If Fischer would played Karpov for the World Champion, who would win?

No you aren't, you'll be back with your theories again.

Thankyou for that nobodyreally,

I remember people talking about the match at the time and saying fischer must be finished, but he actually won 4-0 that's amazing.....

No matter who would win - it would have been a splendid match.

Perhaps the definition of a "fragile ego" might be close to the truth. It's difficult to see the inner world and to understand behaviour and actions of the people of genius, no matter in what field their genius is

If it is true that Bobby won 4:0 (I don't doubt it), it becomes much more difficult to understand why he did not allow the games to be published ... just to conceal his "coming back to chess" .....

Fred Waitzkin has a theory on Fischer's mental state, which he sets out in his book 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' that I think is about the most comprehensive that I've read. It also rings true to me, as someone who can't possibly know the full truth.

Waitzkin thinks, and he uses conversations with friends of Fischer from all stages of his life, that Fischer was addicted to finding ways to be different. When Fischer started playing chess the interest in the general public for the game was zero and so he was able to cultivate (and revel in) his own 'weirdness'. Waitzkin suggests this mania was so finely tuned that when the explosion in chess popularity occurred in the US after Reykjavik it sent Fischer into a tailspin - after all why would Bobby want to be playing a game that was now part of the mainstream? This theory ties in well with Bobby's continual desire to change the game somehow by altering rules or piece setups etc.

Waitzkin supports this theory by suggesting that Fischer's anti-Semitism was in fact caused by this same impulse to support theories that were outside the mainstream. People imagine that Fischer became anti-Semitic after he quit playing, and as his mental state deteriorated, but Waitzkin has plenty of witnesses of the teenage Bobby Fischer at the Marshall Chess Club spouting these obnoxious views.

This all points to a man who not only weighed risks very carefully, the risks in adopting mainstream and popularist views to his own place in history and to his monomaniacal view of life, but who also made decisions based on a very skewed version of reality. I think Fischer dodged Karpov because he was pissed that ‘his’ game had been taken over by millions of patzers and because he was fearful of the risks involved - after all Bobby had nothing to win in playing Karpov. If he won the match people would say "Bobby Fischer - the greatest", which they were already saying anyway, and if he lost well bang goes the myth of his single-handed destruction of the Soviet machine.

So I believe he was scared to face Karpov, if only because he had absolutely no idea how to keep his place in chess history AND be a true match-playing champion of the Spassky/Karpov/Kasparov mold. I also believe quite strongly that he would have lost to Spassky had he not controlled the match with outrageous gamesmanship, which was probably an unconscious extension of his attraction to destructive emotions. He had never beaten Spassky before the match. Karpov would not have been affected so much by these distractions and I think Bobby felt like he wouldn’t have been able to control the match, and the result, to the same extent. Karpov would have been well prepared and was certainly mentally tougher than his opponent – he would have won.

There is a lot of hot air blown about Fischer and, yes, this comment of mine just added to the cloud, but there is no doubt that he was a very sick (medically) individual whose mental issues clouded every decision he made – this much surely must be a given with the weight of evidence. Therefore I think fear can be said to have played a large part in Bobby Fischer’s life.

"Paranoia: is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion."

So saying Fischer was paranoid is saying he was extremely afraid.

The statements and facts surrounding this speculation usually comprise a bias to who one favors. We know that Fischer was at the height of his play in the early 1970's and we also have evidence that after taking long periods off of chess he returned better than before. It is also given evidence by close friends of Fischer that he had been actively studying games and even preparing for Karpov before 1975. This all makes a strong case against any notion that Fischer would have been in anyway out of form against Karpov at 1975 and perhaps would have come into the match in better shape than he'd left it in 1972. Certainly none the worse.

Then we have the case for Karpov, the rising star in the east. Factly, Karpov beat a stronger Spassky in match play in 1974 than Fischer had in 1972. A review of the match games played shows that while Karpov handedly beat Spassky, Spassky played better than he had in 1972 and Kasparov himself said that the match was "amazing" and that Spassky made no blunders in the games and Karpov just outplayed him and that the quality of the games was excellent. We can come to the conclusion that Fischer would face a player who was much stronger than any opponent he had played prior to 1972 and who was still "growing in power".

But there is the case against Karpov in his next match after Spassky, which turned out to be essentially for the World Championship, in his match against Korchnoi. After jumping to a big lead against Korchnoi, Karpov seemed to faulter, and while Karpov ended up winning the match, Korchnoi made a great comeback. That wasn't the only time this happened, as in years to come Karpov did similar, gaining a big lead early on, and then slowly letting it slip away, most of the time saving the match at the end.

