Mad respects for Spassky. He could have easily gone to be a bitter enemy, hostile and happy that the one guy who could regularly beat him in his profession was going through rough times. Instead, he accepted some ridiculous demands, campaigned to get his enemy out of jail and exile and, when that failed, OFFERED TO JOIN HIM IN PRISON. Spassky was a true sportsman and friend, through and through.
@@KillAllCops88 He did what he did because he was a fellow sportsman -despite him being half-Jew in a time and place where simply KNOWING someone from that culture would get you legally shot dead. And if you're referring to Bobby; he was the way he was because A) he was likely autistic (also; possibly OCD) B) isolated and C) thrown away by his own mother so she could pursue her job. Not to mention D) probably had to hear a lot of people say he was, shall we say, "half-breed" (avoiding the other word because auto-censoring exists). I might not agree with his views but I can very easily see how he came across them. Take your 1st world modern sensibilities and re-examine the point where they led you to 'other' and 'have zero sympathy' for people that are different from you. Oh and to block the screech I'm predicting; not telling you to forgive, but to sympathize.
Spassky is the definition of a true sportsman. The respect shown for his competitor is unrivaled in any other sport. He didn’t even let the Soviet Us relations tarnish his views.
@@cryostatcells5642 garbage , everyone liked fischers demand , he brought a lot of money to chess and made the game a profession , all soviet players had a real job unlike fischer who played only chess
@@keithbessant Perhaps, but I believe Spasky was ALSO a truly decent human being. The USSR (as Russia does today) possessed lots of tools for disposing of inconvenient “problems” and had few issues with doing so (more like US than I’d like to admit). Fischer was totally quirky, but he was also highly respected for his brilliance (probably the very most by Spasky).
I agree completely, and I also think he wasn’t going to miss any opportunities to beat him. So without the challenge, he’d have been given the title without an actual feeling of accomplishment. But I do feel that it may have been more balanced towards being a good sport.
It wouldnt have been decisive if boris let bobby off the hook. Still he, as most chess players back then, was a good sportsman, and he paid for it psychologically through the match and later by the government that once supported him. Bobby must be praised for demanding the extra prize money since the prize up until then was a thousand dollars, mainly to keep any non russian from going after it seriously, and as for the Russian players, they were supported and subsidized by the communists
@@scottaseigel5715 I rarely see an American condemn or even try to admit the atrocities their country has committed, unless they are radicals. You don't radiate any radical vibes in that way (radical might be a good thing sometimes sure, but not in this case). Good for you and those like you. =) Have a good life sir!
For people curious about the winning streak Fischer won 20 games in a row But in todays time they often make it sound like magnus had a winning streak of a lot of games which are typically very impressive but there are draws in his. Magnus streak is just him going without losing however here Fischer is only winning which is insane
Magnus did it in the age of engines, which is arguably much more difficult. The players, on average, are much stronger than in Fischer's generation, although people would argue the opposite is true.
@@KKSuited yup that’s a fair point but I think since neither side has an engine maybe u could say engines are negligible but I feel like your right in the fact that once engines came more draws also came 😂
@@bossman4112Magnus and Nakamura have both complained that chess bots like StockFish have ruined the world of chess. Instead of it being a game of strategy and wits its now a game of who can remember the stockfish moves the best, and thats it leading to boring drawn out games. Theres no more creativity in tournaments anymore. Its why Magnus wishes they would bring back 960 chess
Capablanca won 40 straight. Absolutely amazing. Edit: my bad...he won 40 straight tournament games. Still, a feat that no one else has, or will ever accomplish
Spasky was honestly the mvp of the story with giving into Fischers demands to ensure he got a fair shot to prove his title even though he was being pressured to win at all costs by the soviet union, just because he respected him. Plus even though Fischer went off grid for like twenty years, Spasky was willing to go out of his way to play with him again. Then to try and personally protest for his release from prison and even ask to stay in his cell to play chess with him, just because he respected his skill so much.
chess players be like that. chess grand masters were huge celebrities in the soviet union, they knew that they could get away with a lot more than other soviet citizens. in fact, top chess players HAD TO be treated well by the state because they had plenty of freedom to travel that they could have used to request asylum somewhere else and then play chess for another country (well, unless they had relevant family in the soviet union to leverage against them) - that would have been a propaganda disaster! for the soviet union, chess was like having a gold medal subscription in an olympic discipline that implies that your country is the smartest. the soviets were very interested in olympic medals too (and world leaders in doping xD), but winning at chess was better PR than any other sport could ever be.
