No more searching for Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer, a high school dropout from Brooklyn who became the most famous chess player of all time, died yesterday of kidney failure.
After becoming the world’s youngest Grandmaster at 15, and scoring a Cold War victory for the US by defeating Boris Spassky (the Russian world champion) on national television in ‘72, Bobby went a little nuts and began spitting venom like a snake. He renounced his US citizenship, alienated the world with anti-Semitic radio rants (even though he’s Jewish himself), and praised September 11’s terrorist attacks on his old hometown as “wonderful news.”
We’ve decided to ignore that last part of his life. Before then, Bobby was a King. He was a prodigy, from humble BK origins, who rose on nothing but skills. He brought chess to the public eye, even gave it some swagger — he compared pro chess to pro boxing, and acted accordingly.
“Chess is war on a board. The object is to crush the other man’s mind.”
Notorious for his raw bravado, he famously psyched his opponents out during matches and took pleasure in their defeat: “I like watching them squirm,” he once told reporters. Basically, when he was on top, dude was the most badass chess champ possible.
The harder they come…
