Review of Bobby Fischer Against the World

I watched this haunting documentary last night.  There really weren't any shocking revelations in the movie; nothing new that I hadn't heard of before.  What was 'new' for me or unique about this documentary was seeing all the old pictures and film footage of Bobby.  Other than that, I came away from it with just two thoughts.

The first one was the stark contrast of the Individual versus the Machine.  The film did a fantastic job of showing this juggernaut that Soviet chess was.  These guys dominated and they did it collectively and mechanically.

On the other end of the spectrum was this boy ... all by himself ... who without much, if any, family support and encouragement, single-handedly took on the Soviets and defeated them.  That is a fascinating story line.   And it would have been even more amazing had it not been for his delusions, which leads me to the second thought.

His life was so sad.  His mom seemed like a kook.  All he did was play chess - nothing else.  He didn't have any real friends.  When he was detained in Japan, he called his body guard from Iceland.  He hadn't talked to him since 1972!  He had no one else to phone.  I don't know how things were in 1972, but did chess players, who got to that level, have a manager or something?  But even if there were managers or handlers at that time, I'm not sure that even if he had one, that person could have helped Bobby much.  I also wonder how much legal drugs could have helped him.  What could have been ...

If you get the chance to watch it, you won't be disappointed.

On this date ... Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer died 4 years ago today.

While performing some searching today, I found that the DVD for the HBO documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World was released last month.  I've heard nothing but good reviews of it.  I plan to watch it later this week and then I'll post some thoughts on it.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War by Edmonds & Eidinow

Halfprice Books is a favorite stop when Jill and I go on dates. The one section that I visit first and every time is the chess section. I've found some good books there before. The last time we went, I found two books that I had seen before but never purchased. Since I have really jumped into chess recently, I decided I needed something to read that was chess related but not of the study type. So I bought Bobby Fischer Goes to War and The Chess Artist.

Bobby Fischer Goes to War was a little tough to get into and to finish. I didn't really like the style of the authors. Perhaps since it was written by two authors, their two styles might have muddled things a bit.

The most interesting thing I found as I read this book was the fact that I seemed to be pulling for Spassky while reading it. Of course I knew Fischer won, but if what the authors described of Spassky is true, I think I would have pulled for Spassky. Fischer seemed to be such a pompous, self-conceited individual while Spassky seemed humble and level-headed. I really felt sorry for Spassky and all that he had to put up with in that championship match. He was really squeezed between a rock and a hard place (Fischer and the Communists).

Another thing I found fascinating, which I didn't know before, was how dominating Fischer was in the preceding tournaments before the championship including his 6-0 thrashing of Mark Taimanov and 6-0 drubbing of Brent Larsen. That just boggles the mind.

I'm glad I read this book. I never really knew much about the Fischer excitement of the late 1960's and early 1970's. My dad and brothers got into chess (like thousands of others around the country) because of the Fischer/Spassky match. As a result, I ended up playing chess with my dad and brother as I grew older. Every chess enthusiast should read this book.

Several other sites have read and reviewed this book. Also, I've seen a few links that suggest this book will be made into a movie to be released in 2010.

Review at jeremysilman.com
Review at npr.org
Review at NYTimes.com
Review by Ken Owen
Review at chessville.com