And at the other end of the spectrum: he wasn't a world champion, and maybe there are some stories out there of bad behavior by him during events (I hope not), but Greg Kaidanov struck me as a super-nice down-to-earth guy during the 6 days I got to spend at a camp where he taught. Of course, that was a zero-pressure situation.
kaidanov what that a chess camp for kids?? was such short time enough to learn anything??
why was he not sane?? i would call that statement verry sane.. i would call kasparov the same, even so he is so he has enough money to pay someone to beat me up but still....
When Fischer called Kasparov a criminal that should be put in prison, the lowest of dogs and many other things of the same sort, he also said a lot of things on subjects that can't even be discussed on this site. If you for example read Brady's book you will find some of these statements that were repeated year in year out, and I wonder if you would see Fischer as sane if you read just a few of them.
With Fischer it depends a bit on if one includes all the things he said after 1972 or not if one could talk about really bad sportsmanship. It is definitely bad sportsmanship to call other players criminals, dogs and cheaters, accuse them of pre-arranging all of their games etc. But long before that he did and said things that were at least questionable. As when a rule against short draws was passed after his complaints about them and he took a short draw himself in the event and said that "the rules are for Russian cheaters and not for me" and stuff like that. He meant that Korchnoi threw games to other Soviets to stop Fischer from winning but few if none believe that is true, and even Korchnoi, who isn't exactly pro-Soviet, hasn't said anything about that "they forced me to throw games and I would have won otherwise". At the same time Fischer never behaved badly at the board, but that's not the only thing discussed. Mamedyarov has never behaved badly at the board either and still many have been very critical of him for his cheating accusations against Kurnosov.
I think one must delineate the before and after of Fischer's career. If he was no longer playing officially, then perhaps calling him a bad sportsman post-1972 would be illogical. As far as Fischer's comments regarding other players, I feel that one must take into account his mental state - or the possibility of there being something wrong with him mentally.
Andrew Klein
why was he not sane?? i would call that statement verry sane.. i would call kasparov the same, even so he is so he has enough money to pay someone to beat me up but still....
When Fischer called Kasparov a criminal that should be put in prison, the lowest of dogs and many other things of the same sort, he also said a lot of things on subjects that can't even be discussed on this site. If you for example read Brady's book you will find some of these statements that were repeated year in year out, and I wonder if you would see Fischer as sane if you read just a few of them.
well brady wants to make big bucks and what sells better to the masses, than big drama?? yout think he was mentioned in late night shows ( or whatever show it was) if he had written a book about how nice and loving he was??
well i just said what he said about kasparov was sane... anyway how can you judge someones mental state by just what he says?? would you call donald trump insane because he says bransons is not a real billionaire, because he is in the airline business??
With Fischer it depends a bit on if one includes all the things he said after 1972 or not if one could talk about really bad sportsmanship. It is definitely bad sportsmanship to call other players criminals, dogs and cheaters, accuse them of pre-arranging all of their games etc. But long before that he did and said things that were at least questionable. As when a rule against short draws was passed after his complaints about them and he took a short draw himself in the event and said that "the rules are for Russian cheaters and not for me" and stuff like that. He meant that Korchnoi threw games to other Soviets to stop Fischer from winning but few if none believe that is true, and even Korchnoi, who isn't exactly pro-Soviet, hasn't said anything about that "they forced me to throw games and I would have won otherwise". At the same time Fischer never behaved badly at the board, but that's not the only thing discussed. Mamedyarov has never behaved badly at the board either and still many have been very critical of him for his cheating accusations against Kurnosov.
I think one must delineate the before and after of Fischer's career. If he was no longer playing officially, then perhaps calling him a bad sportsman post-1972 would be illogical. As far as Fischer's comments regarding other players, I feel that one must take into account his mental state - or the possibility of there being something wrong with him mentally.
Andrew Klein
why must anyone take into an account that there was maybe something wrong with him mentally?? doesnt anyone have the right to say what he want, or is it psychological law that everyone is sane as long as they dont say things we dont like??
1.Fischer
2.Fischer
3.Fischer
Oops Fischers ego was 10x bigger then anyones so hes in the top 10.
I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.
George S. Patton
It's better to have laughed and lost than never to have laughed at all.
With Fischer it depends a bit on if one includes all the things he said after 1972 or not if one could talk about really bad sportsmanship. It is definitely bad sportsmanship to call other players criminals, dogs and cheaters, accuse them of pre-arranging all of their games etc. But long before that he did and said things that were at least questionable. As when a rule against short draws was passed after his complaints about them and he took a short draw himself in the event and said that "the rules are for Russian cheaters and not for me" and stuff like that. He meant that Korchnoi threw games to other Soviets to stop Fischer from winning but few if none believe that is true, and even Korchnoi, who isn't exactly pro-Soviet, hasn't said anything about that "they forced me to throw games and I would have won otherwise". At the same time Fischer never behaved badly at the board, but that's not the only thing discussed. Mamedyarov has never behaved badly at the board either and still many have been very critical of him for his cheating accusations against Kurnosov.
I think one must delineate the before and after of Fischer's career. If he was no longer playing officially, then perhaps calling him a bad sportsman post-1972 would be illogical. As far as Fischer's comments regarding other players, I feel that one must take into account his mental state - or the possibility of there being something wrong with him mentally.
Andrew Klein
why must anyone take into an account that there was maybe something wrong with him mentally?? doesnt anyone have the right to say what he want, or is it psychological law that everyone is sane as long as they dont say things we dont like??
No, it isn't a "psychological law," not at all. I'm simply stating that if Sportsmanship is determined by evaluating a player's persona during their career, and, perhaps more specifically, during the points in time in which they are actually playing, then Fischer was a rather good Sportsman. Frankly, compared to some of the players on this site, he was an Angel.