I remember watching an interview with Fischer and he mentioned how during matches even the wrong lighting would throw him off. Definitely seems like he might have had sensory issues that weren’t well understood at the time.
@@scarcedude3353 being different doesn't give you the right to be a racist psycho. I don't know. Maybe if they knew more about that, they could have helped him. But it still doesn't excuse what he did.
@@r.n.holmes5625 Never implied that mental illness justified his behavior. That's why it's called a mental illness after all - his ideologies and beliefs cannot be compared to those perceived as normal. In any case, most chess grandmasters are fine, and are leading perfectly normal lives. Bobby Fischer was one of the unlucky ones who didn't have the privilege of having a nurturing childhood; his early experiences furthering his extremes. Who knows, if it weren't for his radical behavior and obsessive mind, he might have never made a name for himself in the chess community. Just be aware that you cannot explain the behavior of someone that does not think the same as you, as you can only justify it with your "normal" brain. It is much different for the unfortunate Bobby. His behavior is nonsensical from your perspective, but from his, it is all he has known. Don't take his actions and words to heart. He was a troubled man.
My grandfather taught me how to play chess as a kid. He was ruthless. Never once did he allow me to win. We played for YEARS before I was able to beat him. The day I won I can picture the rickety kitchen table and cheap laminate floor sitting in the corner of my grandparents old farm house down to the last detail. He fell down a bottle when my grandmother past away. Such a kind and brilliant man. I am 39 now and have taught both of my sons to play the game.
Boris spassky was such a nice guy, not taking the tittle of the worlds best just to have a fair match with Bobby, and even going to his jail cell just to play with him, it's just great how he never gave up on beating him
He was not just a great guy he was a true champion, somebody who is absolutely obsessed with being the best in the world does not care about titles fame or money at all literally 0%. They want to find out if they are the best at any means possible and when they meet somebody who is better than them they begin to idolize them because they could possibly learn from that person and or they are so impressed by the person that they become a super fan of that person because they understand just how good they are. This is why Bobby didn’t care about forfeiting matches because he knew he was by far the best player and these events were below him as well as every other player. A title is meaningless to the reality. A title is something somebody/organization gives you who is below you and doesn’t understand what they are even talking about. Somebody who dedicates their entire waking existence (16 hour days), even when they dream in their sleep, knows that they are the best and if they meet somebody who is better than them it is an extremely exciting and life-changing experience and it makes you realize that there is almost always somebody out there who is better than you or on your level even if they have never been at a tournament or nobody has heard about them. Source: Former serial world champion in multiple video games for 20 year time span.
Spassky deserves so much respect for what he did. Fischer was rude to so many people, possibly even Spassky. Most people would never talk to him again from there but Spassky, he went to great lengths to make sure Fischer felt happy and comfortable. A real mature man, Spassky was.
Dont forget Spassky was representing the whole Soviet Union too. So he did not want to let all those people down. Or go to the Gulag if he did really poorly. Ie- he was doing what he was told. Some of it may have come naturally. But most of that was because of his CCCP handlers. Everything was political in those days in Russia.
Spassky had a chip on his shoulder, and thought Bobby was trying to weasel his way out of the series so he wouldn't lose. Spassky wanted to beat him without a shadow of a doubt, so he could be the undisputed greatest chess player in the world. Needless to say, Spassky grew to respect and admire Fischer. I'm sure Fischer did too but the dude was too damn crazy to know for sure.
The question posed in the video is misleading. A better question would be why not every chess prodigy/legend goes insane dedicating so much of their lives and brain space toward the mastery of a very narrow finite game.
@@jeffersonott4357 he was so classy to give in to fischer unreasonable demands, even though he'd end up losing it... i like it that russians seem less "entitled" where they go... they just do the hard work and shut up!
