"I like to make them squirm"
"I like the moment when I break a man's ego"
"There are tough players and nice guys,and I am a tough player"
These famous quotes are from the infamous Bobby Fischer who contributed much to chess but whose outlook on the world leaves much to be desired. I won't fault Fischer for having a drive to win at the board (every player should feel confident in their ability to play and win if they want to develop a good mental attitude for success) but does it really require you to view your opponent as a human being whose ego must be utterly destroyed in the process?
I am much more inclined towards a view of competitive chess that sees it as a struggle between two sportsmen (used in a general sense to refer to both women and men chess players if that wasn't already understood) who both strive to win but without viewing each other as implacable enemies who must be mentally broken down in the process (outwitted on the chessboard perhaps but psychologically destroyed...no)
I'll give a recent example from my own experience to further drive home my point because I was at a local chess club this Wednesday to compete in a rated game which I ended up winning in 11 moves but which didn't stop us from doing a friendly analysis of the game after it was over. I was intent on winning and did but had no desire to project an image of the chess playing machine who took pleasure in utter demoralize by my opponent at their loss. I also take issue with Fischer's comment that being a tough player and a nice guy are mutually exclusive because I consider myself a tough player but I am a pretty friendly guy at the same time and make an effort to display good sportsmanship in both my losses and victories.
So thank you Robert Fischer for giving us the pleasure of your fine play but a pox upon your behavior towards other players, tournament organizers (see Bobby Fischer Goes To War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow for anecdotal accounts of Fischer's disgraceful behavior) ,and comments in support of the unspeakable tragedy of the September 11th attacks upon the Pentagon and World Trade Center as well as various anti-Semitic ramblings.
"Fischer: What I am really hoping for, Pablo, did you ever see that movie Seven Days In May
Pablo: Yes,yes Fischer: That's a movie about a general who tries to take over the USA. I think it was with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, it was based on a book. I saw that years ago.
Pablo: Yes I did Fischer: That was more than a plain gesture.
Pablo: Yeah,yeah.
Fischer: I was really for the generals, you know. But in the end the president of the so-called democracy won. But I'm hoping for some kind of a Seven Days In May scenario in the lakes of Ontario, where the country will be taken over by the military, all the civil guards, to close down all the synagogues, arrest all the Jews, execute hundreds of thousand of Jewish ringleaders, and ,you know, apologize to the Arabs for the killing, .. for all the Jews over there of that bandit state, you know Israel. I'm hoping for a totally new world."
This exchange not only reveals an apparent desire on the part of Fischer to see the U.S. descend into military rule but is also a prime illustration of his anti-Semitic nonsense that consists of frequently ascribing any grievances he may have to the "Jews".
"Bobby Fischer: Hi Pablo .. cause the god damn Jews.. who will use any fuckin trick to screw me .. fuckin bastards and liars.. I got the dough.. it was a conspiracy.. I worked my ass off for this memorabilia for years. I was in and out of those file cabinets and safes thousand and thousands of times.. there's no way.. I kept this stuff, this memorabilia, through thick and thin for decades.. I had twenty lean years where I hardly made any money.. the Jews blackmailed me from playing chess. And it was a hardship just to pay the storage, you know? I kept this stuff.. for twelve years it was in storage.."
He is making a reference to the selling off of items placed in a Pasadena,California storage unit that the owner says occurred because of a failure to pay the required fee for continued storage but Fischer contends otherwise.
An interesting twist in this story is that these items have recently allegedly appeared on ebay.
I have one last Fischer quote to drive home my point about the HUGE contrast between his play at the board and his world view.
"They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat"
-Bobby Fischer
He should tell that to a WGM (Women's Grandmaster) and I recall seeing several strong women players at the 2005 North American Open in Oklahoma who definitely defeated their fair share of male opponents.
I've been very harsh on Fischer for what I regard as his extremely contemptible remarks on women to individuals of Jewish descent but I remain fascinated by his history, character, and chess play nonetheless.
I don't mean to excuse any of his obscene comments but Fischer ultimately remains a very complex character with acts of compassion such as his visit to a hospitalized Mikhail Tal during the 1962 Candidates Tournament held on the island of Curacao (see pg.30 of Bobby Fischer Goes To War) existing alongside his disgraceful view of women. I've read a great deal about him without ever feeling like I completely understand the engima that he tends to be.
The following works have been a bountiful source of information on this peculiar chess champion that I've absorbed much from.
Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time by David Edmonds and John idiom that contains many interesting biographical details and anecdotes.
Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy by Frank Brady which is a biography that I read many moons ago in middle school but likely contains some useful information.
Russians Versus Fischer by Dmitry Plisetsky and Sergey Voronkov that I received for Christmas this year and have found to be fascinating reading with many anecdotal accounts from Soviet grandmasters who interacted with him on the international tournament circuit as well as transcripts of anaylsis of Fisher's play by top Soviet players with sessions convened by the Soviet authorities to discuss the "Fischer problem"
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2 comments:
I went to this site the other day using Netscape Navigator & it looked horrid. The Text ran off the side of the screen & had to be read by shifting the image over with the bar at the bottom of the page. There was also text overlapping other text.
It seems to like Internut Exploiter. It looks pretty texty & readable.
Oh, on Botvinnik & his gassy BS about selfless dedication & a big benefit to the Soviet State: you may want to consider that chessplayers are non-productive and generally seen as sitting around amusing themselves. This was anathema to the Soviet "worker's" state. These people aren't working but are getting a subsidy. By claiming some great benefit to the Soviet State, they could continue sitting on their duffs all day playing chess and drinking vodka, which isn't a bad way to make a living, though the odds of finding a subsidy for this activity are slim. A non-worker in the USSR was considered a "parasite."
Though, also, Botvinnik did cozy up to the power structure as best he could, whether through ideological devotion or just a drive for self-preservation, I can't say...though I hope someone as intelligent as he was merely being cynical. Still, it's that attitude that helps crappy systems go on and on. Power structures need negative feedback to not turn into monstrosities. Adulation is really of little help: like telling a crappy chessplayer that he's really good, even though he walks into a mate-in-one every game by move 4.
bck bck bck!
Ray!!!!
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I don't have netscape navigator on my pc anymore but thanks for the tip that my site isn't very readable on it.
Your point on Botvinnik is well taken.
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