rccall@dartvax.UUCP (11/10/83)
To tell you the truth, Dave, nobody really knows where Bobby is or what he is up to now. One thing is sadly true -- he has stopped playing chess. I suppose he just doesn't want to do it any more. Well, if that's what he wants, fine. It's really a shame that people are constantly complaining about the "great loss to the chess world." Would you like to be hounded all your life by people telling you to return to something you really don't want to do any more? I can't blame Bobby for becoming a veritable recluse. I guess we'll just have to enjoy playing over the games he has given us already -- because I doubt we'll see any new ones.
wbp@houxq.UUCP (11/13/83)
Bobby Fischer, at last report lives in California,
sometimes with his sister, sometimes with chess playing friends
(those few he has not disowned). He plays some blitz (five-
minute games) with these friends and does some analysis (he just
sent a letter to a chess magazine pointing out an error in one on
Karpov's games.) He probably does not study the game seriously
anymore.
Fischer, as is well known has a totally
paranoid personality. Because of this, his good friend the late
Ed Edmondson once told me that Fischer would probably never play
another serious game in his life (as opposed to "he just doesn't
want to do it anymore").
An example of fischer's mentality came from Edmondson.
Ed and Bobby would spend a lot of time together, and Bobby would
often say: "Come on, Ed, lets analyze some chess." Ed was only
an expert at the time. They would get into a line, and Ed would
ask a "stupid" question. Bobby's answer was so clear and went
right to the heart of the position, that Ed pleaded to tape
record their sessions, and to write a book. Fischer would not
hear of it saying that he did not want anyone else learning his
secrets!
Fischer wrote a pamphlet in 1982 : "I Was Tortured in the
Pasadena Jailhouse!" (signed: by Bobbly Fischer, The world Chess
Champion). At that period in his life, Fischer had a
long beard, and all anyone saw of him was when he would go to the
library to pass out The Church of Scientology Literature. The
police picked him up because he looked like a bank robber that
they were looking for, and decided to keep him because of his
caustic personality. It is a truly amusing booklet, and, reading
between the lines, Fischer's personality is clear. The booklet
can be ordered by sending $1.00 to:
Bobby Fischer
P.O. Box 50307
Pasadena, CA 91105
(At least that is what it says on my copy of my pamphlet.)
A last bizarre note: I recently went to a lecture given
by Grandmaster Andy Soltis in Tom's River, NJ. He heard a rumor
from a number of usually reliable sources that Fischer had all of
his dental fillings replaced because he thought that someone had
radio transmitters implanted in them!
All of this is second hand information, and I would be happy to
hear from anyone with contradicting facts.
Wayne Pineault
houxq!wbprobison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (11/20/83)
It should be clear to anyone who followed Fischer's antics on the way to winning the world championship that he was just barely able to control his paranoia, with the help of his friends and many professional associates (among them Euwe and Spassky), long enough to win the championship. It is possible (though not certainly the case) that he has grown sicker with time. hE certainly is not improving. BUT! He no longer has the incentive to control the paranoia. After all, he has proved once and for all (or maybe -- just once) that he is the greatest chess player of all. With that behind him, there is no incentive for him to control himself. Fischer's layoff has been so long that a comeback is doubtful. This is a particularly great pity since he might have been one of the lucky grandmasters to improve into his late fifty's and sixty's, had he stayed active. All chessplayers slow down mentally as they grow older. They must therefore rely less on calculation of threats, and more on stratgeic understanding and experience. At the highest level of chess, a remarkable percentage of the top players do not slow down much, such is their grasp of the game; and their understanding deepens. Smyslov is the great current example of this, and Geller and Keres were other examples. Fischer's great strength was his rapid calculating ability. He always saw a few more tactical possiblitites in every position than his opponents. His understanding of position and strategy was very great, but not in the same league with his tactical skill. In my opinion, some of the Russian's criticism of Fischer's lack of opening creativity and depth is justified, and relates to Fischer's unusual balance between tactics and strategy at the highest level of chess. Since Fischer has been out of play, he has not had to solve difficult chess problems over the board with the tournament clock ticking. Consequently it is likely that he has been slowing down faster than he would have as an active player. He has kept up with the literature, but it is questionable whether his blitz games with friends are sufficient to drill the knowledge he reads into the parts of his brain that must process this knowledge rapidly in a tournament game. If Bobby were to heal himself and re-enter the chess world, I would expect these things: - he would lose some competetive drive in becoming mentally healthy. - he would be disappointingly off his game. - without his paranoia, he would not analyse positions as well. Paranoia is not a prerequisite for a chess master, but it can help. Bobby has been unnaturally sharp in looking at all unexpected events in his life as evidence of plots against him. This attitude helps a chess player to intuit both an oppoent's plans, and the potential that an opponent's position holds, over the board. Bobby has surely made his paranoia work for him over the chess board. In order to play his best, he has to cure SOME, but not ALL of it. All in all, a sad, sad prospect for Bobby Fischer and for the chess world.