Fischer quotNow chess is completely deadquot

  

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Thibault de Vassal    (2006-11-05)
Fischer : "Now chess is completely dead"

A new interview from the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer...

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3468

No surprise : Fischer’s problems with the Union Bank of Switzerland, United states founded and being run by extremists, Capablanca brillancy, but also : "I don’t like chess any more" (what about chess 960 ?), "Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative"...

I just wonder.. How can we find so much pleasure in correspondence chess ? .. Was his pleasure only to destroy weak players or in real challenges against strong[er] players (ie. Karpov).. I can understand why a grandmaster stop to play competitive chess because it's too hard & it takes too much time, but I can't explain myself such a champion finding "limits" to chess & getting no more pleasure...

"Play Go !" :)


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-11-05 14:12:43)
Re: Fischer : "Now chess is ............

Fischer's case is one which shows that there's a very thin line between brilliancy & lunacy. Lol!


Sebastian Palozzi    (2006-11-05 14:29:19)
A Moment of Clarity

I find it interesting that no matter how bizzare his life and his thoughts might be I can usually find a moment of perfect clarity and thought; his description of Capablanca's style and ability coincide very nicely with the latest computer analysis of World Champion strength and style as posted on Chessbase. It seems to me that putting aside all questions of strength or playing ability Fischer has a profound knowledge and love of chess. If he is wrong about anything he is wrong about his own feelings about the game.


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-11-05 15:06:43)
Re:

Sebastian, tha's an interesting thought. Maybe you're right. If Fischer just stuck to chess only/continued with chess playing, chess analysis & chess commentating (without getting mingled up with other worldly issues & many bizarre views), he would have been better off in life.


Wolfgang Utesch    (2006-11-05 20:25:29)
Fischer : "Now chess is completely dead"

Why should be a (very, very) good chess player also a wise person? Bobby by himself has showed us that there are no correlation between theese abilities. It must be very frustrating for a grandmaster that very weak players can tell him for many positions (but far from all positions!!!) on an easy way by using chess engines what had been his mistakes in last competition!


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-11-06 05:59:08)
Re:

What was the last tournament Fischer played in?!...... the rematch with Spassky in the 1990s?!?


Charlie Neil    (2006-11-06 11:57:11)
Chess is dead.

What Fischer said about Capablanca on the chessbase interview in regards to openings could it apply about himself in relation to say Krammik or Anand. It is good to hear that he is toning down some of his views in his old age and that Iceland has taken him in. Is the FBI warrant still out to arrest him if he returns to the USA? He is still a World Champion of Chess and a personal inspiration to me ,in chess only I hasten to add. I am of the generation that were brought to chess by Fischer v Spassky 1972. And finally, Thibault and team good work putting these links into the Forum. I find myself checking out the Forum when I login before I go to my games.


Charlie Neil    (2006-11-07 15:06:33)
Fischer's last tournament

would've been the 1971 Interzonal. After that all his games with , Taimanov, Larsen, Petrosian and Spassky were all matches. How's that for being pedantic?


Dinesh De Silva    (2006-11-07 15:45:25)
Re:

Charlie, I'm almost certain that Fischer played some sorta return match versus Spassky somewhere in the ninetees in Yugoslavia!?? & won. Maybe Thibault knows some details about it.


Thibault de Vassal    (2006-11-07 16:14:47)
Match of the century

Revenge match of the 20th century happened in 1992 in Yugoslavia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Revenge_Match_of_the_20th_Century

About his last tournament, I've no idea...


Elmer Valderrama    (2006-11-07 19:34:10)
Motivation

It appears to me Fischer's approach to chess it's a simple case of (lack of) motivation, if you haven't got any everything seems dull and grey. On the opposite side is V Korchnoi, older than him, but with a lot a will and of course motivation.

Of course having been at the very top preclude any further motivation, perhaps that's a curse to every WC (they can't just go on playing chess for fun as other GM (wanna-be WCs) would do -and be happy at the same time-, exception could be M Tal)


Charlie Neil    (2006-11-09 12:34:30)
Chess is dead?

Misha Tal was the exception to a lot of rules. A "must read" book is the Life and Games of M Tal it will re-ignite your passion for this terrible game. And on Fischer's last tourney it has to be the Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca 1970