Post by Animatronic Daemon Skwerral on Jul 10, 2007 1:29:34 GMT -5
Perhaps nobody's been more scammified by chess -- mentally or physically -- than former World Champion Bobby Fischer, arguably the most brilliant player in history. Here's a guy who started in 1949, as a six-year-old hanging out at the Brooklyn Chess Club. As a child, he appeared so completely "into" the game that his mom eventually hauled him off to the Children's Psychiatric Division of the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. The doctor told mom to chillax. Leave him alone, let the boy play already. At age 14, he became Champion of the United States.
Bobby would grow increasingly paranoid over the years, fearful of untrustworthy adults and other individuals who might trick him into giving away his secrets. At the height of the Cold War, Henry Kissinger personally pleaded with Fischer to try defeating the Soviets in chess during a season of high-stakes tournament games more politically charged than the Olympics. His opponent, Boris Spassky, grew visibly annoyed when Fischer objected to nearly every aspect of the gaming environment. The thermostat in the auditorium, Fischer claimed, was deliberately cold in an attempt to hinder his performance. The lights were too bright, the cameras too loud and way too close. The size of the audience was intended to throw him off game. The amount of the prize money wasn't nearly worth his trouble. The color of the chess board was off-putting. The KGB is spraying poison on my chair, onto my food, etcetera. Despite these tactics -- or perhaps because of them -- Fischer later emerged from that tournament victorious.
Fischer ultimately become famous for other things, including a blue streak of outspoken anti-Semitism which likely cost him more than a few worldwide fans and allies. "There are too many Jews in chess", Fischer would say in 1962. "They seem to have taken away the class from the game. They don't seem to dress so nicely, you know. That's what I don't like". In 1972, he remarked that America was totally under the control of the Jews.
On September 11, 2001, Fischer praised the terrorist attacks in New York as "wonderful", and hoped it would encourage America to imprison the Jews. Then he called for their execution by the hundreds of thousands. When Fischer tried to leave Japan with an invalid U.S. passport, he landed himself in a Japanese prison for nine months.
LOLOCAUST
Bobby would grow increasingly paranoid over the years, fearful of untrustworthy adults and other individuals who might trick him into giving away his secrets. At the height of the Cold War, Henry Kissinger personally pleaded with Fischer to try defeating the Soviets in chess during a season of high-stakes tournament games more politically charged than the Olympics. His opponent, Boris Spassky, grew visibly annoyed when Fischer objected to nearly every aspect of the gaming environment. The thermostat in the auditorium, Fischer claimed, was deliberately cold in an attempt to hinder his performance. The lights were too bright, the cameras too loud and way too close. The size of the audience was intended to throw him off game. The amount of the prize money wasn't nearly worth his trouble. The color of the chess board was off-putting. The KGB is spraying poison on my chair, onto my food, etcetera. Despite these tactics -- or perhaps because of them -- Fischer later emerged from that tournament victorious.
Fischer ultimately become famous for other things, including a blue streak of outspoken anti-Semitism which likely cost him more than a few worldwide fans and allies. "There are too many Jews in chess", Fischer would say in 1962. "They seem to have taken away the class from the game. They don't seem to dress so nicely, you know. That's what I don't like". In 1972, he remarked that America was totally under the control of the Jews.
On September 11, 2001, Fischer praised the terrorist attacks in New York as "wonderful", and hoped it would encourage America to imprison the Jews. Then he called for their execution by the hundreds of thousands. When Fischer tried to leave Japan with an invalid U.S. passport, he landed himself in a Japanese prison for nine months.
LOLOCAUST