To put that 20 game win streak into context, the two greatest players of all time, Kasparov and Carlsen, both have 6 wins as their longest classical win streak, and Karpov, another top 5 all time player who succeeded fischer as world champion (and lost to kasparov) also has 6. One of today's best players Fabiano Caruana achieved 7 in a row at a tournament which is literally the greatest performance in modern chess. Fischer did 3 times that
It’s a lot harder know then Fischers time chess engines have made chess more difficult back then you had to play chess physically and pretty much only then know you can play chess from the comfort of your home chess know is a lot more difficult Fischer no lifed chess during his time he would play it all day there’s a huge gap during his time a chess elo of 800 was the average chess elo currently a 1500-1700 is the average elo that record is impossible to do at this current time place magnus in that era and trust me he would be near or equal if not past that
@@dannygjk smh 🤦♂️ elo is a rating that’s what it’s for it’s common sense that current chess players are a lot better then the last eras it’s not even an argument
My dad tried to teach me chess, I was only 10, he was 52. I picked up the moves of the pieces easily. Halfway through our first game he said “Do you have a strategy or are you just making moves at random?” I said “Making moves at random.” He boxed up the pieces and that was that. I later turned out to be a terrific poker player 😁
@@bugglemagnum6213 not rlly, like with no initial knowledge of the game and just being taught how the pieces move and the goal it doesnt take like some genius prodigy to realise moving pieces randomly wont win u the game
@@sea_triscuit7980 nah I have a short attention span, perfect for poker and blackjack, bad for strategy games. I think I won Risk once in my whole life. But I KILLED at Trivial Pursuit!
I believe in an interview he said he hated chess and said that it was an old game that wasn’t able to grow and there was nothing new to learn about the game because every move ever to be played in the game has been played. He ended up trying to make his own variations of chess to keep the game interesting to himself. If you can imagine Einstein discovering the theory to everything and that there was nothing else to learn about physics, then you can also understand why some physicists who’ve dedicated their lives to the subject would go insane. That’s just a little window into his madness.
One thing that this video fails to mention, is that many of Fischer's complaints about playing conditions were valid criticisms, and that many of the changes that were made to meet his demands are considered standard today.
@@BananaPhoPhilly I'm fairly certain that's due to social anxiety - he felt it affected his play because he couldn't handle being watched so closely and felt judged by the masses.
Fischer was not crazy at all. He started calling out the people who run the world, so THEY called him crazy. He was 100% spot on with everything he said
My teacher, Joan Targ, was his older sister. She shaped young minds for many decades. Her son Nick went to the same high school and university I did. He was regarded as a genius like his mother and uncle.
Anyone with obsessive habits knows why Bobby lost his mind. It’s a lonely life. I’m up to over 2,000 hours drawing and painting this year while working 12 hour swing shifts and overtime. I eat my dinners alone. I take walks alone. I spend my breaks drawing alone… The lack of human intimacy really messes your head up
@@cat_the_real it's completely normal to like a lot of alone time just make sure you still have some regular contact with people you enjoy exchanges with and you'll be fine. Isolation and solitude are not the same thing and have different effects on your mental health
I haven't left TH-cam in 10 years, I have decided to make the ultimate no life choice....I'ma become a....**gulp** TH-camr! But seriously yes, being alone is the most painful thing.
@OwlPhobic that's a rather odd, and somewhat aggressive suggestion. You're right, I as the publisher should edit it myself and then random weirdos will turn up and defend me.
@@Alex.The.Lionnnnn that wasn't the point what i mean't was why would you discriminate on a mistake he made even though you should understand how hard to edit and animate these videos are.
@@owlphobic it's not that deep dude, and wdym discriminate? how can someone discriminate against an editing mistake? discrimination is when we're talking about a group of individuals being treated unfairly for being in that certain group.
It's natural to strive to become like the best at a profession, however the story about Fischer's life has made me value the importance of one's character in tandem with proficiency way more than before. Spassky, despite losing, has definitely earned my respect.
massive respect to spasky. Im sure he could tell that for all fischer's greatness, he was troubled. Spasky simply wanted to help him do what he was meant to do.
i dont think its about helping him. as a serious chess player, it was important to him to know that his victories (and falls) are real and not result of spaciel circumstances. that why he insisted to play againat him ratter then win technic victory.
Bro, there's NOTHING I saw in this video that makes him "troubled". You might not like his political views.. but do you know how many people in the world hold the same views as Fisher ? Newsflash : billions ! Just in the muslim states alone, especically since Bush's "war on Terror". As for his reclusive nature, introvert geniuses are all like that.
@@goofygrandlouis6296 bro, hbelieved the world was gonna end, reclused from the world, and freaked out to insane degrees if his demands weren't met. His political views got nothin to do with it lmfao.
