www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Bobby Fischer dead at 64

For those of us who learned to play chess and well in the 60s and 70s because of him, we mourn Fischer's passing and the genius that he was. He had a mind as sharp and pointed as a rapier!

By upending the then USSR's domination of the game in his 1972 trashing of World Champion Boris Spassky, the game of chess was revolutionized and garnered the attention of millions throughout the world. "Small" nations, in terms of the game, produced their own grandmasters!

Although he refused to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov, his legion of followers still believe that he is "undefeated"
and the best in chess the world has ever known. One of his games, barely in his teens, was billed the "Game of the Century," with a brilliant sacrifice of his Queen very early for a Rook and 2 Bishops!

The reclusive Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, NY, but went on to live in Reykjavik, Iceland, the site of his triumph and where he was granted citizenship by a grateful nation.

May he rest in peace!

Amado

I studied chess. It was a great misfortune that Bobby Fischer quit playing on the tournament level. His gambit is not the only contribution he made, but it has been a lasting one. I really liked the fluidity of his games I studied.

His "undefeated" status is untested, his entrance and departure from chess was rather quick. Kasparov, too, has abandoned playing high level man-man tournaments and has had the highest chess rating. Kasparov's games against computers are interesting, though it would have been even better if he were to have played Fischer.

Terry

OK here is a proud gandma. I watched our grandbaby at 16 months of age, after fussing at him all the time to leave the chess set alone, he knew that he was to jump the peaces. So he knows the name of the peaces now at 2yrs old. His granpap wants to know when he is going to be big enough to play him(now I am not certain of which one has to be big enough though ). Do you think they are born with a natural ability or understanding?

There are two major ways to learn chess, rote learning and by understanding and anticipating patterns. I met a chess teacher who was teaching children as young as 3 to play chess. I can't say how skillfully or how well those children played, but to approach a certain level of play there has to be a certain level of innate ability.

It's good to know certain openings and why some moves are better than others, but that is not even half of the game.

Does your grandbaby show himself to have a strong memory? It could be that he looks up to his grandpap and saw him playing the game, so got interested and watched and listed. You should encourage him

Terry

Hey Terry,

Really he does. It was quiet funny the other day, I had taken my husband over to the hospital for some tests, and decided to take a way home I seldom go. Suddenly I realized we were coming upon the music store his dad frequents, I asked Marley 'hey Marley, what's that?' With a loud very distinct voice, we heard with a giggle 'Man'. That is his dads friend that works there, his name is Emmanual(Greek Orthodox), and Marley call's him 'Man' - nick name is EMan. So yeah, he has really strong association patterns, and forgets nothing.

I had been writting with him, and he would switch the pen from his left hand to his right and draw. In his right hand he would say da-da, in his left hand ma-ma. I was saying ok, we will draw that one each time he switched hands. Then I suddenly realized, he knows his mom is left handed and his dad right handed. That is what he was telling me about, not that he wanted to draw their picture. Go figure!

"Chess champion Bobby Fisher requested Catholic burial in Iceland"

As reported today by the Catholic News Agency:

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11557

Amado

What a curious and enigmatic man.

God grant rest to the soul of this man who seemed so very troubled.

I thought I made a reply to this post. I forgot what I was going to say but I thought this was funny: link [photos-158.ll.facebook.com]

Terry