BOBBY fiSCriER.� fR.OJV\ CriESS GEi'IIUS �ro tEGEi'ID by GM Eduard Gufeld Carlos Almarza-Mato Mike Morris GM Wolfgang Unzicker Gudmundur Thorarinsson Bragi Kristjansson Bob Long Thinkers Press, Inc. Davenport, Iowa 2002 Bobby Fischer: from Chess Genius Copyright ©2002 by Eduard Gufeld & Thinkers' Press, Inc . All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced nor transmitted in any form nor by any means, electronic nor mechanical, including photocopying and recording, nor by any information storage nor retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Included in these reserved rights are publishing on the Internet, in annotated databases, and e-publishing (e-Books and their type, handheld or otherwise). Bobby Fischer: from Chess Genius to Legend First printing: October 2002 ISBN: 0-938650-84-X Marina Sonkina translated from the Russian Eduard Gufeld 's Bobby Fischer: Legends and the Truth, published in Kiev, Ukraine at the Health Publishing House. Bob Long edited the manuscript. DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF GRANDMASTER EDUARD GUFELD, WHO PASSED AWAY TWO DAYS BEFORE HIS BOOK WENT TO THE PRINTER. EDDIE WAS ONE OF FISCHER'S BIGGEST FA NS, Requests for permissions and republication rights should be addressed in writing to: Bob Long, Editor-in-Chief Thinkers' Press, Inc. P.O. Box 3037 Davenport, lA 52808-3037 USA e-mail: [email protected] 2 Bobby Fischer: to Legend CONTENTS Photos and Illustrations ............................................................... 4 • Publisher's Foreword ................................................ ................... 5 • Bobby Fisc her: From Chess Genius to Legend ........................... 7 • Bobby Fischer, An Attempt at Analysis ................................... 107 • Bobby Fischer, The Troubled Genius ...................................... 143 • My Game with Fischer 1964 ................................................... 157 • Meeting Bobby Fisc her ........................................................... 161 • Bobby Fischer in Europe and in Print .......... .................... ....... 163 • My Memories ........................................ ........ .................... ...... 177 • Bibliography ............................................................................ 181 • Picture Section ...... ................ ................... ................................ 182 • Index ........................................................................................ 188 • Colophon ...................... ................................................ ........... 191 Bobby Fischer: from Chess Genius Photos and Illustrations A special thank you to those mentioned below, both living and deceased. Arinbjom Gudmundsson. Bob Long: Larsen-Fischer 1971, Reykjavik 1972. Bragi Kristjansson: Icelandic views. Dadi J6nsson. Hugh Myers: Manhattan Chess Club. Icelandic Chess Federation. Johann Thorir Jonsson (publisher of Skak). John Donaldson: secured permissions for various caricatures plus other photos such as Vama 1962. Lilija Stein: Fischer & Stein. Nathan Divinsky: Golombek & Karpov, Fischer with Mrs. Filip & Mrs. Geller. Unknowns: Lone Pine and other miscellaneous pictures sub­ mitted to me as candid shots over a long period by readers of our Chess Gazette. 4 Bobby Fischer: to Legend PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD It's long been Grandmaster Gufeld 's contention, and also the contention of others including Garry Kasparov, that inspite of the 1992 match with ex-world champion Boris Spassky, Robert James Fischer should have kept his fame as a "legend" intact and not risked it by playing some good chess and some not-so-good chess in a match that did not befithis former status. I must confess, at first I didn't agree, now I do. Fischer was out of shape, and he could have maintained Professor Emeritus credentials, but none of that interests Fischer. What we have tried to do in this book is to show you the life of Fischer from which legends are made. You will also get, hopefully, a better understanding of the Fischer of now, his extrem­ ism, and the views of many others on a wide variety of "Fischer" topics. If one has seen or heard various broadcasts by Fischer, they will elicit a number of emotions. Some view his character sympathetically and with sadness, others with disdain, reproof, and a feeling of revulsion. We reit­ erate, this book is not about the current Fischer. This book targets the Bobby Fisc her most of us grew up with, complete with a broad paintbrush of variety including games, quotes, views, photos, and articles. Fischer has always made fascinating copy. Yet, as an editor, it was often with feelings of frustration and dismay that we put together what we knew with what we were trying to find out. Many of us wanted Fischer to be a hero in a time when the quality of heroes was descending into the pits. Fischer, in these pages, said he has no heroes. Some took up for him no matter how his behavior was reported. Others, infuriated by his lies and