whatever he was..he was definitely unique..one of a kind..and beating spassky at the time was a big deal..i know i took pride in it..and seaching for bobby fischer was a great movie..everyone should watch it..may he rest in piece
Posted by dennis at January 18, 2008 11:11 AMCheckmate!
Posted by snark at January 18, 2008 11:14 AMA second from me. What a misunderstood individual he was, but, place a chessboard with red and white pieces on it. What a game you'd get, just phenominal in crafting his game. And another loss would most likely befall you. I followed the 1972 games daily. I followed the tourney leading up to the Iceland tourney. What he did to Petrosian was just awesome, unbelievable. Petrosian was a broken man afterwards, as Spassky was soon to learn too. He crushed his opponents. He was just on another level than everybody else. Would have been nice to see how long he could have maintained his championship. Letting Karpov have it unchallenged was so sad for American chess, for the world.
Rest in peace you troubled soul, rest in peace.
Posted by peter at January 18, 2008 11:18 AMMay the Goddess guide him on his journey to the Summerlands. May his family and friends find Peace.
Blessed Be.
His march over Taimanov, Larsen -- the top-rated player in the world just the year before -- and Petrosian on his way to the match with Spassky is just unbelievable -- 20 straight wins, no draws. I shudder to think what his ELO was over that period.
There is no Barry Bonds or Pete Rose chasing that record.
Posted by Davis X. Machina at January 18, 2008 12:26 PMIs it possible that when he decided to play the matches he wanted to play, where ever he wanted to play them (wow, kind of sounds like something a free American citizen may have expected were within his rights), that when the government made him a criminal for that, he may have just lost it, and gone downhill from there?
I know he did some unacceptable things later in life, but I always wanted to believe he may have turned out different if our government had not made it into a big political deal, and given him a bit of a break. Sometimes our genius types are fragile, and our government should be FOR American citizens.
At any rate, I was proud of him, and of America as I watched him. May he rest in peace.
Posted by ozbill13 at January 19, 2008 04:13 AMpeter (above) talked about the Spassky match, and how great Fischer was in that.
It was before the Internet, of course, so we had to follow the matches any way we could get the story. The level of play between the two was so excellent. I not only followed them every day in the paper, but then read a book or two on it. The play was simply great.
When Korchnoi played Karpov the play was such a bore. The level of play was far inferior, IMHO, with no genius at all. Spassky, had he played at the level he did against Fischer, would have smoked both of them - and yet Spassky against Fischer had a 2-0 lead (one of which was a forfeit), yet got trounced 12.5-6.5.
Yeah, Fischer was THAT good...
And if anyone is listening, his book Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess was a great book, even for those who knew how to play. It used what used to be called 'programmed learning', and taught so much better than other chess books. His principle that there was no 'end game' as taught in other books, but that ANY time can be the end game, if you know what to look for (which he proceeded to teach), elevated my own play immensely.
He was considered a spoiled brat by so many, but compared to more recent sports 'heroes', maybe he was just a man ahead of his time.
With all his flaws, I loved the guy. I hope he can de-stress a bit in the other side - and then reincarnate and come back and kick some more butt...
Posted by SteveGinIL at January 19, 2008 06:04 AMTypo Correction: The score was 12.5-8.5, not 12.5-6.5
My bad
Posted by SteveGinIL at January 19, 2008 06:06 AM