God rest his soul. I thought the child of a Jewish mother was also considered Jewish? Without knowing the man nor having a degree in psychology I can only speculate on the possible origin of the anti-semitic comments attributed to him.
Still I remember the summer of ’72 and the hoopla surrounding his championship match and ultimate victory. What an odd trajectory after that.
I hadn’t paid much attention to Fischer after his win over Spassky. He sounds like one of many brilliant but tormented souls. I pray that he came to know Jesus before his death.
I think it was G. K. Chesterton who believed that an excess of rationality – cold, hard, relentless logic – in the brain could cause madness. This seems to have been the case with Mr Fischer, alas. How else to explain his bizarre behaviour in the latter part of his life?
Perhaps (but not necessarily) it is a mistake to attribute to brilliance or eccentricity that which can be at least partly explained by the effects of fame and celebrity.
When I was in high school, I was seriously into chess and Bobby Fischer was my hero. His book, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, basically taught me the game. And replaying some of his games put you in the presence of an intellect that was so far above your own, it was scary. I’m very sorry his life turned out the way it did.
Fischer was difficult before he was famous. However, he was a genius and a troubled soul, and I agree with #6. One of my gifts one Christmas was a pull-through thingy with all the games of the Fischer-
Spassky match (which I still have). Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is great and I have passed my copy onto my son.
Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games is also a classic. A bit of shameless self-promotion: I’ve got more on Fischer (with whom I am seemingly forever linked because of the similarity of our names–I wish I had a nickel for every time a chessplayer asked me if I was related to him) here.
Fischer’s ramblings may possibly be chalked up to his monomaniacal focus on chess. [i]Searching for Bobby Fischer[/i] explored that aspect of the game: that you lose something essentially human when you focus too exclusively on one pursuit. The boy hero of that film was as little like Fischer as it is possible to be (except for his chess talent), while the boy villain was scarily like Fischer.
I, too, remember Fischer v. Spassky. It was US v. USSR. Amid the Cold War it was a nationalistic circus. If I knew then what I learned later about Mr. Fischer, I would have been rooting for Boris Spassky.
God rest his soul. I thought the child of a Jewish mother was also considered Jewish? Without knowing the man nor having a degree in psychology I can only speculate on the possible origin of the anti-semitic comments attributed to him.
Still I remember the summer of ’72 and the hoopla surrounding his championship match and ultimate victory. What an odd trajectory after that.
I hadn’t paid much attention to Fischer after his win over Spassky. He sounds like one of many brilliant but tormented souls. I pray that he came to know Jesus before his death.
Hmmm… Elves, Mr. Fischer may have been put on ice, but the headline over his obit should really spell his name correctly.
[]i Fixed. Thanks for the head’s up. [/i]
I think it was G. K. Chesterton who believed that an excess of rationality – cold, hard, relentless logic – in the brain could cause madness. This seems to have been the case with Mr Fischer, alas. How else to explain his bizarre behaviour in the latter part of his life?
Perhaps (but not necessarily) it is a mistake to attribute to brilliance or eccentricity that which can be at least partly explained by the effects of fame and celebrity.
When I was in high school, I was seriously into chess and Bobby Fischer was my hero. His book, Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, basically taught me the game. And replaying some of his games put you in the presence of an intellect that was so far above your own, it was scary. I’m very sorry his life turned out the way it did.
Fischer was difficult before he was famous. However, he was a genius and a troubled soul, and I agree with #6. One of my gifts one Christmas was a pull-through thingy with all the games of the Fischer-
Spassky match (which I still have). Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess is great and I have passed my copy onto my son.
Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games is also a classic. A bit of shameless self-promotion: I’ve got more on Fischer (with whom I am seemingly forever linked because of the similarity of our names–I wish I had a nickel for every time a chessplayer asked me if I was related to him) here.
Fischer’s ramblings may possibly be chalked up to his monomaniacal focus on chess. [i]Searching for Bobby Fischer[/i] explored that aspect of the game: that you lose something essentially human when you focus too exclusively on one pursuit. The boy hero of that film was as little like Fischer as it is possible to be (except for his chess talent), while the boy villain was scarily like Fischer.
I, too, remember Fischer v. Spassky. It was US v. USSR. Amid the Cold War it was a nationalistic circus. If I knew then what I learned later about Mr. Fischer, I would have been rooting for Boris Spassky.
Still, RIP, if that is possible.