yes, very nicely written, and true. And Judit Polgar. She's a sweetie, really.  Although she's not at the top I was charmed by Irina Krush on her recent co-commentating with Mike Klein on the Polgar-Short death match.

GambitKing

Would have been a very one sided relationship because he would have had no respect for you -  zero, nada, zip!!

To him you would have been a "weakie" unworthy to gaze upon him or to even touch your own chess pieces.

What is there to respect?  Marvel at perhaps.   Spend every waking moment of a lifetime obsessing about a game but refusing in his psychotic insecurity to put himself at the risk of losing what he achieved partly due to his hysterics.

The arc of his life produced one enormous disappointment for those who followed him.  A misfit who should have played against computers his entire life because he lacked humanity.

Bobby Fischer was an awesome chess player. One of the greatest to ever play the game. As a human being, he was despicable.

I would use the word "outspoken," but whatever...

If outspoken means racist....

If giggling with glee after 9/11 is simply outspoken....

We must have different meanings for the word outspoken. I stand by despicable...

<Ajatsstru wrote:  All the Fischer worshipers here need to read a bit about him before exposing their ignorance about his character.>

Here's what Anatoly Karpov said about his character:

"I was struck by his gaze. He was not at all the way he looked in photographs. I didn't see any severity in him, but rather a sort of gentleness and patience"

"I believe that Fischer surpassed all the former and currently living grandmasters in the ability to produce and process chess ideas."

"It seems that the reason for his tragic break with the chess world was the excessive demands he placed on himself as world champion. The solution to the stress was obvious-he stopped playing altogether". 

and now the most incisive of Karpov's observations, which is one that anyone who really has done a lot of reading about Fischer would also know, unless they were clouded by blinders on their perception or judgment:

"Fischer's integrity was evident in any one of his actions. Even his shortcomings were inseperable from him; they were aspects of his integrity".  http://www.chessquotes.com/player-karpov

Hmm, you never said nicest.

Who are the nicest chess players at the top?

Not Bobby Fischer.

thank you. Very nice, and seems consistent what what people who knew him say. There's that 'integrity' again. 

People keep trying to frame the Bobby Fischer discussion in ways that could be used to even keep the name of Vlad the Impaler excused from criticism. 

Bobby Fischer was maniacally egotistical and when a discussion is about greatness as human beings, there is never room for people whose lives focused on hate, with chess an aside - or was it the other way around?

In my opinion: For sure Fischer began (as a kid and a young man) with intense love, passion and devotion to chess. he wanted to advance the game and become Champion. the other crap crept in over time and eventually took over. I think winning the World Championship had been such a strong motivator for him that when he finally won it, he a) wanted to keep it forever and b) didn't really know what to do anymore. That's when the demons and insecurities and other crap inside him became his main thoughts, taking over some of "space" chess took up in the forefront of his mind. Obviously, his issues shown through for a long time before becoming Champion but the fire he had for chess kept them relatively at bay, kinda like creatures in the night. when the fire dimmed... in they came.

Tal was Jewish.

Oh, and I loved the story about Judit Polgar and the autographed book.

Can't we all just agree that Fischer was a phenomenal chess player but not exactly an exemplary human being? There's been like four pages of this. Not even Bobby himself would believe he belonged in this discussion. He has his own virtues, but he never tried to be known as "nice".

In the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess, Wolff compares Smyslov to Botvinnik. He said that Smyslov seemed to enjoy life a lot more than Botvinnik.

so was Botvinnik. 

You're not at the top, that's why. Don't worry though, I'm on the low bottom. You're in the high bottom.

Don't have any doubts.

Completely off-topic , but I have to say it.

Suppose OP's topic would be : "Who was the nicest world-champion so far ?", then the selection of candidates would be smaller right ?.

Next , suppose you were ask to rate another quality of a player in this small group. Then you will come to a very interesting conclusion : The players with this quality seem to be in the vast majority.

Based on how their peers reacted to them, the two nicest world champions were Max Euwe and Vishy Anand. Max Euwe became one of the most respected presidents of FIDE. When Anand played Topalov, almost every elite player (for example, Kramnik, Carlsen, Kasparov) helped Anand to prepare. This was a rare case of the most liked candidate facing the most reviled candidate in recent memory.

Kramnik, Tal, and Smyslov deserve honourable mentions.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov