1972: Chess champ Bobby Fischer on 60 Minutes
16, 2012 12:04 PM
By 60 Minutes Overtime Staff
Topics 60 Rewind .
Most of us think of chess as a thoughtful, contemplative game, but here at 60 Minutes, we’ve learned that among grandmasters, chess is a blood sport.
This Sunday on 60 Minutes, the world’s number one chess player, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, tells Bob Simon that winning a chess match is more than just defeating your opponent; it’s destroying him.
“I enjoy it when I see my opponent…really suffering,” Carlsen said with a wicked grin. “If I lose just one game…I just really want to get revenge.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard this kind of talk. In 1972, Mike Wallace profiled the infamous Bobby Fischer, who was then only 29 years old and training for his famous Cold War showdown against Russia’s Boris Spassky. Here’s an excerpt from that profile:
WALLACE: Winning for winning’s sake is important, but do you like to beat another man?
FISCHER: Yes, I like to beat another man.
WALLACE: You smile about it. Do you like to crush another man’s ego?
FISCHER: Uh-huh, so when they go home that night, they can’t kid themselves that they’re so hot, you know?
We all know how Fischer’s story ended – in madness — but the board is still a world of opportunity for today’s young superstars.
Tune in this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS to see Bob Simon’s profile of 21-year-old chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com
Nakamura is the best American player in history, not Fischer.
Yeah right. Nakamura is world champion, and he is number one in the world.
Fischer who? Everyone agrees with you. They always mention Capablanca, Kasparov, Karpov and … Nakamura! in the same sentence.
Why does CBS say Fischer’s story ended in madness?Was he certified or declared insane?His advise on radio,to the Philippine people to renege on their 50 billion dollar World bank loan and his wanting to sue the Swiss bank where he kept his money because they terminated his account after they provided him good return on his money so he hadn’t spent any of his principle.From where did he think this interest came?Certainly not the people who pay back their loans…and of course the terms of the Philippine loan might be unfair.Fischer’s madness seems a difficult question yet CBS hands down the verdict so easily.
We are not talking excellence here! What about genie?
Seems there is a generation gap here: How can you forget what Fisher symbolized back in 72?
Bobby Fischer – simply the best.