worst sportsmanship and ego players - Chess Forums - Page 5

Arctor

Jul 24, 2011

0

#81

"I remember Reshevsky telling me how, during the Interzonal tournament in Mallorca, with burning eyes Fischer informed him that he was reading a 'very interesting book'. 'What is it? Sammy asked innocently. 'Mein Kampf!' Bobby replied" - Kasparov'

rjavier

Jul 24, 2011

0

#82

jesterville wrote:

...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?

Again, I stated that Fischer was a gentleman over the board, and I was quoting Tal. And as far as your 2nd point, the Match was delayed for Reshevsky but not for Fischer, which was why he complained. Actually, I think it's kind of great that he refused to play. Surely it adds more to the aura of his character - Holden, Antoine, Tom - I find it all rather romantic.

fabelhaft

Jul 24, 2011

0

#83

brilliantboy wrote:

"I remember Reshevsky telling me how, during the Interzonal tournament in Mallorca, with burning eyes Fischer informed him that he was reading a 'very interesting book'. 'What is it? Sammy asked innocently. 'Mein Kampf!' Bobby replied" - Kasparov'

Donner has written about how Fischer idolized Hitler in the early 1960s, so even if he totally lost it in the 1990s ("it's time to start randomly killing Jews", etc) he always had a tendency to be, how one might put it, "eccentric" with regards to his political views. Donner said that Fischer read everything by Hitler that he could find, and that's surprising considering that he otherwise preferred cartoons. I once started reading "Mein Kampf" out of curiosity and found it both extremely dull and badly written, and didn't manage to get through it. Not just because the ideas were repugnant, it's just a bad book also without them and it's said that no book has been so wide-spread (10 million copies in Germany) but little read.

rjavier

Jul 24, 2011

0

#84

Reb wrote:

jesterville wrote:

...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

This reply is correct on all accounts, and I too have heard nothing about the envelope being torn and tossed on to the floor before he checked the amount - and again, that isn't over the chessboard.

rjavier

Jul 24, 2011

0

#85

jesterville wrote:

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...

But Spassky was showing up late to those games in 1972, too! It was something going on between the two of them, and being a few minutes late to something doesn't make him a bad sportsman, it just makes him less punctual than one should when partaking in such an event.