Bobby FIsher is dead

[creekster]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/...uBWKI8n_IDW7oF


He was a brilliant and enigmatic guy who seemed to descend into a type of madness as he got older. TO those of us old enough to who remember, his victory in the world championship of chess was something not to be forgotten.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by creekster

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/...uBWKI8n_IDW7oF


He was a brilliant and enigmatic guy who seemed to descend into a type of madness as he got older. TO those of us old enough to who remember, his victory in the world championship of chess was something not to be forgotten.

This saddens me. I remember the Boris Spasky jokes which followed after he lost to Fischer.

[TripletDaddy]

I was not old enough to remember, but my dad was. One of the few memories of my dad as a kid was him telling me about the Spassky match.

It made me want to learn chess.

To this day, I love chess, even though I suck at it.

You could say that I have a UteStar approach to chess because I love to bring my Queen out early.

[YOhio]

How soon before Jeremy Schaap does a feature piece on Fisher?

[creekster]

Fischer was a Hero for beating the stinkin' Russians at their own stinkin' game. He was weird and eccentric and in the world of chess he seemed like a cowboy free spirit against the automaton Russian machine. His matches with Spasky (sp?) were riveting and were on the front page of the paper everyday. This was in the heart of the cold war and we were tired of watching the superpowers' client states battle it out so we projected the battle onto these chess freaks. Later, as Fischer descended into his own strange world (born of a jew he became an anti-semite; no little trick that) those of us of a certain age pretended not to notice too much, as our memories of his victory still seemed so fresh and sweet.

I really think that it is hard to overplay the effect of the cold war on our cutlure and our collective psyche in the 60s and 70s.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by creekster

Fischer was a Hero for beating the stinkin' Russians at their own stinkin' game. He was weird and eccentric and in the world of chess he seemed like a cowboy free spirit against the automaton Russian machine. His matches with Spasky (sp?) were riveting and were on the front page of the paper everyday. This was in the heart of the cold war and we were tired of watching the superpowers' client states battle it out so we projected the battle onto these chess freaks. Later, as Fischer descended into his own strange world (born of a jew he became an anti-semite; no little trick that) those of us of a certain age pretended not to notice too much, as our memories of his victory still seemed so fresh and sweet.

I really think that it is hard to overplay the effect of the cold war on our cutlure and our collective psyche in the 60s and 70s.

I agree. After 1992, he became a freak.

However, it was amazing to see the nightly news and the papers following every single game. After he lost the first two games, I thought it might be over, but he came back after Spassky agreed to play in the back room.

[UtahDan]

Searching for Bobby Fischer, on a tangentially related note, is a movie that is well worth renting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108065/

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by UtahDan

Searching for Bobby Fischer, on a tangentially related note, is a movie that is well worth renting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108065/

It is a good movie.

[il Padrino Ute]

The Grim Reaper with another checkmate, eh?

My only memory of Fischer is the same as others here have mentioned - that he defeated the evil Russkie in some pretty tense times during the Cold War.

USA! USA! USA!

[bluegoose]

Is it possible to plan your own death from kidney failure? I wouldn't put it past him.

Says noted French chess expert Olivier Tridon:

"Bobby Fischer has died at age 64. Like the 64 squares of a chess board."