An addition to the Blog Roll

Over in the "Other Chess Sites" section I have added an entry for a series of related sites. The addition is the "Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive". It is largely what the title says, an archive of newspaper stories about Bobby Fischer.

But it isn't just one website, it is several. Each year from 1955 onwards gets a separate site. (I don't believe any years beyond 1972 are populated yet.)

Regardless, if one wants to read old articles about Fischer, that is certainly a site to check out. Just go to the one I linked, and at the top of the page is a list of years. Click on the year of interest and then look for articles. Many articles are duplicates distributed by wire services, but they appear to be clearly labeled as such.

The site is connected with another project. I will let the interested reader figure that out for himself.

The Second Piatigorsky Cup, and Sourcing Spassky

[WARNING: This post is long and rambling. But now that I've written it I'm going to post it.]

In the post that will follow this one I feature a couple of quotes by Spassky that I came across online today. The problem with the quotes is that the online sources did not tell me the original source.

So I tried to remember which books Spassky had written, with some help from Amazon. I knew that Spassky hadn't written many books, mostly contributions to a few opening surveys. But I thought that he may have contributed to a book called How to Open a Chess Game, which had seven co-authors. I had to look this up on Amazon because I don't own a copy, to my regret. Spassky had not contributed to that book.

Alibis

I picked up a book by Tony Santasiere, My Love Affair with Tchigorin. At the end of Game 19, a loss Tchigorin suffered to Blackburne at the Berlin 1881 tournament, Santasiere writes the following:

The game was a hard one, with Tchigorin obviously not in the best of form alibis are perfectly justifiable and should be mentioned and kept for reference: A Russian among Germans and playing a Scotsman, the popular time pressure, an ache in the head or stomach or bowels*, temporary stupidity, fatigue, the lights too strong or too weak, the noise (even a whisper has been known to induce a nervous breakdown), the smell of garlic or onions from across the table (more likely whiskey from Blackburne) - and we won't even consider the feminine sex or crying children! No doubt you could make a valuable contribution to this list. Ah - to be a Bobby Fischer, and make demands!

Others to add to this list might include an opponent with a vibrating eyeball, an opponent's intestinal distress, contagious projectile vomiting, and collapsing tables.

* I have had cause to make use of this one, as have other players I know.

An anticpated book...

Jan Timman is publishing a new book through New In Chess, Timman's Titans: My World Chess Champions. Here's a part of the advertising blurb from the publisher:

In this fascinating book, Jan Timman portrays ten World Chess Champions that played an important role in his life and career. Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) he never met, but the story of how in Lisbon he bought one of the last chess sets belonging to the fourth World Champion is one of many highlights in this book.

Timman has a keen eye for detail and a fabulous memory, and he visibly enjoys sharing his insider views, including many revelations about the great champions. Timman’s Titans not only presents a personal view of these chess giants, but is also an evocation of countless fascinating episodes in chess history.

Each portrait is completed by a rich selection of illustrative games, annotated in the author’s trademark lucid style. Always to the point, sharp and with crystal-clear explanations, Timman shows the highs and lows from the games of the champions, including the most memorable games he himself played against them.

I'm pretty sure the connection to Botvinnik will be the one he covers in the introduction to The Art of Chess Analysis. I presume the connection to Fischer has a lot to do with his joint book with Euwe on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match, though he may well have covered the 1992 match in person.

In any event, I have been very impressed with both of the books of his that I own, and look forward to owning this one. There's always another shelf to be cleared....

Krogius on Spassky's preparations for the 1972 match with Fischer

One of the blogs over on Chess.com has a lengthy collection of excerpts from Nikolai Krogius about Boris Spassky's preparations for the match with Fischer. Krogius was one of Spassky's coaches at the time, and was also later his biographer. The quotes actually come from the biography, if I understand correctly. In any event, if you haven't read them before, they might prove interesting. Here's the link.

Hat tip: Brian Karen, via Dennis Monokroussus of The Chess Mind

One particular bit I'd like to point out. From Krogius:

As was agreed beforehand, I brought the data about the reasons of Fischer's and Spassky's losses and about peculiarities of their playing in important games I studied in Saratov. Interestingly enough, several years later I read an interesting book by grandmaster E. Mednis, How to Beat Bobby Fischer, published in the United States in 1974. Fischer's lost games were analyzed in the book. When reading Mednis' work, I would often encounter evaluations and reasonings similar to my own. So, in essence, Mednis and I did the same work independently. Sadly, my work didn't attract Spassky's attention and is now gathering dust in archives.

It would be interesting to compare Krogius's work to that of Mednis - and then to re-evaluate all of it with appropriate programs!

Bobby Fischer: Worst World Champion in the History of the Game

With all the hoopla surrounding the upcoming release of the movie Pawn Sacrifice (starring Tobey Maguire, who looks nothing at all like Fischer), I feel I may as well share my opinion that Bobby Fischer was the worst champion in the history of Chess.

Instead of going into great detail about it, I will restrict myself to two salient points.

First, as champion, he played ZERO games of chess. Fischer even surpassed Botvinnik who barely played at all in the years following his own title win, and at least Botvinnik showed up to play his duly appointed Challenger. Instead, with Fischer, we got years of drama, and no chess at all for 20 years. He then came out of retirement claiming to still be the champion, in order to cash in against Boris Spassky - again.

Second, Fischer's antics away from the board were appalling and couldn't help but taint the rest of us by association. Not completely, of course, but he certainly reinforced the stereotype that chess players are crazy. Thanks, Bobby!

I doubt this is a controversial opinion these days, and that's just sad.