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- The road to chess destiny for a 14 year old American boy
- By Eric Hicks
- Founder of Academic Chess
- Copyright 2003 Academic Chess All Rights Reserved
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- “My sister bought me a set at a candy store and taught me the
moves.”
- Fischer learned chess at age 6 after his sister’s now famous gesture.
The Fischer house was right above a candy store so she did not have
to go far. Although Bobby
enjoyed playing many games…when he discovered Chess he forgot all
the others. Little did anyone know that from these lolly-pop beginnings,
this sweet seedling would generate into
the greatest chess player the world had ever seen.
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- “Genius. It’s a word. What does it really mean? If I win I'm Genius.
If I don't, I'm not.”
- At first Chess was very easy for Bobby. He could beat his sister
and mother easily. Then once he played in a simultaneous exhibit
where one master played many challengers. Bobby lost badly. He decided
then that he did not like losing and would get better at chess.
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- “I really love the dark of the night. It helps me to concentrate.”
- Fischer studied chess many hours a day and deep into the night
until he mastered chess. Once he had mastered chess, he kept reading
more. Once a friend asked for a chess lesson. Fischer told him to
read MCO (an encyclopedia of chess openings) from cover to cover,
examining all the variations. After several months the student came
back to Fischer for another lesson…Fischer told him to go and read
the book again. It is no secret that reading chess books is the
most effective route to chess mastery.
- Read up On Fischer’s Secret Studying Style
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- By the time he was 14, Fischer
had read every significant chess book written in English, and started
teaching himself Russian so that he could read the Russian Chess
books. Fischer was studying chess close to 12 hours a day, preparing
to swoop the chess scene by storm.
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- “Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity
with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.” -- Boris Spassky
- Fischer was famous for showing up at chess tournaments with Russian
Chess Magazines tucked in his back pocket. It was rumored that they
were his secret weapon…and in a way…they were.
- Later, Fischer and his mother would be followed and investigated
by the FBI. Their suspicion…maybe he is spying for the Russians.
In fact he was Spying ON the Russians. The FBI is silly boy.
- Read the Related Article
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- Also in Fischer’s arsenal was his magnetic chess set which went
everywhere he and his Russian Chess magazines went.
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- Old School Chess Masters will talk about how Fischer would rip
out his set whenever he was talking about chess and breeze through
positions from famous games he was studying. It did not matter where
Fischer was at..even up in the sky in a plane and his mind was always
on chess.
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- "Paul Morphy was a great chess player, a genius... Morphy,
I think everyone agrees, was probably the greatest genius of them
all..."
- Fischer was one of the most avid students of chess ever and played
through thousands of Grandmaster Games. His favorite player was
Paul Morphy, the other eccentric American Chess Champion.
- On Morphy, Fischer wrote: “"Perhaps the most accurate player
who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had
complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he
moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and
am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity.”
- "A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he
returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary
players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the
truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today.”
- Read the eerie similarities between Fischer and Morphy
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- “A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will.”
(on what it took to become a strong chess player)
- The above quote is among my favorites of Fischer…because it sums
up his secret studying style. Fischer, with little help, had conquered
America in chess….and soon he would take on the Soviet establishment
to dominate the world in chess. These accomplishment required that
he be a super student of the game.
- Read the article on Fischer’s Secret Studying Style
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- “All I want to do, ever, is just play chess.”
- When Fischer sprung onto the chess scene the chess world would
never be the same. He got good really fast. The Fischer story is
one of rising from the bottomless abyss of the unknown, and rising
thanks to pure talent and hard work to the pinnacle of super-stardom.
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- “When I was eleven, I just got good.”
- All the hard studying had paid off. With the low initial rating
of 1700, Fischer shocked the Scholastic Chess Community by winning
the US Junior Championship in Cleveland at the early age of 12.
Fischer was stepping into the scene to do some thrashing.
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- “I prepare myself well. I know what I can do before I go in. I'm
always confident.”
- By the age of 13 Fischer was playing simultaneous exhibits at
his prestigious chess club, the Marshall Chess Club in New York.
This time, instead of losing one game, he won many games. At this
point Fischer spent all his extra time studying chess.
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- “Americans like a winner. If you lose, you're nothing. I'm going
to win, though.”
- At age 13, he played a great brilliant game…dubbed the “Game of
the Century” against chess master Donald Byrne, this game was so
brilliant it effectively immortalized Fischer. The game is etched
in marble forever and will always be one of the most famous chess
games in history.
- Play through the moves of the Game
- See the list of the most famous games
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- Bryne – Fischer 1956 White to Move
- During the game of the century, runners would relay the moves
to another room where spectators were following the
game. A Grand Master provided Commentary. According to legend,
in the position to the right, the GM told the crowd that Fischer
(playing black) was losing. 8
Moves later, Fischer had checkmated Bryne. In the position to the
right, Fischer is already clearly won. Notice Fischer is queenless.
Fischer sacrificed his queen on move 18.
