Bobby Fisher, the most flamboyant of American Chess Masters, is dead at 64. No cause of death is listed at this time, but he was reported to have been ill for some time.
My career as a chess hack began when I was 5 (my step father taught me the game) but I actually got interested in playing better when the Fischer/Spassky championship games were taking place in 1972 - I was 7 at the time. Fisher was a certifiable rock star - you could watch the games on TV, or listen to the move updates on the radio. My uncles had set up a small board in the living room and kept up with the games as they progressed. He was that famous.
Unfortunately, his genius consumed him. He was petulant, reclusive, dismissive, and in his later years, increasingly antisemitic. His vice-like grasp of Chess strategy was the opposite of his tenuous grip on reality; among other things, he believed a world-wide Jewish conspiracy was out to destroy him. His life provides us with a lesson about balance. His dedication to chess made him the greatest player in the world and maybe the greatest player ever, but it appears to have cost him dearly.
If you're a chess player, today would be a good day to get out your board and play a game or two...
Fisher Resigns
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2 comments:
As a fellow chess hack, I now feel the need to play a game in his honor.
i think it's normal for those with the "genius" streak to balance themselves by having something negative. All things in life, nature, and probably death have this uncanny balance.
True, Bobby's quality of life most definately suffered for his genius, but the suffering can surely be seen as his balance to his self-absorbed, obsessive world of Chess.
Being a Master of something in the truest sense will leave some other part of you lacking.
Question: Did Buddah actually proclaim himself as a Master of anything? I would be surprised if the answer was yes. It seems that
the road to enlightenments essentially includes the acknowledgement that one can only try to master one thing in life and remain whole, the one, themselves.
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