Who is the greatest chess player of all time ?? Bobby Fischer ??

I definitely agree with Reb that Fischer helped to make chess a true profession.

Fischer was one of the all-time greats and one of the most influential players of all time.

But in the last 45 years or so, chess has progressed. Today's best players don't have the benefit of adjournments, must play at faster time controls and still play at a higher level than Fischer did at his best. Fischer would be competitive with the top ten, but he wouldn't be on the same level as Carlsen or Kasparov.

We were robbed by Fischer when he abandoned chess. In 1992, he played at about 2650 strength. He was still good, and capable of creating beautiful games, but he also made some pretty big blunders. He had built up the Fischer legend, and there are people who still keep the fire burning. But chess has moved on.

Edmonds and Eidinow describe his enjoyment of overpowering opponents as being "like a psychopath". His suspicion of the Soviets is "delusion" and "fantasy".Winter was of the opinion that "Fischer, even during his periods of relative mental steadiness, viewed attempts to befriend or assist him with narrow-eyed paranoia,"

When Fischer was 14, his mother described him as "temperamental, unable to get along with others".She consulted psychiatrists, including Reuben Fine, concerned about her son’s obsession with chess. Fine was also approached by other chess players, concerned that Fischer "was socially awkward, provocative, argumentative and unhappy".The Marshall Chess Club board decided maybe he had emotional problems and talked about finding a psychiatrist, perhaps Reuben Fine. He was sometimes physically violent.

Bobby's interest in chess became more important than schoolwork, to the point that "by the time he reached the fourth grade, he'd been in and out of six schools." In 1952, Regina got Bobby a scholarship (based on his chess talent and "astronomically high IQ") to Brooklyn Community Woodward.Fischer later attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond.In 1959, its student council awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.The same year, Fischer dropped out of high school when he turned age 16, the earliest he could legally do so. He later explained to Ralph Ginzburg, "You don't learn anything in school."

Nigro introduced Fischer to future grandmaster William Lombardy,and, starting in September 1954,Lombardy began coaching Fischer in private."We spent hours in our sessions, simply playing over quality games," said Lombardy. "I tried to instill in Bobby the secret of my own speedy rise. Eidetic Imagery and Total Immersion."Based on a 1956 game Lombardy played against Povilas Vaitonis (in which he agreed to a draw offer after only 13 moves), Lombardy told Fischer: "Do not accept draw offers. For an ambitious and talented player, accepting a draw is death to a top result. Opponents fear an uncompromising opponent and thus make more mistakes. Act as I advise and do not copy my timidity."

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Bobby-Fischers-Conquest-of-the-World-Chess-Championship-p3549.htm

This page is about Americas past problems with the Cold War, Space Race and the effect it had on people’s lives in the 50s and how this has turned into a War on Terror. One focus of this page is on the use of Anti Communism and the way it caused such widespread paranoia in Americans who were trying to prove that they are patriots that work hard for a free country. Another topic is American work ethic, the dream of freedom, and finally the progress for society in post Cold War years. The Cold war was a battle over which powers control the Earth. It has been used as a propaganda machine that has manipulated people’s beliefs, while causing mass panic through the use of scare tactics and sensationalized news which is designed to bring in a New World Order. The New World Order is the end result of the Cold War years that arrives with a promised goal of nations cooperating in an age of peace and prosperity. The Cold War inflicted a lot of needless suffering with Red Scare warnings to the people of America by instructing them to be on guard while acting in hostile paranoid suspicion and this has caused damage by creating great social conflicts.

BF never took an I Q test. Just another myth. His so called 180 was only an estimate by an admirer. Most of his teachers when interviewed confirmed he lacked a normal intellectual balance and failed most of his classes. Hence his "dropping out of school"

He was a chess savant who had a few years of a great run. That's it. End of story.

Meaning Regina got Bobby a scholarship?? From the admirer. Nice.

To illustrate my point, here’s a list of 50 people who did not finish school but went on to be very successful.

