Check And Mate

[Dubh Aingeal]

"Chess," Bobby Fischer once said, "is life."

It was the chess master's tragedy that the messy, tawdry details of his life often overshadowed the sublime genius of his game.

Fischer, who has died at the age of 64, was a child prodigy, a teenage grandmaster and -- before age 30 -- a world champion who triumphed in a Cold War showdown with Soviet champion Boris Spassky.

But the last three decades of his life were spent in seclusion, broken periodically by erratic and often anti-Semitic comments and by an absurd legal battle with his homeland, the United States.

"He was the pride and sorrow of chess," said Raymond Keene, a British grandmaster and chess correspondent for The Times of London. "It's tragic that such a great man descended into madness and anti-Semitism."

Fischer died Thursday Jan 17 of kidney failure in Reykjavik after a long illness, friend and spokesman Gardar Sverrisson said Friday.

"A giant of the chess world is gone," said Fridrik Olafsson, an Icelandic grandmaster and former president of the World Chess Federation.

Noted French chess expert Olivier Tridon: "Bobby Fischer has died at age 64. Like the 64 squares of a chess board."

In another bit of symmetry, his death occurred in the city where he had his greatest triumph -- the historic encounter with Spassky.

[Homicidalheathen]

didn't he play and beat 6 people at once?

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Wow finally someone "well known" i actually was interested in dies while I'm paying attention. I'll have to go do a little reading about it. His book "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" was a key thing i remember from my childhood.

HH a lot of the GM Chess Players give exhibitions were they play tons of people all at once, at the higher levels its a regular thing that they do at various conventions or wherever. There's such a huge range of skill level with chess that guys high up the food chain can just instantly see whats going on and make dozens of moves in the time it takes us pikers to make one.

I remember Gary Kasparov (considered by most people to be the best chess player ever) was at one of the malls when i was a kid, he was playing like 30 people all at once.

[Dubh Aingeal]

Troy, do you play chess? If so I got a site you might be interested in.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Troy, do you play chess? If so I got a site you might be interested in.

Neat website. I've not played chess seriously for like 7-8 years but i keep thinking I'll get back into it. I'll poke around that website.

[ttogreh]

He was a great chess player, but he was a flawed human being. Such is the duality of existence, isn't it?