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Bobby’s Five-Hundred-Board Simul
From Bobby Fischer, Profile of a Prodigy by Frank Brady (1965/1973), Chapter 8:
With some idea of getting him into an event worthy of his immense talent, I proposed that he give the most ambitious simultaneous exhibition of all time. The record he would be attempting to break was that set by Swedish Grandmaster Gideon Stahlberg at Buenos Aires in 1941, when the Swede played four hundred opponents for three hundred and sixty-four wins, fourteen draws, and twenty-two losses. I suggested that Bobby try to go beyond this in number of games played and won. Fischer accepted the challenge at once and proposed to give himself the additional handicap of playing half the games with the black pieces rather than having a monopoly of white (as is the custom in most simultaneous exhibitions, including Stahlberg’s). The Buenos Aires feat had taken thirty-six hours; Bobby figured that it would take him “five or six hours to complete 75 percent of all the games and a few more hours to knock of those that remain.” He was supremely confident, and we were both increasingly excited about the project.
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I have seen today, offered by a chess bookseller, this item:
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SIMULTANEOUS CHESS EXHIBITION IN AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE WORLD'S RECORD This large card with Fischer's photo for this event on November 27, 1963 at 7:30 PM in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Astor in New York City with a Playing Fee of $3 per player was eclipsed by a world Event of Monstrous Proportions which changed World History — the assassination of the President of the United States. Fischer was going to try to take on over 400 players. Slight tear without loss of text. Somehow later this event never materialized.
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Frank Brady continues:
The terrible news from Dallas on November 22, of course caused us to postpone the exhibition. Almost exactly a month later, a fire ruined the Astor’s Grand Ballroom. There were other possible sites in New York that could hold the crowd we hoped for, but they were prohibitively expensive. Bobby agreed to postpone the event indefinitely. Contrary to rumors noised about, nobody developed cold feet. Those who can imagine Bobby backing out of such a challenge simply don’t know Fischer.
From Bobby Fischer, Profile of a Prodigy by Frank Brady (1965/1973), Chapter 8:
With some idea of getting him into an event worthy of his immense talent, I proposed that he give the most ambitious simultaneous exhibition of all time. The record he would be attempting to break was that set by Swedish Grandmaster Gideon Stahlberg at Buenos Aires in 1941, when the Swede played four hundred opponents for three hundred and sixty-four wins, fourteen draws, and twenty-two losses. I suggested that Bobby try to go beyond this in number of games played and won. Fischer accepted the challenge at once and proposed to give himself the additional handicap of playing half the games with the black pieces rather than having a monopoly of white (as is the custom in most simultaneous exhibitions, including Stahlberg’s). The Buenos Aires feat had taken thirty-six hours; Bobby figured that it would take him “five or six hours to complete 75 percent of all the games and a few more hours to knock of those that remain.” He was supremely confident, and we were both increasingly excited about the project.
++++++++
I have seen today, offered by a chess bookseller, this item:
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SIMULTANEOUS CHESS EXHIBITION IN AN ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE WORLD'S RECORD This large card with Fischer's photo for this event on November 27, 1963 at 7:30 PM in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Astor in New York City with a Playing Fee of $3 per player was eclipsed by a world Event of Monstrous Proportions which changed World History — the assassination of the President of the United States. Fischer was going to try to take on over 400 players. Slight tear without loss of text. Somehow later this event never materialized.
+++++++++
Frank Brady continues:
The terrible news from Dallas on November 22, of course caused us to postpone the exhibition. Almost exactly a month later, a fire ruined the Astor’s Grand Ballroom. There were other possible sites in New York that could hold the crowd we hoped for, but they were prohibitively expensive. Bobby agreed to postpone the event indefinitely. Contrary to rumors noised about, nobody developed cold feet. Those who can imagine Bobby backing out of such a challenge simply don’t know Fischer.