Andrew Klein
...didn't Ficher storm out on tournaments (in some cases while leading) because he demanded things which were not met?...
...1961 Fischer's 16 game match with Samuel Reshevsky (who was a Jew)...Mr Reshevsky could not play on the "Sabbath", so the Sunday's game was postponed for Monday...Fischer retorted that he could not play on Monday morning, and refused to play, thus loosing the games, and ultimately the entire match by default...
...when Princess Grace presented Fischer with the winning cheque for winning a tornament in Monaco, he torn open the envelope (pieces on the floor) and checked the amount before shaking her hand...
...and I believe Fischer was notorious for arriving late to tournaments...daring the Tournaments Directors to forfeit his matches...
...how could we say Fischer was not part of this group?
i just posted a forum topic titled...
WHAT HAPPENED TO CHESS HONOR?!?!
that deals with this!
i guess big ego's and bad sportsmanship didn't start with internet chess...
i also guess i was wrong to assume chess was synonymous with honor, civility and HUMILITY!!!!
"superconsciouschess"...yes you are wrong...there are only a few World Chess Champions who can be considered humble...with Anand the current WCC being one of them...
...chess players somehow seem to believe that because they are good at this game that this makes them "Royal"...better than everyone else and previleged, smarter than everyone else...yet they don't create anything of substance, and they don't solve any of mankind's problems...
wow!!!
now i know the pitfalls to watch out for...
@jesterville some old broad who lives in london claims to be royal and the titular head of state of Canada does that bother you? seems that would bother me more than whether some dood plays chess good and acts arrogant about it
...didn't Ficher storm out on tournaments (in some cases while leading) because he demanded things which were not met?...
...1961 Fischer's 16 game match with Samuel Reshevsky (who was a Jew)...Mr Reshevsky could not play on the "Sabbath", so the Sunday's game was postponed for Monday...Fischer retorted that he could not play on Monday morning, and refused to play, thus loosing the games, and ultimately the entire match by default...
...when Princess Grace presented Fischer with the winning cheque for winning a tornament in Monaco, he torn open the envelope (pieces on the floor) and checked the amount before shaking her hand...
...and I believe Fischer was notorious for arriving late to tournaments...daring the Tournaments Directors to forfeit his matches...
...how could we say Fischer was not part of this group?
I think you are ill informed : Fischer "stormed out of " only two tournies his entire career and both times it was due to disputes with the organizers. His leaving had nothing to do with his opponents.
His match with Reshevsky you obviously are confused about. Fischer had a signed contract in which the time and date of every one of the games were included in the signed contract. The Pitiagorskys ( sp ? ) were the ones donating the purse for the match just decided that Fischer would play when they wanted him to since they were paying and they didnt have to abide by any signed contract. They were in the wrong, not Fischer and Fischer should have sued them over breach of contract ! His quitting that match had absolutely NOTHING to do with Reshevsky nor when his sabbath observance was....
I havent read about the incident in Monaco but since you are so wrong in the above 2 areas I am inclined to NOT believe your version of what happened there either.
As for Fischer arriving late to games he cannot be forfeited until he is one hour late, or more. He was in the habit of arriving a few minutes late, yes and he wasnt the only one.
Concerning the match with Reshevsky : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLrGObRPA3k
NM Reb,
Since we are discussing "Egos" as well, I think my first point about Fischer storming out of tournaments is relevant...I did not interpret the OPs subject to restrict examples only between players...
...on the subject of Reshevsky...I am not basing my info on memory but actual articles read online about the matter...which makes no reference to a contract dispute situaton...I viewed your clip...and what I found interesting is the version you are refering to is Fischer's version of the events...so the question is, what is the real truth?...because as we all know Fischer's truth can be questioned in many of his "adventures"...I will try to do more research specific to this match...
...and my last point is as well not from memory but online writings of Mr. Fischer's misadventures in Monaco...and Fischer's tardiness is legend, I do consider this a form of disrepect to other players etc...
@jesterville some old broad who lives in london claims to be royal and the titular head of state of Canada does that bother you? seems that would bother me more than whether some dood plays chess good and acts arrogant about it
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...well, It does not bother me at all...since I am not Canadian...I only reside here due to Business and Contractual matters...in fact personally, I am anti-Royals...I view them as leeches...I believe Prince William had someone doing his assigments for him while at University...or so the report goes...
You obviously dont want to believe Fischer's version of anything . Use your common sense then. Its very unlikely Fischer would agree to play such a match without a contract so I do believe a contract existed. In such a contract one of the basic things covered would be the dates/times of the games to be played. Now, its well known that Fischer was a night owl and often stayed up way past midnight and slept till noon or later most days. He would NEVER have agreed to play any morning games for sure. There was some concert that the Pitiagorskys wanted to attend but they also didnt want to miss a game apparently so they just " rescheduled" the game to suit them......to hell with Fischer and the contract ! Their attitude was : We are paying so he WILL play when we say ! Ofcourse noone believes Fischer would tolerate such crap and he didnt..... yet Fischer was always depicted as the villian in this whole episode when it wasnt him but the Piatagorskys who were at fault.
Fischer called Kasparov a dog and a criminal and stuff like that all the time, but he was just not sane. If what he said should be taken seriously he would end up quite high on the list.
Kasparov didn't get visibly upset about losing to Radjabov in itself, but he did get very upset about the fact that Radjabov was given the brilliancy prize for the win. Kasparov meant that he just had blundered in a winning position and that there was nothing brilliant with the game compared to some other games in the tournament. He was probably right but also very upset and the whole thing was just ridiculous.
why was he not sane?? i would call that statement verry sane.. i would call kasparov the same, even so he is so he has enough money to pay someone to beat me up but still....