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Chessville
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Chess Quotes Bobby Fischer Collected and anthologized by Kelly Atkins
I would not like to defend or
justify Bobby Fischer.
Show him we're all not children. – Larry Evans (to Anthony Saidy during Saidy’s final round game against Fischer in the 1963-64 US Championship, which Fischer won 11-0)
It’s impossible to compare two players from different epochs. It’s extremely unfair because we know more now and also because my opponents are stronger than those Fischer had to face. I am not trying to underestimate Fischer’s achievements! The only real point of comparison between the two of us is the size of the gaps between ourselves and our respective opponents. I think that the gap between Fischer and his opponents is still the widest in [modern] chess history. The only possible way to compare Fischer, Botvinnik, Morphy, Steinitz and Kasparov is to place them in the context of their eras and to measure the distance between themselves and their opponents. Fischer’s distance was vast! – Garry Kasparov
After Fischer relinquished the title, Karpov was named champion. Karpov still holds the title, but his crown has not been without a singularly painful thorn, for Fischer is still alive, out there somewhere in Southern California. No longer merely a former world chess champion, he has grown to almost mythic size, leaving behind him a trail of rumors and a chess world that is still reaching out for him in the void. – William Nack (Sports Illustrated - July 29, 1985)
It's like this god of chess hanging over everybody's head. – Larry Christiansen (on Fischer)
The brain that once ate Moscow. – William Nack
(on Fischer)
It's a tragedy. Imagine: The greatest chess player who ever lived is living in our time, and he's not even playing. I've never even met him. It's very frustrating. – Yasser Seirawan (on Fischer, 1985)
Players Bobby's age, like myself, are a lost generation. We always lived in the shadow of Bobby. We had him as an idol. He was someone to follow. When he stopped playing, I somehow got lost. We lost our inspiration. The last decade belonged to me in the United States. I was always ahead in ratings; but I can't say I was first because, in the back of my mind, there was always Bobby. He was still alive. He is still alive. – Lubomir Kavalek
We talked about chess. He didn't have much respect for Karpov's play. He launched into a tirade against the Jews, the world conspiracy. He seemed like a nice guy, then he launched into that tirade. I felt kind of sorry for him. – Larry Christiansen (on his first meeting with Fischer in ’78)
He began to visit us when he was just 13. We played thousands and thousands of speed games. You can't predict what a boy that age will be. The next thing I knew, he went up like a Roman candle. It's hard to believe he's not the Bobby Fischer we knew. I still think of him as the little prodigy who lived with us years ago. We had a lot of fun together. They're one thing as boys; they're another as men. – Jack Collins (on Fischer)
His view of the world is completely incompatible with mine. He wants to talk about that all the time. What do you do with a person who insists the Holocaust didn't happen? – Jack Collins
You ask Bobby about chess, he answers about Jews. – Bobby Ang (on Fischer)
What makes you think you’re so pure? – Regina Fischer (to a young Bobby during one of his anti-Jewish rants)
No offense, but if you don't mind, I'd like to be paid in advance when working with Bobby. – Larry Evans
There was this growing dilemma in looking for Fischer. The more you knew about him, the less you actually wanted to find him. – Unknown journalist
Bobby had a fierce killer instinct and sublimated his aggression into chess, which was his life. He was well-prepared and relentless. – Larry Evans
He was uncompromising, hated draws, and fought most of his games to the bitter end. His greatest weakness probably was using the same openings over and over. – Larry Evans
Each day go in like an unknown to prove
yourself.
