Summary of David Edmonds & John Eidinow's Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The World Chess Championship has existed since 1886. But with this final, it became a front-page story for the first time. The games made news on television and stars of commentators. The meaning of the confrontation seemed clear to Western commentators: a lone American star was challenging the long Soviet grip on the world title.
#2 The end of the cold war has allowed us to see the individuals behind the Soviet monolith. The match was played out on many levels, with chess itself being only one.

Sujets

• Chess
• Games
• Activities

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 03 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669398769
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on David Edmonds & John Eidinow's Bobby Fischer Goes to War
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12 Insights from Chapter 13 Insights from Chapter 14 Insights from Chapter 15 Insights from Chapter 16 Insights from Chapter 17 Insights from Chapter 18 Insights from Chapter 19 Insights from Chapter 20 Insights from Chapter 21 Insights from Chapter 22 Insights from Chapter 23 Insights from Chapter 24
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The World Chess Championship has existed since 1886. But with this final, it became a front-page story for the first time. The games made news on television and stars of commentators. The meaning of the confrontation seemed clear to Western commentators: a lone American star was challenging the long Soviet grip on the world title.

#2

The end of the cold war has allowed us to see the individuals behind the Soviet monolith. The match was played out on many levels, with chess itself being only one.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

When Bobby was six, his mother sent an ad to the local paper, the Brooklyn Eagle, appealing for chess playmates for her son. The ad was never published because the editorial staff couldn’t decide under what category to place it. They instead sent it to veteran chess journalist Hermann Helms.

#2

Bobby Fischer was a very talented chess player, but he was not an instant prodigy. He spent many hours at the Manhattan Chess Club, where he rose quickly through its divisions. In 1955, he joined the Hawthorne Chess Club, an informal gathering of chess masters who met at the home of Jack Collins.

#3

Rumors about the arrival of a new Wunderkind began to spread among the chess community. Fischer was already receiving invitations to give simultaneous displays, in which he would compete against many players at once. He won the U. S. Junior Chess Championship in 1956, at age 14.

#4

Fischer’s quest to become a world champion was a disaster. He went to the Moscow Central Chess Club in the morning, returned to the hotel for lunch, and was back in the club until evening, where his opponents included the young Russian masters Aleksandr Nikitin and Yevgeni Vasiukov.

#5

Fischer was a prodigy in international chess, but he was a poor student at school. He did not see how a high school diploma could advance his career or his real calling. He abandoned his formal education as soon as he could.

#6

During the 1960s, the United States was torn apart by protests and violence related to the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, the body bag count entered the language of public debate and private anguish.

#7

In 1962, Fischer came top by a large margin in the Stockholm Interzonal. He was the first non-Soviet to win an Interzonal, and in so doing he qualified for the Candidates tournament, held later that year in the island of Curaçao in the Dutch West Indies. He was now one of the favorites.

#8

The need for control was incompatible with respect for the rights of others. Anger lay just beneath the surface. In Curaçao, Bisguier, who says his principal job was to calm Fischer’s ruffled feathers when he had a bad result, was himself caught up in the teenager’s dark moodiness.

#9

Fischer’s retirement in 1963 was due to his anger at the Soviet Union for swindling the world chess championship. He didn’t play competitive chess again for a year and a half. In 1965, he entered the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, his first international event since Curaçao.

#10

In 1966, Fischer took his seventh U. S. title, qualifying him for the 1967 Interzonal in Sousse, Tunisia. He was again on his way to another shot at the world title. In the meantime, there was a tournament in Santa Monica, in which the then world champion Tigran Pertrosian would participate, together with his recently defeated challenger Boris Spassky.

#11

Fischer was defaulted for failing to appear at the Soviet international tournament in Sousse. He was then matched against his old adversary and compatriot Samuel Reshevsky. Fischer was emotionally drained, and Reshevsky quickly surrendered despite having a time advantage.
Insights from Chapter 3

#1

Fischer’s total absorption in chess was baffling to other grandmasters. He seemed to have no interest in anything else, and he was famously insensitive to others.

#2

There are two schools of thought about how Fischer took defeat. Some believe that he was petrified of losing, and that his demands about the playing conditions were conscious or subconscious strategies to avoid appearing that way.

#3

Fischer’s opponents were constantly afraid of losing to him, and he never looked for a draw. He was a machine that calculated quickly and precisely. He had no psychologically predetermined system or technique.

#4

Fischer’s intelligence was estimated at Erasmus Hall High School to be in the 180s. He was not well-informed about current events, and he did not care about being cultured. He did not have a sense of humor, and he did not use irony or sarcasm.

#5

Fischer’s wariness and dislike of the Soviet Union slowly and inexorably descended into a state of delusion. He said his aim for the world championship match against Spassky was to teach the Soviets a little humility.