@@youdontneedtoknow1057 OK, so here's my interpretation of it, as they are MANY videos about high-IQ / gifted pupils. a) Most of them are hyper-sensitive, both physically (light, sound.. like TV cameras) and mentally (they endure emotions in a much intense ways, like mom not giving out love) b) They also need regularity (thus the schedule incident) and often-time have border-line Asperger tendancies (like Elon Musk). In short, Fisher (just like Turing or Rousseau) needed an environnement of love & support, and an alter ego to talk to (like Spasky). They did not have that, thus fell into reclusivity.
@@ctrainbeats your dad was a terrible piece of shit, a dad should impose his authority on his kids and discipline them, but he should NEVER subjugate them causing them to become withdrawn and timid
learning coping skills is seriously important in living a healthy life after trauma. trauma affects your physical body responses to stress even if you didn’t know you were about to go from 0-100. it’s fight or flight often. i wish health care was more accessible, trusted, funded, and affordable for all.
Not sure if someone can be 'ahead of his time' when it comes to a game, let alone such an old one. I do think, though, that having an IQ of 180 comes with brilliance for sure, but also with lots and lots... and lots of problems concerning mental stability and compatibility with other people.
I was a young man when he played Boris spassky and probably due to the Cold War he was made out to be kind of a bad guy. I am overjoyed finally to hear what a good human being he was.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard this and thought to myself. “This Boris fellow actually seems like a decent person and good sportsman.” He could have walked away with that championship by default. Instead he did everything he could to see that it could happen so he’d win or lose legitimately. I respect that.
@@leefswgoh7558 no, misinformation was why Boris was portrayed as a bad guy to western media, Fischer being antisemitic is a reflection of himself not media portrayal
The light sensitivity and erratic behavior are symptoms of a person "on the spectrum". It is not uncommon for people like this to prefer lamps to ceiling lights as the glare is annoying to them. Lashing out comes from difficulty communicating, feeling different and knowing you are different, it is easy to believe that you are being mocked and lacking the skills to compete it is easier to flee than fight. Fishers mental health was probably not caused by chess but the pressure that came to surround him due to his success at chess. While playing he probably felt safe, knowing the rules, knowing everyone had to obey them and that he would not be mocked for some social faux pas he didn't understand or care about.
Youre incorrect. If you look him up on earlier talk shows, he's quite sociable. Understands banter without hardship. There's a correlation between OCD and superstition for high level performers across every domain. Singers, pro athletes, etc
@@TaskerFilms just because he's "social" in a talk show where the host is literally doing their job by trying to get him to talk doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't on the spectrum
@@TaskerFilms Elon is sociable and understands jokes in interviews and yet, he explained that he is on the spectrum. A spectrum means not everyone have the same degree of challenges.
I'm also "on the spectrum," and I had a similar outburst when I was on the math team in 4th grade. At the beginning of the first tournament, I got frustrated with my teammates because they wouldn't put down the answer that I _knew_ was right (they confused perimeter with area), so I let out a blood-curdling scream, forfeited the tournament, quit the team, and had to be replaced by a backup. However, unlike Fisher, I'm not a bigot, I would never join a cult, and I wouldn't break the law unless it was for the greater good, such as if the government was corrupt. I think such erraticness is often tied to high IQ. My mom told me that people with an IQ of 160 or higher may have a hard time functioning in society due to so much of their minds being allocated to their intelligence. However, many people "on the spectrum" have a higher IQ than average, so his behavior was likely a combination of autism and a dangerously-high IQ.
@@rowan404 Once you're smart enough you begin to understand how stupid things are, it's not hard to see why someone so bright would think of societal norms as worthless. You could also look at it the other way and understand how necessary they are, but it's all a matter of moral relativism in the end. He was still right on the ZOG though, even though he was a complete ass.
One thing Thoughty forgot to mention... Bobby Fischer single-handedly made chess into a profession. When he burst upon the scene, the winning purse from a large tournament might be $3000. He realized he could demand more, and forced the winning purses to increase to $300,000 and even $1.2 Million. The flood of immensely talented chess players is a direct result of this change. He also created the current timekeeping system, which increments (adds back) time to the players as the game continues.
