Bobby Fischer Dies at 64

[Guard Dog]

World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer Dies

Jan 18, 7:07 AM (ET)

By GUDJON HELGASON

 

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) - Bobby Fischer, the reclusive American chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, has died. He was 64.

 

Fischer died Thursday in a Reykjavik hospital, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

 

Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, Robert James Fischer was a U.S. chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15. He beat Spassky in a series of games in Reykjavik to claim America's first world chess championship in more than a century.

 

The event was given tremendous symbolic importance, pitting the intensely individualistic young American against a product of the grim and soulless Soviet Union.

 

It also was marked by Fischer's odd behavior - possibly calculated psychological warfare against Spassky - that ranged from arriving two days late to complaining about the lighting, TV cameras, the spectators, even the shine on the table.

 

Spassky said in a brief phone call from France, where he lives, that he was "very sorry" to hear of Fischer's death.

 

Fischer's reputation as a genius of chess soon was eclipsed by his idiosyncrasies.

 

Fischer was world champion until 1975, when he forfeited the title and withdrew from competition because conditions he demanded proved unacceptable to the International Chess Federation.

 

After that, he lived in secret outside the United States. He emerged in 1992 to confront Spassky again, in a highly publicized match in Yugoslavia. Fischer beat Spassky 10-5 to win $3.35 million.

 

The U.S. government said Fischer's playing the match violated U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia, imposed for Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic's role in fomenting war in the Balkans.

 

Former Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov said Fischer's ascent of the chess world in the 1960s was "a revolutionary breakthrough" for the game.

 

"The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Kasparov told The Associated Press.

 

Over the years, Fischer gave occasional interviews with a radio station in the Philippines, often digressing into anti-Semitic rants and accusing American officials of hounding him.

 

He praised the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be "wiped out," and described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." His mother was Jewish.

 

He also announced he had abandoned chess in 1996 and launched a new version in Argentina, "Fischerandom," a computerized shuffler that randomly distributes chess pieces on the back row of the board at the start of each game.

 

Fischer claimed it would bring the fun back into the game and rid it of cheats.

 

He renounced his American citizenship and moved in 2005 to Iceland, accepting an offer of citizenship from the country still grateful for its role as the site of his most famous match.

 

Fischer had been detained for nine months detention in Japan for trying to leave the country using an invalid U.S. passport. Japan agreed to release him after he accepted Iceland's offer of citizenship.

 

Fischer told reporters that year that he was finished with a chess world he regarded as corrupt, and sparred with U.S. journalists who asked about his anti-American tirades.

 

"The United States is evil. There's this axis of evil. What about the allies of evil - the United States, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers," Fischer said.

 

 

Link: Link

 

 

You know, based on that last sentence I could swear he posted on this board.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Chess genius and freakin' nut.

 

He either fell in with a skin head group or he REALLY hated his jewish parents. After looking up more of his 'views' I can't say I'm all that mournful of his passing.

[Guard Dog]

Can't say i disagree with you GDM. It's not nice to speak ill of the dead but there are some folks we are probably better off without them around. This was one of them.

[GreasyDogMeat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbtWuwQX8Is (CONTAINS HARSH LANGUAGE) A Bobby Fischer rant after 9-11. Wow... Osama bin Laden probably likes jews & the United States more than he did. Remember, this man IS jewish... both his parents were jewish. Did they beat him horribly or something? I actually think this may be part of the reason, as one of the things he levels at the jewish people is that they 'mutilate their children'.

 

A more interesting & professional look at his state. Edited January 18, 2008 by GreasyDogMeat

[Pop]

The Jews, who have total control of the renal system, finally cut him off.

[Gorgon]

He never could deal with his fame very well, a bit of an idiot savant throughout his life, IQ through the roof and running from the tax man. Still, a remarkable cold war personality.

 

A relic from a time where being smart made you more famous than being pretty. As for the racism, it's hard to tell how much of that was really his personality disorder talking. He married a Japanese woman, and as stated was Jewish himself.

Edited January 19, 2008 by Gorgon

[Gorgon]

By the way, did anyone ponder how there are also 64 squares on a chess board.

 

Probably not the first to figure that out.

[Dark_Raven]

May he rot.

[Sand]

May he rot.