By 1970 the essence of Fischer's style was that he had none. He was already the ultimate universal player. At Buenos Aires 1970 he mopped up the field, undefeated at 15 – 2, winning games in every conceivable way. Like Petrosian, Bobby maneuvered mercilessly against Damjanovic; like Tal, he uncorked unexpected combinations against Panno and Schweber; like Capablanca, he made something from nothing against Szabo, when experts on the scene thought the game was a dead draw. – Larry Evans
Kasparov has been rated number one for nearly 20 years, an incredible feat in any sport. Most champions have a period when they are virtually invincible. Fischer's reign was brief. He burned out when he reached the peak, whereas Kasparov kept improving. I think all we can say with certainty is that the gap between Fischer and his rivals in 1972 was greater than the gap that existed between Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. – Larry Evans
As a human being he left much to be desired. His best quality was a sense of humor. I hope he still has one. His worst quality was his sadism. – Larry Evans
I object to being called a chess genius, because I consider myself to be an all around genius who just happens to play chess, which is rather different. A piece of garbage like Kasparov might be called a chess genius, but he is like an idiot savant. Outside of chess he knows nothing. – Bobby Fischer
That kind of nonsense speaks for itself. – Larry Evans (on one of Fischer’s rants)
A penniless, uncultured high school dropout from Brooklyn suddenly got a taste of power, and it went to his head. I never asked to be paid and basically donated my services, and he then imposed conditions that were unacceptable. – Larry Evans (on not remaining as Fischer’s second during his run at the WCC)
It makes no difference whether Bobby obeyed his conscience or was afraid of losing. He shirked his duty by not defending his title under fair conditions. He refused to negotiate or compromise and his obstinacy killed the match - nothing or nobody else. – Larry Evans
Fischer demolished the Soviet chess machine but could build nothing in its place. He was an ideal challenger - but a disastrous champion. – Garry Kasparov
Crazy is too broad. Bobby functions well until it comes to his pet peeves. He still denies that the Holocaust ever took place, and he blames a Jewish conspiracy for stopping him from playing chess for 20 years between 1972 and 1992. If that's not delusional, what is? Another sign of his mental state is that Bobby seldom has a good word to say about anyone and makes wild charges without a scintilla of proof. – Larry Evans
I kind of feel like the Jedediah Leland character in “Citizen Kane” who said, “Maybe I wasn’t his friend, but if I wasn’t he never had one. – Larry Evans (on Fischer)
Okay, I realize that he's unbalanced, but I don't believe in turning the other cheek. Frankly, it would be hard to shake his hand after all the lies he invented about me in one of his radio rants. He has really deteriorated. I've never done anything but help him and was astounded when he called me "a vicious rat" and "just a son of a bitch." He also said I pretend to be independent, but "the Jewish World Government” tells me what to write. – Larry Evans (on Fischer)
The reason Bobby has few old friends left is that he is a friend to no one. Instead, he surrounds himself with lackeys and bootlickers who stroke his ego. These people did him no good by egging him on in all those radio interviews. – Larry Evans
He feels very bitter about the fact that he doesn't feel that this country gave him enough recognition to help it win the Cold War. – Larry Evans
How many parents want their kids to turn out like Bobby? – Larry Evans
In my opinion Fischer had a dual or split personality. He had great chess talent and charisma but his personality was weak with too many flaws. If you like, it was like too much great wine in a small vessel. His personality was too shallow to carry the weight, the burden of being the chess messiah. – Garry Kasparov
The conventional wisdom says that Bobby Fischer
was a guileless and petulant child who just wanted his own way. I
believe he was conscious of all his actions and the psychological effect his
behavior had on his opponents. The gentlemanly Mr. Spassky was
ill-prepared to deal with the belligerent American in Reykjavik. – Garry
Kasparov
That's beside the point! The Russkies
always made the rules and got away with it.
