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Bobby Fischer Is Dead At 64
A number of readers wrote in to make sure we know that former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has died in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he had lived since 2005. No cause of death was given.
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That and a few other choice comments attributed to him make me want to say, good riddance. It is such a travesty to see such greatness overshadowed by blantant and raving bigotry. I don't care how good at chess he was anymore, the world doesn't need to celebrate assholes like this just because "they were once great"
It really sounds like he succumbed to hate and had to disappear at times simply because he knew he couldn't exist in the real world
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
I am by no means an expert or historian on Bobby Fischer's life. I once admired him. Sadly, for Mr. Fischer, I always wished that his past caught up with him and he would forget his new found convictions.
... usually.
From an admirable chess player early on, he showed signs of mental instability. But really, who hasn't from time to time? He made absurd demands to move Moscow closer to the ocean or make the sun set sooner for his convenience when he appeared at the famous game. I've read accounts that make him sound borderline autistic. Although he seemed to have much more cognitive powers
I wish I could erase the last half of Bobby Fischer's life from history. I wish he never touched a radio station's microphone. His proclamation that the September 11th attacks were "wonderful news" and calling for the US to be destroyed, his several radio aired remarks against Jewish peoples and other disparaging remarks. Was this for attention? Was this really what he believed? I'm not sure what personally made him feel this way but living in Iceland under political asylum was not the way I wanted to see it end.
Unfortunate that he died. Even more unfortunate that he never came around to apologize and promote chess in schools and everywhere. We'll miss the young Bobby Fischer and always be a little confused about what happened to make him cross that fine line between ingenuity and insanity. Rest in peace, Bobby Fischer.
My work here is dung.
The latter day Fischer was a raving lunatic. His "politics" do not merit rebuttal or even serious consideration. I choose to remember the Fischer of my youth -- which was quite pleasantly misspent in the 70s. No single player has ever so completely dominated chess like Fischer. His play is a model of simplicity, logic, creativity, and elegance. I would say that he will be missed, but, in truth, we in the international chess community have already missed the real Bobby Fisher for many years.
"Checkmate", from the Persian "shah mat" meaning, "the king is dead".
Fischer's ability to analyze quickly and precisely the complexities of chess in all its applicable levels at any given type made him very special and gave him so much to offer the world. The defunct psychosis that he suffered from rendered him completely useless for the greater good that his abilities offered.
Bobby Fischer was a great man of nothing.
Just because you don't like someone doesn't mean you should be happy they died. Some folks might think you're an asshole, but would that stop people you love from being hurt when you died? Of course not. Just be glad he's at peace, that his hatred has left the building.
Actually, the man succumbed to mental illness. Hopefully you're never in a position to pass any meaningful judgment on people who have these kinds of issues.
Every four years I vote in the American presidential election.
Could be. If you look at the brain from an evolutionary standpoint, it's an organ that serves as an information-processing device meant to ensure survival of the physical body. As most of the dangers to our existence come from natural forces, it seems intuitive that longer-term mental projects focused on an understanding of the world in an attempt to mitigate these dangers more effectively. Indeed, the whole of human history is filled with the rise and fall of these projects. Religion, at least initially and in its most organic form, is an attempt to save existence from the clutches of death. Religion loses its focus, and we see the rise of science as a better means of understanding dangers. Science, at least initially and in its most organic form, is an attempt to save physical existence from the dilemmas it faces.
Perhaps we live in a world where the scientific project is losing its focus, and some sort of project that would protect mental existence must become the new paradigm. Whatever the case, I think the mental breakdowns that you talk about aren't the result of an overclocked mind, but rather of a mind that is ahead of its time, that is searching, stumbling about, for a paradigm to rest in, but which it can not find. The mental breakdowns the great thinkers suffer should warn us of this need, of the insufficiency of science on its own.
As much of a genius as we regard Fischer, or Newton, or any other great thinker, perhaps even they were reaching for something beyond even them, and we should forgive their stumblings, and instead look towards that for which they may have been reaching, consciously or subconsciously...
Was that really his own homepage, and was he its only webmaster? What is going to happen to his homepage now that its webmaster is dead? Will it just disappear like its webmaster after the server is left unpaid or unmaintained?
Just as we keep books published by dead poets and other authors, perhaps we (the Internet community) should have a way to preserve webpages of dead people. This is going to be of much more importance as more and more people get creative on the Internet (this is not to say that I agree with the ramblings of his homepage, I speak generally) rather than publishing paperbooks.