Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

[Frank Dixon]

In 'TIME' magazine's Year in Review issue, GM Garry Kasparov pays a terrific tribute to the late GM Bobby Fischer, who died in January of this year.

I hope the mandarins of 'TIME' won't come after me for posting this here. It's on page 121, in case you want to buy your own copy as a keepsake memento.

"It was Bobby Fischer's attitude on and off the chess board that infused his play with unrivaled power. Before Fischer, no one was ready to fight to the death in every game. No one was willing to work around the clock to push chess to a new level. But Fischer was, and he became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress. By World War II, the once strong U.S. chess tradition had largely failed. So for an American player to reach world-championship level in the 1950s required an obsessive degree of personal dedication. Fischer's triumph over the Soviet chess machine, culminating in his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, demanded even more. He declined to defend his title in 1975, and by forfeit, it passed back into the embrace of the Soviets. According to all accounts, Fischer had descended into isolation and anger. Much has been written about his subsequent disappearance and apparent mental instability. Some are quick to put the blame on chess itself, which would be a foolish blunder. Pushing too hard in any endeavor brings great risks."

:) :) :)

I've written it before, and I'm writing it again: In my opinion, Fischer's ascent to the World Championship with his otherworldly surge from 1970 to 1972 is the greatest achievement in the history of competitive sports.

Rest In Peace, Bobby. Your feats will live forever.

[Aris Marghetis]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

Frank, thank you for the post.

At the risk of starting a flame war on Christmas Eve (LOL) however, I find it demeaning to chess when it is referred to as a sport! IMHO, very few activities even approach the glory of chess (HALLELUJAH). Examples could be go, bridge, some forms of poker, etc. But back to my main point, I genuinely resent chess being grouped in with regular sports.

Just my 2c worth. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may Caissa be by your side.

[Jean Hébert]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

But back to my main point, I genuinely resent chess being grouped in with regular sports.

I completely agree with you Aris. Chess is in a class by itself and should remain so.

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

I also agree. To compare something as deep and multi-faceted as chess to crap like hockey is an insult to chess.

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

I'm so sick of hearing about fischer. I just people would get over him and move on.

[Alex Toolsie]

Kasparov's Tribute to Fischer

I'm so sick of hearing about fischer. I just people would get over him and move on.

How do you get over the death of the greatest chess player who ever lived?

While I do think the question of whether or not chess is a sport is probably best left for a thread of its own, I will acknowledge that Gary's tribute to Fischer was quite well written.

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Kasparov's Tribute to Fischer

How do you get over the death of the greatest chess player who ever lived?

While I do think the question of whether or not chess is a sport is probably best left for a thread of its own, I will acknowledge that Gary's tribute to Fischer was quite well written.

greatest?? thats purely subjective. Greatest racist maybe. Kasparov was 10x the player fischer was and had class. Karpov would have wiped the floor with him. Let alone Kramnik or Anand. Im just sick of people constantly bringing him up over and over. Lets talk about the stars of today... Anand is an impressive player and rising star M.Carlsen is amazing. Want to give tribute to old champions? how about Alekhine man that guy was great, undefeated to the end. Lasker was a machine who held his title longer than any other! sorry, Im just sick and tired of hearing about the 'great' bobby fischer.

[Nic Haynes]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

I also agree. To compare something as deep and multi-faceted as chess to crap like hockey is an insult to chess.

*hopes Tom is being sarcastic*

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_m..._international

I know, it is in french. But look at the bottom. You can see a list of the younger GMs ever.

Bobby Fischer is there, but if you look at the year he became GM, you can see than it was 50 years earlier than for the others..


Bobby Fischer have been one of the greatests chess player. He was the first one to reach the 2700 rating.

Saying that he has been one of the best player ever is not subjective. Calling him ''the best racist ever'' is (even if I think you are right).

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

Canadian paper and online Time versions give a different farewell:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/20...866374,00.html

The paper version has an advertisement of UMBRA (the same store where the fund-rising Olympic tournament was held) with the picture of a fancy non-falling chess set :)

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

Outside North America, chess is generally recognized as a sport. It will eventually be recognized as one on this continent as well, but will evidently take some more time yet, due to cultural issues.

[Jason Lohner]

Re: Re : Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_m..._international

I know, it is in french. But look at the bottom. You can see a list of the younger GMs ever.

Bobby Fischer is there, but if you look at the year he became GM, you can see than it was 50 years earlier than for the others..


Bobby Fischer have been one of the greatests chess player. He was the first one to reach the 2700 rating.