I've played chess for over 50 years. I have seen and studied innumerable games. The one thing that comes through Fischer's play is the simplicity and clarity and extraordinary depth of his play. Most of his games seem almost innocuous, then he makes a couple of moves and his opponent resigns or gets mated, seemingly totally out of the blue. In the "Immortal game" against Byrne, at the end, when Byrne stands up THE EXPERTS WATCHING AND COMMENTING SAID, "well, Byrne just beat Fischer." THEN Byrne offered his hand to Fischer and resigned. EVERYBODY WAS STUNNED! It was sitting in front of them and the couldn't see Fischer had two moves to a massive victory. That was the depth of his insight. Another short anecdote: Fischer was in Russia to play a tournament, and he got into a conversation with other Russian masters & grandmasters. He went into great depth about several up-and-coming FEMALE Russian players covered by minor Russian chess periodicals. They were stunned - that HE was following and analyzing very young RUSSIAN FEMALE PLAYERS, and, second, that THEY WERE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF THEM. Such was the depth and breadth of the World's greatest chess player.
What makes spasskys behavior so special is that he was representing a nation that would have and certainly did, berate him for his failure and look down on the way he handled the failure rather than heap praise on him for being an exceptional human being. I will always have respect for fishers skill, but it’s men like Spassky who I admire and respect.
@@CoolGobyFish according to Spassky himself, he was mistreated when he returned after his loss and was banned from traveling abroad for 9 months. He literally moved to France and didn’t return to his homeland until 2012 because of how he was treated there after the loss to Fischer. This is the book containing the interview with Spassky after moving to France “Finding Bobby Fischer: Chess interviews” by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam. Mark Taimanov also write about being persecuted by his nation for losing to Fischer in his book “I Was A Victime of Bobby Fischer”. You are doing these men a disservice trying to act like they didn’t show such grace through mistreatment by their country.
@@ampinghard111 That is quite sad. USSR could easily spin it to gain points inside country as well as worldwide. There is no shortage of how much rep it could have gained, not everything is about winning.
I don't know that it was so much a case of Spasky liking him, I think it was more a matter of Spasky having a great deal of respect for him because of his god-given talent. He probably didn't feel right seeing that incredible Talent be wasted. It really was a waste what happened to him, because at his best there's probably nobody that has ever been that good. He was only at his best for a fairly short time unfortunately and the talent was wasted mostly, and yet he still set some records that still stand.
@@actionjksn i'd say that it was a mixture of respect and liking him, i mean....he had chess with him in jail, you could say he just had THAT much respect for Bobby, but i feel like at that point you have to admit that Spassky liked Bobby at least a little bit, if not more not many people visit someone in jail, in a different country, JUST to play chess out of respect, traveling to different countries can be quite expensive
Bobby wrote a column in Boy’s Life magazine that was designed to teach us Boy Scouts how to play chess. In each article he would focus on how to best leverage a particular piece, starting with pawns, then the power pieces, one at a time…I ate it all up and became one of the dominant players at my high school, graduating in 1972. Then met a girl and lost interest. All the sour news came out; I didn’t follow too closely, but always I would tell the story of how I was “Bobby Fischer trained”.
It breaks my heart to see that people take those obnoxious remarks seriously and don't realise that those were actually the cries of help They depict the need to be loved in his life which he simply couldn't have asked for directly to someone. They always say outlandish things , loud enough, with a grin on their face wishing deep inside that maybe someone somewhere will understand the language they speak, and will feel for them And it's not like they are fond of that language, but that's all they learned in reaction . When love is denied, even buying hate seems to be a good trade for filling up the void inside People with the greatest of egos and with the most ruthless of styles were actually once a child/or an adult maybe , who were denied tenderness from their closest of fellow beings .
I believe this is why Fisher enjoyed playing chess with him. No doubt Bobby must have respected the honest character of Boris Spassky and enjoyed his company.
@@uptonsavoie Bobby Fischer was Jewish as well. There are many videos of him explaining his dislike for Jews. His explanations seem to be based on empirical observations, not of someone that has lost their mind.
That was a really well told story. I now have mad respect towards Boris Spassky. What a chap with his sportsmanship and respect he had towards his rival.
Maybe Spassky got his interest piqued by Fischer...? It's weird to me that someone would go to extents such as incarcerating yourself for another person's solitude just for sportsmanship. AND defend them against public media, ignoring the lens of the cold war parallels Spassky and Fischer were seen through. Maybe it's a bit far-fetched, but from my point of view, Spassky got some kind of interest for Fischer. Perhaps.
