Most of you have likely never heard of Bobby Fischer. Well, let’s recap why he’s a hero of mine…
Bobby Fischer is the 1st and only American to win the World Chess Championship. He has been described as having a higher IQ than Albert Einstein and even compared with other geniuses like Beethoven. Recognised as a child prodigy, he became the youngest American champion and Grandmaster. However, it’s the 1972 world title match in Reykjavik, Iceland, against Boris Spassky, for which he is always remembered. This was at the peak of the idiotic Cold War, and this event is often described as the Match of the Century. Bobby Fischer demolished Spassky to become the world champion for 3 years after refusing to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov in 1975, the year I was born.
He disappeared from the public eye until 199,2 when he resurfaced for a controversial rematch against Spassky, again in Iceland.
Anyway, it’s not so much his genius at playing chess that has impressed me over the years. What has made a real impact on is how he rebelled against authority. He pointed the middle finger at the United States after 1992 because he went against an executive order from George HW Bush, implementing a United Nations resolution, not to engage in economic activities in Yugoslavia. Yes, he is the rebel without a cause. The David against the Goliath. The underdog in every sense of the world, and completely misunderstood. There’s way too much to discuss in this matter, and you can read for yourself on this Bobby Fischer fan website from Japan, which also contains many radio interviews. I must caution you that he has been accused of incoherent diatribes against a Jewish world conspiracy and the American government. However, one thing I believe completely to be true is that he was exploited for various purposes, like his name being used, without permission, in the movie Searching for Bobby Fisher, losing his patent for the Fischer clock, now a standard item in world chess and other misfortunes. Throughout all of his eventful life, Bobby had many affairs, but never married. Being the enigma that he was, it seems understandable that he is and always will be the bad boy of chess. His legend will only grow after his death at age 64, the same number of squares on a chessboard, in Iceland. And even if he was just half the asshole he was in chess, with women, he would inadvertently create the type of attraction we know other bad boys like Marlon Brando did. It seems like no matter where he went in the world, he found women willing and attracted to him and his Japanese partner, Miyoko Watai, who stood by him since 2000 to the end. In conclusion, like Bobby Fischer, you can be more self-reliant, stop caring about other people’s opinions and be true to yourself. No matter how crazy people think he may have been, I believe he never sacrificed the freedom of being himself. Remembering Bobby Fischer…