Tuesday 13 October 2009
BOBBY FISCHER
He could have been the greatest player of all time had he not sabotaged his own career. Bobby Fischer’s worst opponent was usually himself. Beginning at age 14, Fischer won 8 US Championships, including the 1963-64 Tournament 11-0, the only perfect score in its history. He has the distinction of being youngest ever Grandmaster (GM) and the youngest ever candidate for the World Championship. By the early 1970’s, he was dominating his peers on the chess board, winning 20 consecutive matches in the 1970 Interzonal. By 1972, he had won the World Championship from Boris Spassky (his biggest rival) of the Soviet Union. Though his chess skills were legendary he often found himself entangled in lots of troubles. He made anti American and anti Jewish statements. He died as an Iceland citizen, where he lived until his death 3 years later. No player before or since has had such a large margin between themselves and their rivals as Fischer did in the early 1970’s and had it not been for his constant demands over playing conditions and money in World Championship matches, and his relatively brief career, he too could have been a contender for the number one spot.
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Filipino GrandMaster Eugene Torre is known to be good friends with Bobby Fischer. It was a real sad story that his career ended up that way. There could have been more games, championships, popularity. Those people still deserve a full respect for the sport they mastered and for the inspiration they instilled in our life.
ReplyDeleteBobby Fischer learned chess when he was 6 and at the age of 13 and 14 he became Junior and senior champion of USA. Wining the Grandmaster title at the age of 15 is truly amazing. He has the credit of being the first American to obtain title, when Soviet was dominating the World Championship. It is really sad that his carrier ended in such a way.
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