Fischer: Fame to Fallout
by Al LawrenceOne hundred and fifty years ago, at a time when men were men and pawns were trifling, Paul Morphy, of pre-diluvian New Orleans, won the First American Chess Congress at the age of 20. Fifty years ago, Robert Fischer won the 58th U.S. Open Championship at 14. He won this major tournament just a bit more than two years after his first USCF-rated event, and a year or two after the period that, by Fischer’s own account, he suddenly “just got good.”
Thirty-five years ago this month in 1972, Fischer torched the Soviet chess establishment with his incendiary victories over its chess supermen, including World Champion Boris Spassky. Bobby sent the communist sports bureau into a panic of retribution. It cut the stipends of former fair-haired stars and revoked their rights to travel abroad. On this side of the Iron Curtain, it was Sputnik-payback time. The U.S. media churned out a brief but intense period of nationalistic ballyhoo that only the height of the Cold War could have fabricated. New York City Mayor John Lindsay gave Bobby the keys to the city, Fischer appeared on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, and tournament attendance shot off the charts. No player had ever become so much a metonymy of chess as Bobby Fischer. Fischer Boom had begun. Fischer Bust followed quickly. Fischer Fallout is still being debated.
Here is the full article.
What a waste of talent.
What a waste of magazine space.
Not a bad article which trys somewhat unsuccessfully to understand the Fischer phenomenon which is somewhat without precedent in any other sport or game activity. A few things are omitted which are important to mention. Number one, it was Bill Clinton and not the Bush I who indicted Fischer. Apparently Monica Lewinsky was not a chess player. Number two, Fischer spent over a year in a Japanese jail while fighting extradition to the USA. Japenese jails are not Club Fed as Fischer discovered. It has never been made clear why Bush II has put Fischer on his enemies list. If Fischer suffered from a physical illness, such as cancer, rather than a mental illness, would his treatment by the media be different? Is it really Fischer that the media despises or is it his illness? Can you separate the two? I’d like to hear from the shrinks on this question.
Thanks to everyone who rushed judgement on fischer, it shows great maturity.
Item one: Fisher will always be the Howard Roark of professional sport: he took on an entire system (the Soviet chess-block) with minimal outside assistance, and beat it while bowing to no one. By taking on the terrible Soviet-bloc single-handedly, Fischer appealed to the Captain America/Lone Ranger in many Americans.
Item two: Some would claim that quiting at the crowning moment of his career (winning the world championship) was brilliant. Others would claim that it was to dodge Karpov. I myself have mixed emotions about Fischer, but certainly he failed himself by not moving on with his professional life into some other interest/profession/calling after retiring from professional chess.
Moral of the story? Let it be. The Fischer-against the Soviet chess block saga is a window frame from the past. Remember it and move on.
All the banal low IQ, good at nothing, lemming like folks, who’s greatest contribution to the world and history is swilling beer, watching tv, and generally taking up space, have one thing in common. That is these average people take an ownerlike connection, mentally and physically with a genuis phenomonon as someone like Bobby Fischer. They jump on his band- wagon when he is a winner, a Champion of the World! But when the ugliness of mental illness sets in or whatever causes failure in a sensation, they take pleasure in observing the great ones big fall into oblivion, so they can latch on to the next “feel good” (winner), to make their sorry lives seem important. Human beings, how depressing.
You’ve gotta be kidding me, anon 2:58am. Fischer’s disciplies worship him still and refuse to see any fault in him no matter how obvious. You’re reading from a pre-packaged spiel that doesn’t apply here. Of all the many faults that Fischer’s fans have, being bandwagoners isn’t one of them. The people who are against him now are generally the ones who have ALWAYS taken a more honest approach to him.
1) Number one, it was Bill Clinton and not the Bush I who indicted Fischer.
Noted, not that it matters. Fischer was a criminal, and a bipartisan one. There’s no reason for either party to try to protect him.
2) It has never been made clear why Bush II has put Fischer on his enemies list.
Or even that he has done so at all. In fact, it’s never been made clear if Bush is even aware of the case. Outside of the chess world, it’s pretty small potatoes indeed and hardly worth the attention of any President.
3) If Fischer suffered from a physical illness, such as cancer, rather than a mental illness, would his treatment by the media be different? Is it really Fischer that the media despises or is it his illness?
Do you have any evidence that the media despises him? Their treatment seems to have been pretty normal. Perhaps Fischer’s insanities wouldn’t receive the attention they did if he didn’t have a cadre of fans that attempted to rationalize them all as being perfectly normal. As long as people try to make the issue debatable, it will be debated. And since it’s actually a slam dunk, Fischer won’t come out looking good in such debates.
1. Fischer has never been convicted of any crime so how can he be labelled a “criminal”?
2.President Nixon personally met with and congratulated Fischer. As the article indicated, Henry Kissinger called Fischer to change his mind about not going to Iceland. So how can anyone say “he was hardly worth the attention of any president”?
3. The Justice Department was particularly agressive in seeking the extradition of Fischer for what was esentially a tax case indictment. The Japanese authorities were quite surprised by this agressive posture. By comparision in cases involving alleged violent criminals the US authorites have not shown such prosecutorial interest in Japan. Draw your own conclusions.
judge not and ye shall not be judged
let he amongst you who is without sin cast the first stone
criticism and judgment of another is not explanation or refutation, it is merely another childish ad hominem try at changing the subject into a personal attack upon the messenger
1. In the United States of America, tax evasion is a crime.
“Tax evasion is a crime in almost all countries and subjects the guilty party to fines and/or imprisonment – in China the punishment is death.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion
2. Good for Fischer. I met President Nixon, too.
3. Face it, Fischer gambled when he played the 2nd match vs. Spassky. He won in that he got paid, and he lost in not renouncing his US citizenship first and getting Caymen Islands citizenship before playing. Sheesh, what does this take? About 30 minutes and around $250.
4. Fischer will always be [one of?] the greatest chess champions of all time. Perhaps, this speaks volumes why he is so hopelessly, childishly naive about so many other everyday living matters that nearly all adults take for granted. In this vein, he is alike the poet, Lewis Caroll.
Anonymous who insists Clinton and not Bush l indicted Fischer is a complete fool, moron, and idiot. Bush and then acting Attorney General put out the orders to illegally destroy Fischers pasport without warning from direct U.S. Embassy Officials. Bobby an older man was held essentially in a japanese jail for 9 months for nothing except making the statement that Ashcroft if listening coould kiss his a%#!! The Bush administration is a fascist regime like Cuba unless you are very very wealthy. Executive orders are signed breaking laws without Congressional approval! If Bobby Fischer is criminal for playing chess in Yugoslavia so is Boris Spassky the arbiter and their seconds. Anonymous you couldnt even get the time right of my posting. Suggestion get a brain!!
*Attorney General John Ashcroft* above
1. Once again, Fischer has never been “convicted” of any crime. The indictment that was handed down during the Clinton administration, is just that, an indictment or charge, and not a conviction.
2. Fischer has been adjudged guilty by some members of the media and the public but never by any court of competent jurisdiction.
3. In the United States everyone, including Fischer, is presumed innocent until a trial is conducted and a guilty verdict entered, which has not occurred in the Fischer case.
4.All the raving and ranting will not change the history of this case which is a matter of public record.