contradictions, ostracized or wrote him out of their chess life forever. Forgiveness can be a difficultthing. With heartfelt hope and prayer, we hope that someday Fischer will re­ turn to the world where most of us live, and leave his fears behind. Then maybe he can embark on a new life of trust and fairness. Bob Long BOBBY FISCriER! FROJ'J\ CriESS GE�IIUS ·ro lEGE�ID by Grandmaster Eduard Gufeld In the summer of 1978 a tall, elegant highest title. There was a time when man entered one of New York City's Fischer's name was famous all over cafes. As he ordered lunch his at­ the United States. The Reykjavik tention was drawn to the table next Championship stirred the national­ to his where two customers were istic feelings of Americans. In ca­ playing chess. Having noticed that fes, bars, clubs, city parks and even one of the players had lost a rela­ the streets, hundreds of people dis­ tively simple game, the man pointed cussed the challenges of the intense out the loser's error. What he heard struggle for the chess crown. A real in response was not flattering. chess fever broke out. Baseball, "But I am Bobby Fischer," said boxing and auto racing were over­ the man. shadowed by chess. The players looked at each other New chess sections popped up in with surprise. newspapers and magazines. The de­ "So what?" declared the younger mand for chess literature and chess one. "I, for example, am Jack Rob­ paraphernaliagrew significantly. bins; he is Ted Kapelushnik, but no­ How did it happen then, that a re­ body makes too much fuss about it." cent American chess idol had fal­ According to the Jugoslav news­ len from his pedestal? Why did so paper Politika, this episode hap­ few people in Fischer's own coun­ pened to the eleventh world chess try remember his victories? There champion, in his own country, only is no easy answer to this question. six years afterhe had earnedche ss' Such an outcome was determined Bobby Fischer: from Chess Genius both by Fischer's character and by six more languages. the society in which he grew up. The Their father left the family when name of the eleventh chess cham­ Bobby was two years old. The pion became a legend during his mother raised the two children lifetime. For a long time tall tales, alone: Bobby, and her elder daugh­ legends, and gossip surrounded his ter Joan. She could hardly make life. ends meet. This difficultchildhood In this book the author attempts marked the life of the future world to separate legend from truth, to chess champion forever. show the authentic face of a man for Fischer's biographer Brad Dar­ whom chess replaced, if not his rach remembers that as a child whole life, at least many aspects of Bobby was very fond of cartoons. life; the man who once declared: "The Adventures of Fu Manchu" "Chess is life!" was popular among his peers at that Robert J ames Fischer was born time. This was a story about a Chi­ on March 9, 1943 in Chicago. His nese sorceror who could impose his father was a biophysicist, his mo­ will on other people. Perhaps some ther, a nurse and teacher. Regina elements of Fischer's later behavior Fischer knew Russian well. Until can be explained by the influence 1938 she studied in the First Mos­ of these cartoons. cow Medical Institute, but then left When he was six years old his the country without fi nishing her sister introduced him to the game of studies. Later, she mastered at least chess. Neither his mother, nor his Young Bobby at the Manhattan in 1958 8 Bobby Fischer: to Legend 1958, Manhattan Chess Club-nofear of cameras sister, could foresee the role of chess participationin easy games. The age in Fischer's fu ture. Bobby quickly of ten is a possible threshold for par­ learned the ABCs of chess, and at ticipation in competitions. This is the age of seven he started studying exactly how Fischer's chess career chess under Carmen Nigro's guid­ developed. ance. A year later he was allowed to Gaining insights into the myster­ visit a chess club twice a week. At ies of the game, one step at a time, the age of 13 Fischer earnedthe title he demonstrated an understanding of National Master. As luck would of the positional game, and a pa­ have it, Fischer's introduction to tience at the board that was rare even chess took place at a most favorable in gifted adults. From his very first time in his life. steps, what distinguished Fischer Soviet grandmaster, Dr. Nikolai from others was his amazing busi­ Krogius, (who has a Ph.D. in psy­ ness-like style of thinking, the con­ chology), believes that the best time creteness of his ideas, the serious­ to start learning chess is at the age ness with which he approached the of 7 or 8, when the child is ready "basics" in chess. for a systematic accumulation of Tall, stooping, with a slightly pro­ concrete knowledge. According to truding face, waddling in his worn Krogius, participating in tourna­ out sneakers and an old sweater, ments at this age would be too early. adolescent Fischer looked like an What's needed is short instructional ugly duckling.