Suddenly he discovered girls and other things he had never noticed or had time for. Pal Benko alleged that Bobby feared the Russians would have him killed if he played Karpov. Whatever the reason – real or imagined – not defending his title was a tragedy for Bobby and a tragedy for chess. Sadly, his selfmate handed the title back to the Soviets without a fight. – Larry Evans
He was too good. There was no use in playing him. It wasn't interesting. I was getting beaten, and it wasn't clear to me why. It wasn't like I made this mistake or that mistake. It was like I was being gradually outplayed, from the start. He wasn't taking any time to think. The most depressing thing about it is that I wasn't even getting out of the middle game to an endgame. I don't ever remember an endgame. He honestly believes there is no one for him to play, no one worthy of him. I played him, and I can attest to that. It's not interesting. – Peter Biyiasas (after losing 17 straight blitz games to Fischer in 1981)
Who then could have guessed that Fischer would play no more chess for 20 years? Or that the return match would be not for any official title? Or that in its wake Fischer would exile himself from America and publicly descend into a noxious, paranoiac solipsism? In a mid-book nine-page photo gallery we see Fischer, celebrating after the 1972 match, happily dancing with young Icelandic ladies and socializing with a large crowd. What a tragedy that is not the Fischer we have known since then. – Taylor Kingston (in a review of a book about the ’72 Fischer-Spassky match)
Soviet Grandmasters privately scoffed at Karpov’s chances in 1975. Most pundits believed he would lose… and lose badly. – Lev Alburt (on Karpov’s chances against Fischer)
Karpov knew he could hardly draw a game with Fischer, never mind winning one or two games. His only chance was to disrupt the match. So a whole arsenal of tricks was worked out, designed to upset the sensitive American, unaccustomed to such methods. – Lev Alburt
Bobby was afraid that if he had defended
against Karpov in 1975,
This match cannot end normally. Either I’ll be taken to hospital or else he’ll be taken to the insane asylum. – Anatoly Karpov (on the potential match against Fischer in ’75.)
Finally America produces its greatest chess genius, and he turns out to be just a stubborn boy. – Hans Kmoch (on Fischer)
A kind of angry chess god incarnate… waging total warfare on the chess board. – Raymond Keene (on Fischer)
Why do I want to give chess lessons?
There was an incredibly super-attenuated sense of himself, a feeling of almost being God-like, and heaven forbid if you didn't do what he wanted. – Frank Brady (on Fischer)
The combination of Fischer's irresistible genius and chronic crankiness made him great theater - and the greatest draw the sport ever had. Before he played Spassky, there were some 10,000 members of the U.S. Chess Federation. Today there are almost 100,000. When Garry Kasparov retired earlier this month, he did so as a multi-millionaire. He has Fischer to thank. – Wayne Coffey
He has devoted his whole life to the goddess of chess. Because of that, he didn't develop in other fields. Perhaps the most difficult thing in life is how to accommodate other people, learning to live with others and respect their views without constant collisions. He didn't learn to compromise, because that wasn't his field. – Gudmundur Thorarinsson (on Fischer)
He had crazy views on certain things—other than
that,
Yes, this is wonderful news. It's time that the … U.S. got their heads kicked in … I applaud the act. … They will imprison Jews, they will execute several hundred thousand of them at least … blacks will go back to Africa, and the whites back to Europe … Death to the U.S. This is a wonderful day! – Bobby Fischer (on 9/11)
Fischer's comments about 9/11 undid a lot of great things he did for chess. Thousands and thousands of people know about his remarks. People generally think he's sick or crazy, that something is wrong with him. – Susan Polgar
Fischer gained respect for chess in an ideological war. Practically everyone outside the chess community… even 35 years later, now still sees chess players as smart. – Susan Polgar
Look, Fischer is partly crazy. He's exhibited 41 years of chess genius and aberrant behavior. For Chess Life interviews, I used to ask rising young players what great player they would most like to hang out with for an afternoon, playing, analyzing, and talking. One kid answered, 'Bobby Fischer in a straightjacket. – Jerry Hanken
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His
memory was amazing. Just one more example. It happened in
Vancouver, Canada in 1971. At the closing of my infamous match against
Fischer, Fischer and I were sitting with fellow grandmasters at a banquet
and were talking peaceably after the preceding storms. The
conversation revolved around the match until my second, Yevgeny Vasyukov,
suddenly turned to Fischer: “Bobby, do you remember that in 1958 you spent
several days in Moscow and played many blitz games against our chessplayers?
I was one of your partners.” “Of course, I remember,” Fischer replied.
“And the result?” Vasyukov asked. “Why only the result?” Fischer
responded. “I remember the games. One was a French.” And he
rattled off all the moves! – Mark Taimanov
.jpg)
Reasoning
with him was futile. – Larry Evans (on Fischer)
Chess
may have been the only thing that kept the champion in touch with reality. –
Garry Kasparov (on Fischer)
Those
of us who were his contemporaries see it as one of the great sadnesses of
our lives. Not even bitterness. Just profound sadness. – Allen
Kaufman (on Fischer’s disappearance from chess).jpg)
.JPG)
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