Um, a slight hijack-Polanski’s crime wasn’t just statutory rape-sleeping with an underage girl. He drugged a 13 year old girl and forced himself on her.
Back on topic-Fischer. Lib, yes, he’s a great chess player. Brilliant, possibly the best chess player that ever lived. All right?
That being said, he doesn’t just say some odd things. He’s not merely an eccentric genius. He’s a full on, hateful loon, a spoiled brat who never moved beyond the emotional age of 2. He’s also a greedy motherfucker who, despite being offered the moon, asks for the sun as well!
(Of course, since this is probably due to mental illness, I WILL grant that he needs help. But I’m not going to fellate the guy just because he’s a great “artist” who happens to be crazier than a shithouse rat).
Being a great chessplayer doesn’t excuse this. And hell, it’s A GAME. It’s not like he discovered the cure for AIDS, or cancer. He never helped anyone, he never saved a disabled child from a burning building. He didn’t wipe out world hunger and poverty with a single move.
He plays chess. That’s it. For that, Lib, you want everyone to suck his dick?
Oh poor widdle abused chessplayer. Fuck him. There are people who are probably more intelligent, better artists and more famous who don’t demand 10,000 for opening a freaking letter.
Lib? If you’re serious here, please, get help. YOU are really starting to scare me. You act as if Fischer is a god. Jesus Christ, get some perspective!
Well, I understand the points the five or seven of you are making. Fischer broke the law and must therefore pay as anyone else would have to pay. Fischer has made bigotted statements that merit contempt. Fischer had no authority over FIDE, and would have had none even had he gotten the promised backing from the USCF. But does anyone understand mine? Great man is not it. Great player is not even it. Suppose the man could be wiped away from history, never having existed and yet his art remain. Could we then together adore what we see, and gasp with surprise after move upon move?
Sure, I can do that, but I’d much prefer to admire the brilliant games of Kasparov, Anand, and Krammnik. These guys play at a level that Fischer was never quite able to achieve. Unlike Fischer, they are still playing. They are not quitters. They are not afraid of playing in big matches, or tournaments, against fellow Super-GM’s.
Fischer saw the writing on the wall when he saw Karpov coming up. He knew that his time of dominance was over. Rather than be one of the best, instead of the best, he decided to hang his hat.
Again, while not trying to defend Fischer, I think you are missing a larger point. He was CRAZY. He never feared another opponent, he feared losing, and the shame that would come with it. I’ll tell you a warm fuzzy story.
My coach, when he was in high school, didn’t lose a race (1 mile) from the beginning of his junior year to the end of his senior year. He was freaking undefeated. But he told me that before every singe dual meet (the most unimportant of meets you will ever be in, competeing against local talent that couldn’t have beat him if his legs were broken) he was scared out of his mind. The reason? He was scared to death of losing. No fear of the opponents whatsoever. Just the simple fear of losing, and how it might look. The Mighty (Llamas old Coach) beaten in a dual meet!
Now, magnify that times 100 and you may get an idea of what Fischer was probably going through. He most likely had 0 on the self-esteem scale, and all he had was his chess wins. Again, I’m all for jailing the guy, or at least a mandatory psychiatric hospital stay, but don’t assume for a minute that his actions, any of them, can be broad stroked using a sane outlook. And to say that any subsequent player is obviously better… that’s like saying Wilt will beat Jordan in 1 on 1. You can never know, because people at the top of their game are rarely challenged enough to see how good they can truly be.
Ironically, while you are admiring the games of Kasparov, Anand, and Krammnik, they are admiring the games of Fischer. You are like the man who jumps on the bandwagon to ridicule Elvis while praising the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who themselves would give him due credit for their own work and status. Your assertion about relative strengths is unsupportable by any objective criteria, particular given changes in FIDE ratings algorithms. Nor is your assertion that Fischer feared Karpov supported even by common sense. In his candidates matches, Fischer had gone through the Soviet grandmasters like a wrecking ball while they consulted together as a team before games and during adjournments. In '74, Karpov was a pale, gaunt man of poor health who had already announced that he expected Spassky to win the candidates cycle and was making plans for the '77 cycle. By '92, the frail Karpov had even lost to Nigel Short, and Fischer went on to beat Spassky. Again. So don’t bother me with the Fischer was afraid of Karpov stuff.
That was my point. The Super-GM’s in today’s chess world are constantly playing/challenging each other. The world’s Top 10 players square off against each other, in some variety, multiple times each year, every year. And the Top 20 players of today are much better than the Top 20 players of any era in the past. It’s a chess bloodbath out there.
In this cutthroat environment, Kasparov recently reeled off 10 consecutive Super-GM tournament wins in a row! Earlier in his career, he won 15 consecutive tournaments, a record still held today!
Anand and Krammnik consistently finish in the top 3 in virtually every tournament they enter.
Don’t be fooled. Kasparov is by far the best chess player of all-time. Anand #2. Krammnik #3. Karpov #4. Botvinnik #5. Fischer #6.
Even if you’re granted your rankings for the sake of argument, you are straining gnats. You might rank Morphy at, say, #25 or something, but the camel is his mind-boggling tactical combinations.
Just came across this thread (I liked that other thread better).
FWIW, I’m with Liberal.
It’s an intense, bottomless tragedy. All this petty squabbling, to the detriment of such great art.
Yes, I’m calling the anti-semitism, the 9/11 remarks, the ethnic cleansing, the fleecing of Serbian families leaving them destitute, etc., etc., (not necessarily this thread though) “petty squabbling”. No, I don’t mean to discount how terrible all that is. It devastates me. It’s gut-wrenching. (Not speaking for Lib but I have no reason to assume his feelings are not possibly similar.)
This particular arguement bugs me. Modern-day road engineers give credit to the ancient Roman road-builders for many of the techniques they pioneered. They admire them for what they did, which was indeed exceptional for their time and place in history. Based on that acknowledgement, go ahead and run an 18-ton tractor trailer down a Roman road at 75 mph every thirty seconds 24 hours a day. I dare you.