 

That goes without saying, Dark Raven. I mean, he's dead. Unless they put him in a freezer or use some pretty strong preservatives he will indeed rot and decay. On a more serious note, everyone has their opinions about world events and some like to spout it out regardless if people want to hear it or not, or even agree. I may not like or agree with Bobby Fischer's views but I respect him and his undeniable skill in chess.

[Hurlshort]

I don't know why anyone would want him to rot, the guy was clearly mentally unstable. I have more pity for him than anything else. His anti-semiticism was just a by-product of a mind that worked much differently than the averge person. I'm not saying it's right, but I'm just surprised anyone would take it seriously.

[thepixiesrock]

I don't know, she's all gothy and stuff, maybe hoping someone will rot is meant in some sort of endearing way in backwards goth culture.

[Krookie]

Yeah, just like when they torture each other in the bedroom.

 

They do it in a loving way.

[Humodour]

Hahaha.

 

So he hated Australia too? Do our 200,000 or so Jews run the country, perhaps?

[Nick_i_am]

At least he didn't think that Lizard Aliens are slowly wiping out humanity from the inside.

[Humodour]

If America is so concerned about terrorists and cults, why hasn't somebody done something about Scientology yet?

[Meshugger]

Strange fella indeed. He will be missed for his skills in chess (ignore the politics, people with absurdly high IQ tend to be a little bit excentric).

 

Imagine, the guy who mastered a board of 64 squares, died at the age of 64.

[Guest The Architect]

I've never played a game of chess before. Probably never will either.

 

I don't think anybody should really be happy that he died, because he was harmless. Sure, personality disorder {is there even such a thing?} aside, anyone who's anti-Semitic is an ****, but he never killed anybody or anything like that.

[GreasyDogMeat]

I'm rather disapointed so many are willing to dismiss/ignore his extreme racism and hatred because he happened to be (really) good at chess. This dismission in a way boils down to power = ok to do or say what you want. I also wouldn't call his views harmless. Many people would be willing to look at this and say 'hey, this guy had a high IQ and was a master chess player... maybe some of his other views hold water...'.

 

I respect his skill at chess, and I enjoy watching some of the old documentaries and vids of him playing in tournaments... but I can't respect him as a person. How do you think the people who suffered from 9-11 felt after hearing him on the radio or jewish people felt when he insulted them face to face? No, I don't think he deserves respect for that, despite any former accomplishment.

[samm]

A Bobby Fischer rant after 9-11. Wow... Osama bin Laden probably likes jews & the United States more than he did. Remember, this man IS jewish... both his parents were jewish. Did they beat him horribly or something? I actually think this may be part of the reason, as one of the things he levels at the jewish people is that they 'mutilate their children'.

being jewish doesn't mean you can't be anti semitic. there even were jewish germans who supported the ns, after all. also, no religion can prevent a**holes from sh***ing

[Gorgon]

There was even a Grand Dragon who was jewish.

[Gorgon]

I don't respect Fisher for his views, I think he's a rather trajic figure who's fames and personality disorder overshadowed his life.

[Guest The Architect]

GDM, I'm not willing to dismiss his racist views because he had a high IQ and was a great chess player. If anything, that in addition to his personality disorder makes me think he was a nutjob not worth listening to, and this thread alone tells me I'm not alone in that view.

 

He couldn't have caused any real harm to the Jews, only verbally. I'd assume Jewish family members and friends of their fellow Jewish 9-11 victims would know that there are ****heads out there who praised, not condemned the attacks, and if they ever heard any callous, insensitive bull**** from them, just to ignore that person and not fuel their hatred even more.

 

I'd hate it too if a family member or friend of mine was a victim of a terrorist attack and some prick praised that attack, but I wouldn't be happy because an idiot died an idiot. It would've been much better if someone or something was able to convince that ****wit why his views was a load of ****, but given his personality disorder, that always going to be unlikely.

[julianw]

I liked this guy ever since I read his ending comment on one of his strats playing white:" Of course Black can play differently and lose in a different way."

 

Rest in peace. Guy who is considered a jackass by most.

[Fenghuang]

To be fair, the people who are hating on Fischer the worst in this thread, are also clearly mentally unstable, and at least as horribly racist as Fischer was, they just aim their racism at Arabs instead of Jews.

 

Also they'll never be geniuses.

[samm]

Huh? You can judge that from from postings made on a forum?