eat, live, breathe chess, have a ton of talent, work harder than everyone else long term.
pretty easy, right?
How did Fischer gain 500 points in 1 year?
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Jan 22, 2014
0
#3
I think that there is no secret. He always had a pocket chess set with him.
Not sure it's the same span of time, but I remember reading at one time when he lived alone in an apartment he claimed to have worked on chess 17 hours a day, every day. Yes, that means he either ate and went to the bathroom in front of an analysis board, or he was sacrificing a few hours of sleep just to be able to do more chess.
There's dedicated, and then there's insane. IMO Fischer was insane, but he was also so much better than anyone else in the world that it's not even worth mentioning he was the best of his time. He's more often mentioned in best of all time lists.
IIRC it was in the 1950s, but I may be wrong.
He had a chessboard painted on his bedroom ceiling so he could stare at it while lying in bed. Also it was his dream, never realized, to live in a rook-shaped house. Not that that would've improved his game of course.
Jan 22, 2014
0
#8
Paolo_Boi wrote:
He had a chessboard painted on his bedroom ceiling so he could stare at it while lying in bed. Also it was his dream, never realized, to live in a rook-shaped house. Not that that would've improved his game of course.
I have formulas in front of my bed:
Modified duration, convexity, hedge effectiveness, binomial models for option pricing.
Maybe if I can do it with basic endgames I can learn them. But they would have to be very big to even see the pieces.
Oct 5, 2016
0
#9
2200 sounds a bit ambitious. Improving 100 per year may be possible ( if you don't have another job )
Maybe he was higher playing strength than 1700 at the start of that time frame but hadn't played enough tourneys for his rating to catch up?
Stockfish in his shoe.
It is basically as dannyhume(#11) said, his rating was above 1700, he just hadn't played enough.
Oct 5, 2016
0
#13
Funny thing is after 3 years Taffy is now rated exactly 1695 ! I happen to know he is back studying the books and will probably get my predicted 100 point increase next year. Good luck Chris.
Atterall.
Bit of comment two. Bit of comment four.
ablankslate wrote:
Atterall.
Amphetamines seem to have played some part in his life.
Just wondering whether anyone knows (or can guess) how Fischer went from 1700 to 2200+ in one year? Did he ever comment on this feat? I'm wondering because I'm thinking of doing the same thing myself