My Chess hero - Bobby Fischer

I’ll take a break from writing the story of my chess life today and write a bit about my chess hero as I was growing up. Earlier I mentioned that I found David Levy’s book, “How Bobby Fischer Plays Chess “in my local library and read it many times.

I became fascinated (obsessed?) by Fischer. To be fair, my chess reading in terms of chess player’s and their abilities was quite limited at this stage in my life. This book was the first of its kind that I had read. And Fischer was the hero, the best player, ahead of all his peers, beatable, but rarely beaten.

As a child reading about him, I saw none of his flaws, only his genius. Even when he made absurd demands on organisers for example, I saw this as a great player sticking up for himself, but to be honest I didn’t really give things like that much thought. I concentrated on his chess, how he singlehandedly took on the Soviets (Russians) and won, how brilliantly he could play.

I also noticed how, a few times in his career, he took a hiatus – when he was a young child, after Curacao in 1962 and in the late 60’s as well. And every time he emerged as a stronger player.
I used to reassure myself that I could do that too. That I could have a break of maybe 6 month or a year, not play any competitive chess, practice like mad and then reappear 200 ELO higher. Dreams are made of such things!

However, as I came to learn, study without practice isn’t much good at all.

Back to Bobby, like many others I was enthralled by his ‘Game of the Century’ at the age of 13. Most of you will have seen it. Byrne - Fischer. New York. 1956.

Soi, I loved Bobby Fischer, for his brilliance, for his talent, but above all for his mindset – he was incredibly focussed. He worked incredibly hard at his chess, as talented as he was, if this talent had not nurtured and focused it would have led nowhere. He learned Russian in his teens so as tr be able to read Russian chess literature. He worked with few helpers, mostly along – vastly different to the Soviet grandmasters who were able to assist each other greatly with their chess preparation and development.

Sadly, Fischer was lost to the world of chess for 20 years, resurfacing in 1992 to play Spassky in a ‘Rematch’ of their world title match of 1972. H was as a shadow of his former self, his chess skills had waned, he as even more outspoken, more arrogant, with a twisted mind. Anti- Semitic, anti-USA, anti half the world it seemed.

He then spent years in the wilderness, not just of chess, but of life, and passed away on Reykjavik, in 2008, at the age of 64.

I mourn his loss to the chess world, not so much his loss to humanity. I wonder how our game would have changed had he played Karpov in 1972. Alas, we shall never know. The GOAT? Maybe...