In the movie Pawn Sacrifice, Bobby Fischer was depicted to have lost his virginity to a prostitute at the ripe age of 19 years. An article published by The Guardian about this movie noted that:
"Legend has it that Henry Stockhold, a chess-playing journalist, took the 19-year-old Fischer to a brothel to lose his virginity. When Stockhold asked him how it went, Fischer is said to have replied: "Chess is better.""
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2011/may/15/bobby-fischer-chess-downfall
I remember there was a documentary on Bobby Fischer a while ago where he was reported that he said "Chess is better" after something like what happened in the movie.
Does anyone have any more details as to this rumour? Where exactly did it originate from? I did some Google searches for "Henry Stockhold", the journalist who allegedly took him to a brothel, but I couldn't find anything. I also couldn't find any primary source materials to back these claims up, or any other reliable accounts. There are some rumours floating around these forums and there are some comments posted on a few other forums online. But that's it.
Is there anything solid to support the claim that Bobby saw a prostitute and lost his virginity at 19 (or something along those lines)? Or is this something that was simply invented by the movie. If so, I don't understand why journalists from The Guardian would fabricate these claims.
I know this is a little bit of a specific topic but it's something that's been on my mind for quite a while. Let me know what you reckon.
The most common story is Larry Evans took Bobby to a brothel in Buenos Aires in 1960. Fischer had a bad tournament (-2). So he was 16 or 17.
"chess is better" lol