O/T: Bobby Fischer RIP

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Posted By: barrysloate

I used to be a tournament chess player and was a bit of a chess bum in my youth, so this came as big news. But I won't call it shocking, because Fischer was a bizarre and mentally ill person, so these things can happen.

I followed his entire career closely, and probably have played out every one of his chess games. He was arguably the greatest player who ever lived, but his erratic personality, and early retirement from the game, made him an enigmatic figure. He reminds me of Van Gogh a little, who was perhaps one of the greatest painters who ever lived, but whose career lasted only a very short time.

It's hard to say Bobby will be missed, as he was deeply anti-Semitic and anti-American and overall an entirely antisocial individual.

But I will always remember the years 1970-72 when he went on to win the world championship. At one point he won 19 straight games without a draw (before the Spassky match). That is something that is so extraordinary, as great chess players draw the majority of their games, that there is almost nothing in sport to compare it to (maybe a 100 game hitting streak would give you an idea).

He was a very strange genius indeed.