Was Bobby Fischer the greatest chess player in history?

Bobby Fischer was the only American to ever win the World Chess Championship. Bobby Fischer’s problem, from the perspective of the chess world, is that he refused to play the game. Chess fans wanted nothing more than for Fischer to play the world’s other top chess players and demonstrate how great he was, but Fischer refused. Fischer became a major weirdo who lived a life of seclusion and apparent poverty, and he refused to talk to anyone except a few close sycophants. Chess fans would have forgiven him any of his oddities, no matter how extreme they were (including his anti-Semitism), if only he would come out of retirement and play chess.

Thus the quote from the 1992 Ron Paul newsletter (see my previous blog post) in which Ron Paul (or his ghostwriter) claims that Bobby Fischer is not heralded “as the world's greatest chess player” because he is “very politically incorrect on Jewish questions” is simply false. Fischer was certainly not the greatest current chess player in 1992, when he was 49 years old. “Fischer won the [1992 match against Boris Spassky], 10 wins to 5, with 15 draws. Many grandmasters observing the match said that Fischer was past his prime. In the book Mortal Games, Garry Kasparov is quoted: ‘He is playing OK. Around 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us.’” (Wikipedia.) While people may have fun pondering whether Fischer might have been the greatest chess player in the history of chess based on his skills when he was younger, Fischer never gave us the opportunity to know the answer to that question because of his early retirement.

So why is the Ron Paul newsletter talking about Fischer’s “Jewish” problem? The only explanation is that the author of that newsletter is one of the types who sees Jewish conspiracies everywhere. Bobby Fischer is denied his rightful place as the world’s greatest chess player not because he is a weirdo who refused to play the game, no, it’s because there’s a Jewish conspiracy.

Comments

[Turambar]

First off, the weirdo is whoever wrote that Ron Paul newsletter. "Fischer began to lay waste to Spasky and the press attention disappeared". What the hell are they talking about? I wasnt around then but I have read books on the match and that isnt at all what happened.

Secondly you probably have to consider a chess player in his era. The advent of a professional system where people dont have a day job and play as a sideline as has greatly improved things. Alekhine and Nimzowitsch didnt have access to the a library of games like later players did. Or even modern medical support- there are a number of player, my favorite Colle, who were weak and sickly and who would have undoubtedly have stronger careers if there health had been better.

Comparing Fischer with Kasparov tacitly gives a number of advantages to Kasparov. He was in the world finest chess grooming system, he had a indexed database of practical every important game played, and he had the ability to run his study games through computers to evaluate his opening variations he was preparing.

In Byrne/Fischer Bobby is a 13 year old who on move 11 sees ahead to the queen sacrifice on 17 and further sees at least another 4 moves beyond that that black will end up better. Unreal. Who even has such confidence in his positional play that he contemplates a queen sac?

And this is a 13yo, who haddnt prepped this opening or had computers play it out for him.

At the end of the day, and yesterday was his, Fischer was a genius who wasnt afraid to always attack. Maybe this lead him to eventually attack enemies who werent there, but he wasnt content to trade draws and play just his pet lines. 6-0 against Larsen and Taimanov and he routed Petrosian too.

Fischer was a rare genius and doesn't deserved to be mention with Ron Paul. You are looking for sense where there is none- the newsletter doesn't even have the facts right.

[hugh go naught]

Turambar,

Don't worry, there'll be more posts like this when Ron Paul beats Giuliani in yet another primary.

[the professor]

Turambar,

listen to Fischer speak. There are some interviews with him on the web. Fisher is a nut job. He's unstable not only in his personal development (he can barely speak), but also mentally. Fisher played chess all day long. He dropped out of high school to play chess non-stop. He didn't do anything else. He's a hyper-geek, ie, somebody who works only on 1 thing all the time.

In the end, Fischer was a loser. Let me prove it this way. If you were a woman, would you marry Bobby Fisher, the greatest chess player of all times?

[Turambar]

Now we get back to the one of the main points of the blog!

Of course there are women who are interested in marrying for their mate's status. And in his area could Fischer have any more status? Miyoko Watai either was married to him or was engaged to be married.

How else are Stephen Hawking or Dennis Kucinich getting married?