Saying that he has been one of the best player ever is not subjective. Calling him ''the best racist ever'' is (even if I think you are right).

There have been Many great chess players over history. I am just sick of hearing about Just one of them. Ever since I've been involved in chess (albeit that hasn't been too many years) its pretty much all ive heard about. Probably because he was American that people here can feel they relate to him. My contention is that he was an A$$hole. Ignorant racist comments of his seem to be swept under the table. His behavior was an embarrassment to chess and has helped foster the image that chess players are unstable. Sure he was a great player, but NOBODY gets the attention that he continues to get... I contend that there were many players FAR better than he was and who also had amazing records that don't get 1/10th the attention. When you look at the list of youngest GM's how many of them get even remotely the amount of press that Fischer still gets?

[Alex Toolsie]

Re: Re : Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_m..._international

I know, it is in french. But look at the bottom. You can see a list of the younger GMs ever.

Bobby Fischer is there, but if you look at the year he became GM, you can see than it was 50 years earlier than for the others..


Bobby Fischer have been one of the greatests chess player. He was the first one to reach the 2700 rating.

Saying that he has been one of the best player ever is not subjective. Calling him ''the best racist ever'' is (even if I think you are right).

Good point. Fischer did it 33 years ahead of Polgar (who was a top 5-10 player for much of the 90's), and about 40 to 45 years ahead of everyone else on that list.

The thing to be mindful of, however, is that today its not particularly hard to find events where you can score a GM norm. In the 50's when Fischer did it, those events were few and far between. And when they did arrive, they tended to be dominated by Soviet Grandmasters (today's equivilent of Super GM's).

That makes Fischer's achievment all the more impressive.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: Re : Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

His behavior was an embarrassment to chess and has helped foster the image that chess players are unstable.

Chess players ARE unstable. :)

One thing should be mentioned about today's current greats if they are to be compared to the greats of yore, and that is that they have access to vast computing and database resources that were lacking for previous generations. In my opinion, all of today's top-tier GMs should be playing flawless chess, and this is because I believe classical chess for humans is "solved". What I mean by that is that for a full-time chess player who is at the very top tier of talent, and who accesses and uses all the available computer resources s/he can, there is no position they should ever encounter over the board that is of such foreign complexity that s/he cannot find either the very best move or a move that is so close to being the best move that making it will not change the outcome of the game. Thus I believe that every game between today's super GM's *SHOULD* end drawn.

However, as we know, this is not the case, and I believe there are 3 possible reasons for this:

(1) today's greats are not so great after all and despite having the advantage of vast computer resources, still make judgemental mistakes not caused by pressure or stress, or

(2) today's greats collectively suffer from psychological problems that cause them to break at some level of stress that can occur under GM tournament or match conditions, or

(3) today's greats either consciously or subconsciously decide at some point during their games to recognize chess as a solution looking for a problem (rather than vice-versa) and play what I've defined in previous threads on this board as "the most interesting move" rather than the best move. They may do this altruistically (to send the game into the most interesting direction), or they may do it believing their opponent might lose due to reason (1) or reason (2), but in any event they diverge from what they know is the best move.

If reason (1) is primarily to blame for most of today's super GM wins / losses, then none of today's greats compare favorably to their predecessors. If it's mostly reason (2), then classical chess is indeed solved as I've defined above and any top-level match or tournament is only a psychological test (sorry, not a sport). However, if it's mainly (as I hope and believe) reason (3), then chess is on the cusp of a revolution which will eventually result in rule changes, perhaps beginning with chess960 (or Fisher Random chess) as the new basis for determining the World Champion.

And btw, any discussion of how great Fisher was or was not should include a mention of Fisher Random chess, his invention. I'm not sure when he invented it, but it seems that he arguably (perhaps refutable by someone who knows more chess history than I) foresaw the solving of classical chess before anyone else?

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Kasparov's tribute to Bobby Fischer from 'TIME' magazine

I've written it before, and I'm writing it again: In my opinion, Fischer's ascent to the World Championship with his otherworldly surge from 1970 to 1972 is the greatest achievement in the history of competitive sports.

It's been mentioned many times, in many other contexts, that one of the most difficult accomplishments in sports is to repeat as a champion. With all due respect for Fischer's outstanding accomplishments, this was one task that he wasn't up to. OTOH, Kasparov was up to that. Others, in other sports, were as well. If Fischer's accomplishments included a repeat as champion then I might agree with you. As is, I cannot.