and every game.
Anyway, I would side with Waitzkin out of principle as he isn't a complete dick about every little thing.
Yeah, Fischer was a world-class asshole and eventually went batshit insane. But that doesn't change the fact that he was a much stronger player at 15 than Waitzkin would ever be.
If the question were about who was the better person, my answer would be Waitkin, of course, but saying the drastically inferior player would win (when you don't really believe it) just because you like them better is silly.
...good answer