- See the entire Game
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- “I play honestly and I play to win. If I
lose, I take my medicine”
- From the outside, it seemed Fischer had a relatively tough time
after his first US Junior Championship. He did not play in many
tournaments and he did not win any of the tournaments he played
in. Fischer was home studying…preparing to take the country with
the Fischer pawn storm!
- To get better at chess you must lose and “take your medicine”,
and learn from your losses.
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- “Psychologically, you have to have confidence in yourself and
this confidence should be based on fact.”
- The 1957 US Junior Championship was held in Spreckles milk dairy
in San Francisco. An ice cream party was held for the participants
which Fischer was a no show for. 30 minutes into the first round,
Fischer busted into the door loudly, and walked determinedly to
the tournament director George Koltanowski.
“What’s first prize?” Fischer
asked loudly. The kids at the tournament were shocked by this brash
entrance. After Koltanowski showed him the 1st prize
typewriter, Fischer exclaimed, “I don’t want another typewriter!”
- Read the entire spreckles dairy story
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- “Bobby just drops the pieces and they fall on the right squares.”
- Miguel Najdorf
- Fischer was actually the underdog in the 1957 Junior Championship.
Gil Ramirez, A 17 year old California Champion was expected to dominate
the tourney. Early in the tournament, Fischer and Ramirez met over
a casual speed chess match in which Fischer was just crushing. They
played about 30 games. Fischer’s wins were not just convincing they
were crushing humiliating blows in which he barely took a minute
off his clock for each game. Roy Hoppe a witness describes, “Fischer
beat Gil like he was just a 2nd grader. Najdorf, a strong
grandmaster who watched the speed chess flocking, said “It is like
angels are moving his hand.” From that time on, there was no doubt
in any body’s mind who was going to win the tournament. Fischer
won the tournament with a score of 8 ½ wins and ½ draw, the draw
to Gil Ramirez. Ramirez and Fischer had become friends, and it was
rumored that the draw was a “courtesy draw.”
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- After winning the 1957 US Junior Championship, Fischer hooked
up with his new friends Gil Ramirez and William Addison and drove
cross country road trip style in Gils car to Cleveland to compete
in the US Championship. These were not typical American Hippies
on a drug and music binge…while Gil drove, Addison and Fischer played
games on Fischer’s magnetic set all the way to Cleveland. Reportedly,
Gil was bothered by these two “chess nerds”, and was completely
annoyed by the end of the trip. Little did they know…but Fischer
was on his way to Chess Destiny. Years later, Ramirez would give
up chess. He is now a mediocre bridge player in Marin California.
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- “Don't even mention losing to me. I can't stand to think of it”
- In Cleveland, Fischer accomplished an amazing feat. He won 1st
place in the master adult section, establishing himself as one of
the best players in the United States, and most importantly qualifying
for the invitational US Championship. This was the beginning of
Fischer’s reign in adult Chess.
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- At the tournament, Gil Ramirez and Fischer got into a fist fight
over a pillow. According to Roy Hoppe, Gil socked Fischer in the eye. Fischer collected
his prize money and his trophy with a black eye.
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- Back in those days, Fischer was not much of a fist fighter, but
later he would take on boxing as a hobby. Perhaps it was this beating
by Gil that prompted Fischer to “not take crap any more!”
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- The Fischer juggernaut rockets out of control in 1957 when he wins the US Championship
in New York, with some strong Grand Masters as competition. From
then on he became the United States media chess darling. Fischer
was featured on the cover of numerous magazines. Fischer became
a household name. The next year at the Age of 15, Fischer would
become the youngest Grand Master in history.
- Fischer would win a record breaking 8 US Championship titles in
his chess career. In one of these Championships, he won with the
amazing perfect score of 11-0.
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- Paul Morphy
- Bobby Fischer
- Gary Kasparov
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- Alexander Alekhine
- Mikhail Tal
- Bobby Fischer
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- Of course this is not the end to the Fischer story, it is just
the beginning. But what a great story even if this was the end.
Of course the story continues…Fischer would go on to beat the Soviets
at their own game and claim the World Championship in Chess, the
first and only American to ever do so.
From there he would mysteriously disappear….only to return
years later a changed and deranged “loser.” The world cherished
him when he was winning….he kind of predicted his own fate. Now
he is a fugitive…but that is a whole other story…one that many American
Chess players like to forget. We are going to stop here….a story
ending when Fischer was still young, dynamic, dashing, and prepared
to take on the world…a preparation he would follow through to a
zenith.
- He is an American chess tragedy on par with Morphy and Pillsbury.
-- Mig Greengard
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- This is a tribute to Bobby Fischer, an American Kid who did well.
And like so many Americans working their way from the bottom, lost
it in the end.
- “I regard him as a mythological combination of sorts, a centaur
if you will, a synthesis between man and chess.” -- Garry Kasparov
- See Fischer’s Games
- Get more info about Fischer
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- Play through some Fischer Games with Analysis
- Play through some of the brilliant moves of Fischer
- Get More information on Fischer
- Fischer’s Secret Studying Style
- Read Some Fischer Stories
- Get Some Fischer Quotes
- Read How Fischer Busted the King’s Gambit
- Check out bobbyfischer.net
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Notes