Checkmate for grandmaster - Bobby Fischer

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/26/1069825840067.html

Bobby Fischer's attacks on the United States have made him a pariah. Shane Green tries to find the man, regarded by many as the world's best chess player, to see why he turned himself into a pawn.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Where are they now?

OK - a Bobby Fischer update -- thank you for posting. Off to go read it.

What a nut.

[dfong63]

2. fischer wasn't all wrong

normally i don't defend Fischer, but in this case i will. Fischer was over the top in saying it was "wonderful news" and wishing for the destruction of the US. but face it, he just said what a lot of the world thinks, but are afraid to say. or if they say it, it won't be reported. imho it's true that the 9/11 attack was nothing more or less than chickens coming home to roost. it may be unfashionable to say it in such forceful (and yes hateful) terms, but that doesn't change the fact that there's a lot more truth in Fischer's statement than in all the propaganda that our mass media churned out in the wake of 9/11.

``...
For most of the world, his message of hate largely went unheard. That was until September 11, 2001. Hours after the terrorist attacks in the US, an excited Fischer went on Radio Bombo in Baguio City in the Philippines.

"This is all wonderful news," said Fischer. "It's time to get their f---ing heads kicked in. It's time to finish off the US once and for all.

"I applaud the act. The US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years ... Nobody gave a shit. Now it's coming back to the US. F--- the US. I want to see the US wiped out."

News of the interview was picked up across the world and inevitably, the backlash came. In February last year, the US Chess Federation cancelled his membership because of his "deplorable public remarks".
...''

[mmm]

3. There is some truth to what Fischer says

I have always liked him. It is a major black mark
against this country that the man who defined chess
in America was banished... for playing chess.
He did not sell top secrets to the Israeli government.
He played chess.
He is the finest chess player this country has ever seen.

[The Sushi Bandit]

4. Agreed!

[slaveplanet]

9. I love how the Flag

is upsidedown in the logo....think they're trying to tell us something?.....check out the HSweathernet logo

[lotteandollie]

5. I Used To Admire Bobby

I'm very sorry to hear this. I didn't realize what had become of him. I remember well how he destroyed the Soviets (not just Spassky) in Iceland, he was brilliant. I would agree with some that he was the greatest chessplayer ever. Like many geniuses, they can be eccentric, but those comments from him are beneath contempt. It's sad, he was a hero to me when I was young.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi lotteandollie!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[0007]

7. What a necktie, 'eh?

[The Zanti Regent]

8. Bobby, did you eat too much LSD?

Older he gets, the WEIRDER he becomes...

[Bill of Rights]

10. "Old chess is rotten to the core"

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed reading about Bobby's new chess game....randomly arranging the back row of pieces. He's right. The more talented player would win this type of game.

I never did like those chess openings.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. What is it about chess?

Alekhine, Nimzovich, Rubinstein, Steinitz and Morphy were all nutty chess geniuses.

Fischer tops them all.

[Ardee]

12. Oh the perils of free speech

What a burden it is to support free speech and then realise that all you support is the speech of those with whom you agree.

I am a chess player, although a comparison with Bobby Fischer is ludicrous. I will judge Mr. Fischer on his merits as a chess player,which are beyond sublime, and allow him his political opinion.

[Pax Argent]

13. He might have some justification for how he feels about America.

I cut this out of an article in the ContraCostaTimes:

<snip>

Last month, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that FBI files reveal that during the Cold War, U.S. intelligence agencies suspected Pustan (Bobby's Mother) was a Soviet spy and that Moscow might have tried to recruit young Bobby. The government concluded that neither was involved in espionage.

also...

<snip>

From its investigations, the FBI, according to the Inquirer, concluded Pustan was paranoid but not involved in espionage. The files show that perhaps she had reason to feel paranoid: Agents hounded Pustan, read her mail, quizzed her neighbors and studied her cancelled checks.

Here is the link (I hope):
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/4692424.htm

While I was previously unaware of what was said, and from what I heard it was absolutely over the top and incorrect, I would suggest that Mr. Fischer might have some cause to feel hostility towards America.

Also its ironic that this article mentions his personal effects that were removed/taken some years ago. I saw all of that stuff at a swap meet in Huntington Beach. There were many chess sets, books on chess in English and Russian, several chess-playing machines, boxes of contracts and correspondence, and a lot of political theory books. While not really being able to play that well myself, I have been a fan of Fischer's for years. I was in awe, although the political literature left me a little cold.

The thing I remember the best was a chess set with a little plaque that said that it was from Yoko Ono. All the pieces were white, and all of the black squares were painted white. If I had any money at the time I would have bought it, but oh well.

The majority had been bought up before I even got there so I can only imagine what was in those boxes......

[diamondsoul]

14. The US Government ruined his life.

Of course he's angry, and it shows.

Personally it's more heartbreaking and a thousand times more reason to worry about what's happening now. When a brilliant creative strategist like Fischer despises us, folks we are in serious trouble because he's not alone out there.

[diamondsoul]

15. kick n/t