Something About Bobby

Bobby Fischer, best known for his chess exploits, made the January 1973 issue of Black Belt, a martial arts magazine because of his venture into judo back in 1963 -

Black Belt Magazine, Jan. 1973
p.45
from inside the column
MARTIAL ARTS
MEDIA MADNESS
By Philip B. Moshcovitz

"In the summer of 1963, World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer left his pawns and rooks long enough to enter a judo dojo.  "He paid cash and insisted on private lessons," revealed instructor Jerome Mackey in a syndicated newspaper story. "He took about twenty or thirty, learning how to take falls and a few other forms of basic technique, and then quit.  He left still a beginner, wearing a white belt."  During his Iceland stay Bobby had a bodyguard.

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from the Boy's Life,  1961-1971 retrospective issue of August, 2001

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from LIFE magazine, July 28, 1972 :

THE SWEET ROSE OF VICTORY
Bobby Fischer lolled on the sofa of his Reykjavik hotel room and took a sweet, joyous breath of a rose - and success.  He had just beaten Russian world champion Boris Spassky for the first time in their title match.  It was an achievement to be savored, and Fischer was savoring it in his chosen way.  Leaving the $60,000 house the Icelandic authorities had provided for him, he had moved back into a hotel, sleeing by preference on a too-short sofa and keeping the curtains drawn day and night. Now, grinning savagely,  he played and replayed the game, leading again and again to that lovely moment when the Russian was trapped and had to resign. 
In his strange, closed universe, Bobby Fischer was happy.
above Life photos by Harry0Benson

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LIFE Oct. 7, 1957

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LIFE  Nov. 12, 1971

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LIFE  Feb. 21, 1964

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More info on the Fischer Cardoso series from 1957. https://www.chess.com/blog/novacek/fischer-vs-cardoso-1957

Great. Thanks for sharing these details.

Yeah. Great article.

Thanks, as always!

You're a true black belt!

Magnus is better

I doubt that!

Bobby never played like a bum.  Thanks BG!

"I dont want to look like a bum"

Any pictures of Bobby getting body slammed in Judo?

I find it curious why some people feel compelled to chime in with irrelevant trollisms.

bobby didnt have computer software 2 study while Magnus did

exactly. thats why magnus is better than fischer cuz technology has improved and there weren't computers like stockfish and alphazero in bobby's time but they are in carlsen's time.

19 year old Rodolfo Cardoso had been playing in the N.Y. State Championship. He had just come in 2nd (behind Bill Lombardy) and tied for 4th-5th place in the New York (ahead of Marcel Duchamp). However he won the Speed Championship at the event 10.5-.5.   He had just placed second in the World Junior Championship held in Toronto, winning the Best Played Game award (aka the Brilliancy Prize) -see game below:

Meanwhile 14 year old Bobby Fischer had just won the New Jersey Open (ahead of Anthony Saidy) as well as the US Junior and then US Open in Chicago, beating Art Bisquier in a tie-break.  A quirky fact is that many players had to drop out of the US Open that year due to the flu.
Pepsi had sponsored the match between Cardoso and Fischer (won by Fischer 6-2 -- Cardoso won 1 and drew 2) at the Manhattan Chess Club. Fischer pocketed $325.
It would have been fun to see a Speed Chess match between the two

Thanks for posting. 

Thank you ispacechess for posting that fascinating interview with Bobby.

Funny, Bobby looks to me, a goy, like an Orthodox Rabbi, lol.

That aside, I do like the answers he gave to the questions.  Very thoughtful.

I do wish he would have done what Magnus has done.  Defend his title and play in lots of tournaments.  Would have been an even greater ambassador for chess than he already was.

Is that not the same Cardoso who beat Bronstein in the last round of an Interzonal?

Rodolfo Tan Cardoso... the same guy.