1. George Washington President of the United States
2. Abraham Lincoln President of the United States
3. Harry Truman President of the United States
4. Grover Cleveland President of the United States
5. Zachary Taylor President of the United States
6. Andrew Johnson President of the United States
7. John Glenn Astronaut, U.S. Senator
8. Barry Goldwater U.S. Senator
9. Benjamin Franklin U.S. Ambassador
10. Winston Churchill Prime Minister of England
11. John Major Prime Minister of England
12. Robert Frost Poet
13. Florence Nightingale Nurse
14. Buckminster Fuller Futurist and Inventor
15. George Eastman Founder of Eastman Kodak
16. Ray Kroc Founder of McDonald’s
17. Dave Thomas Founder of Wendy’s
18. Ralph Lauren Fashion designer and Entrepreneur
19. Doris Lessing Nobel Prize recipient in Literature
20. George Bernard Shaw Playwright
21. Peter Jennings News anchor for ABC
22. Christopher Columbus Explorer
23. TD Jakes Pastor
24. Joel Osteen Pastor
25. John D. Rockefeller Founder of Standard Oil
26. Karl Rove Presidential advisor
27. Ted Turner Founder of CNN
28. Quentin Tarantino Movie director
29. Peter Jackson Movie director (Lord of the Rings)
30. Mark Twain Author
31. Leon Uris Author
32. Carl Bernstein Washington Post reporter
33. Carly Fiorina CEO of Hewlett Packard
34. Charles Dickens Author
35. Andrew Carnegie Industrialist
36. William Faulkner Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner
37. Li Ka Shing Wealthiest man in Asia
38. Richard Branson Founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways and Virgin Records
39. Enzo Ferrari Founder of Ferrari
40. Henry Ford Founder of Ford Motor Company
41. J. Paul Getty Founder of Getty Oil
42. Jack London Author
43. Larry Ellison Founder of Oracle
44. Tom Anderson Founder of MySpace
45. Mark Zuckerberg Founder of Facebook
46. Steve Jobs Founder of Apple
47. Steve Wozniak Founder of Apple
48. Bill Gates Founder of Microsoft
49. Paul Allen Founder of Microsoft
50. Ringo Starr Beatle

Fischer had a vindictive personality. That's all. Botvinnik wrote that a study of Fischer's games showed that he preferred knights to bishops. Fischer asserted the opposite. One should be very cautious in believing him.

Jesus was successful and he never went to skool....just saying.

I mean, you put TD Jakes at #23, wouldn't Jesus be above him....at least ?

Capablanca

Very interesting thread as to why Fischer wasnt that great besides 70-72....http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=11238

Not best unfortunately. Lost consistently to Tal >_< Read his book. He also lost to Geller a lot.

Education has nothing to do with skill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off topic: Does anyone know why Tartakower and Najdorf both played the Dutch defence?

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1102104

Capablanca was the intuitive player par excellence, he was not perhaps the most dynamic or avantgarde but it certainly deserves to be there.
Capablanca's management of the endgame gives the impression of being so natural that one easily forgets the difficulty of such precise play. The difficulty is chiefly psychological. In chess, as in life, one is so accustomed to place value on the material factors that it is not easy to conceive the idea of indulging in pawn sacrifices when there is so little available material. -Reti

Notes by Alekhine and Reti.

This thread gives some answers: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/kasparov-is-better-than-carlsen

"

True. A lot of players achieve 6-0 scores or better against WC candidates.

I just wonder what the heck some of you are smoking. I do need some of that stuff."

When do they even get the chance to achieve a 6-0 score? It's all tournaments these days no more candidate matches.

Why did it take so long for Fischer to defeat Spassky? If he really was 120 elo above him?

"

Fischer did several things that no other player has done :  winning a major tournament with 100 % , winning 2 candidates matches with 100% , winning 20 games in a row against all GMs !!  No other great player has done even one of these things !  

 "

And not even having to defend a single game as World Champion, very great indeed...

Everyone forgets about Reshevesky!! He was good!!! Top three non-Russians before fischer:

Reshevesky

Najdorf

Gligorich

yes those win streaks may never be surpassed but could bobby have  been champ 20 long years?  lets not forget before pca gary was lso fide champ as well remember when he won the title when he was young  then deep blue 

kasparov against theworld all kinds of things but most important champ 20 solid years i say fischer never would be displined enough to carry that title for so long. i will say after a period of lazy years i finally looked real hard at bobbys games and kaspy and kapov and i concluded fischer had an attacking style to his game only equaled by petrosian yes he was as tactical as he was positional thats why many said he was best ever. even fischer said that although he had beaten him. his game is unbelieable if you really study it. shame he was nuts. that is what i think made him dissapear like that. not i do the same thing but i am sane. i am just a lazy chess player don,t study read books nothing. i admitt it. but then i never intended to play chess for a living.