Spassky said when asked about this matter that had they{Fischer and Karpov} played in 1975 Fischer would have won the match but Karpov would have had the chance to face someone who'd help lift his game to the next level and after studying the match and more, would have returned for another match with Fischer and succeed in beating him in 1978. Karpov once stated that he often wondered had he the chance to play Fischer in 1975, how strong he'd have become. Karpov said suddenly I was left at the top in 1975 but didn't feel like I got to play to the top and it was hard to push my play higher from then on. But Karpov said, Kasparov however was able to play {me} early in his life and excel his game to {then} the greatest of heights and had he {Karpov} been able to play Fischer in 1975, could have done the same.

Would Fischer have beaten Karpov in 1975? Probably, if we trust Spassky's ability in judgement of the two players. But the match and perhaps matches between them in the 1970's would have been epic maybe a thing of legend like the Kasparov-Karpov matches and one that everyone, the players, chess fans, would have benefited from.

I wish we could just 'like' comments! I agree Kornak.

Fischer's devotion to chess might be why he smashed Taimanov 6-0  too , but I am sure Taimanov would win a piano playing contest with Bobby ... 

I heard also a rumour Kavalek introduced Fischer to movie director Milos Forman and they planned a movie about 1972 Reykjavik match, where Fischer would portray himself. They convinced Boris Spassky also to participate and portray himself (Spassky lived in France already, so no problems with traveling abroad), but the movie wasn't realized, because Fischer changed his mind suddenly and put incredible demands.

The truth is that Kavalek was one of few chess grandmasters Fischer could withstand and they remained in contact even long after Fischer's retirement.

Another rumour: Tal wrote that in 1973 Fischer's mother photographed Karpov during a simultaneous production and deduced Fischer predicted who would be his next challenger. No doubt Fischer was aware of Karpov's potential and studied his games and personality in detail.

When both in top form fischer would win

wow nice game

Fischer's dead.

Is Fischer dead now? The most recent thing I read about him was that he was hiding somewhere in some obscure country because of all of the crazy things he said. 

Fischer passed due to renal failure. His kidney disease had been on going for years.

Iceland was the country that gave Bobby sanctuary from the US govt . Iceland is not an obscure country...Iceland has given us the immortal world chess championship of 1972 and the singer Bjork amongst other things.

We must remember that the US govt had along with other govts imposed sanctions on the former Yugoslavia as a reult of the Balkan wars of the 1990's. Bobby's lucrative rematch with Spassky was held in the former Yugoslavia and consequently the US govt were after Bobby for breaching the sanctions..they wanted Bobby not to play chess...in 1972 however they wanted him to play chess and they  used Bobby's chess genius as a weapon in the cold war against the Soviets.

All Bobby wanted to do in 1992 , I believe , was have a game of chess but the US govt decided that he couldn't play chess and from that moment on decided to persecute the man who had done so much for the USA in 1972.

    Bobby Fischer was a anomaly, he is, was, and will remain the point of reference against whom the best measure themselves.  This very topic is evidence it will continue.

    One fact stands, he took on the challenge of becoming world champion, and with a unique blend of skill and determination set the world on fire where chess is concerned.

    We hear about the team approach to championship chess, Fischer exemplified individual excellence, and pursued that.  His team was a world hungry to jump on his bandwagon.

    Chess was bought out of the shadows and into the mainstream.  It was a refreshing change.  Chess in the seventies became electric, people couldn't wait to buy a newspaper to see what moves had been made in the Championship game.

    Karpov had a opportunity to play Fischer..  For reasons only Karpov understands, it didn't happen, just as well really, Karpov would have been mugged.  His sensibilities were too delicate, Fischer exposed that.  He single handedly shattered the myth of Soviet invincibility.

If Fischer's demands seem unfair, there is a reason for him demanding more money, better plying condition like lighting; Karpov did not have to worry about making a living, his government provided for him. Players here keep mentioning why does Fischer just play chess and forget about the demands,because his conditions and demands help chess player make a better living and playing condition are a lot better. Karpov should thank Fischer for bring more money in world champion. Now Karpov is billionaire. :) 

Exactly! Most people have no idea how tough it was for chess players to make a living in the west before Fischer arrived on the scene.

The only and single reason I could make a decent living for 20 years playing chess was Bobby.

Without him we would still be playing for nickles and dimes.

I will always be grateful to him for that.