If both have equal opportunity to get engine analysis then yes otherwise magnus or hell any gm above 2650 would be able to beat fischer because how developed the theory is
It’s a good video but don’t be misguided he’s not a real chess player and doesn’t understand the reason it’s unfair to compare Fischer to carlsen. The computer chess revolution makes it so people memorize crazy 30+ move lines and just draw the world champion.
It seems like whatever we learned from about age 5 until age 10 is what we end up being best at. Bobby's obsession came at the right time. Not being shown "how" to play and being forced to learn from the ruleset alone, I think helped as well, so that he had a full understanding for his obsession to thrive within.
@HBitron I cant remember. I always care more about the quote/substance than the person who said it. I've heard my father (physics professor) say it many times in the 90s-2000s but it's not his quote. He was good about sharing and remembering powerful quotes. Sorry I'm no help
Everything he said was right, normal people are just low IQ, cowards and sheep, they shit themselves in their pants whenever someone talks truth to power near them.
Elon Musk is the epitome of this, with the exception that he's more than willing to be PROVEN wrong. When you can, I encourage parents to teach that skill to their kids (ie. support your argument). I have 2 above average IQ kids and where they struggle is the frustration that comes along with why others don't understand when they are right or think differently. That frustration in my oldest will cause her to flash anger sideways and at random moments, it causes my youngest to completely withdraw. They just don't understand why others don't see it their way and so desperately try to help, but the anger turns inward. Edit - spelling
Nobody is saying it as it is about that game - Fischer was an annoying pretentious little bitch while Spassky was a gentleman that put up with his shit because he knew better.
In my years of playing and studying chess and the greatest players I've come to the conclusion that chess doesn't create madness, but it does attract it.
@@CODESFV While not the pawn pushers like me, but the upper tier of players have brains that few of us can fathom. From Aspbergers to OCD quirkiness to full blown Autism, these people are attracted to games, puzzles, numbers, patterns, mazes...etc. And their abilities in memory retention and recall can boggle your mind. They were born that way, not made that way.
This isn't the only instance of something like this happening. It is less about the game and more about the people attracted to spend their lives studying it. There is a quote by former British chess champion Bill Hartston, "Chess doesn't drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane."
Highest rating gap between n1 and n2 ever which is a chess record, highest win rate among world champs, longest winning streak, perfect us championship score, one of the highest iqs ever measured. One of the legends of chess and a top goat
@@HegelsOwl Exactly. I mean, if you watch the video through at 4:35, you will find Fischer lost during his first game against a chess master before he was formally educated. Defeated anybody in his way? How could you say that? He was way up against other all chess grandmasters at his peak, but still many games ended up in draw, and his pride and arrogance led many possible games forfeited, which I count as a loss on his side. Regardless, Fischer is simply a legend, though you have to admit his success comes in a hard way with countless days of mental exercises and incredible friendships he built along the way.
Boris Spassky: “I’ve kept good memories of Fischer. I don’t have any grudges against him. I always forgave him the fact that he behaved like a child. Bobby was very pure and friendly. He liked children, animals. He was an avid cat lover! I also preferred cats to dogs, like Bobby. He didn’t respect Karpov, or Kasparov, or Korchnoi or Campomanes… You know what he called them? Karpy, Kaspy, Korchy, Campy… In Iceland Bobby found himself in zugzwang. The Americans insisted that he was given up to the USA and he could never leave the island for fear of arrest. And he died because he didn’t trust his doctors. He had severe kidney problems but rejected an operation… He also tried to dissuade me when I had acute appendicitis during my match with Hort. He phoned and said I shouldn’t go to hospital. He thought that I, like him, was on a “blacklist” and that I might die at the hands of the doctors… Back when he was sitting in a Japanese prison I wrote a letter to the US President and sent it to Mioko Vatai, his last very close friend. She passed the letter to the Americans, but nothing came of it… Then I wrote that they should shut Fischer and me up in one room, give us a chess set and leave us in peace!”
Spassky know fisher just respect him and let him win 2 times at first round. 🎉😂 only pro chess can know who let you win and respect later while idiots know only win and doesn't know why opponent let him win. Spassky join fisher can prison show their close relationship in chess and friendship.
My grandfather actually played with Bobby regularly in 1956 at the West Orange Chess Club in New Jersey. They played on the same team in inter-state tournaments. I found some of my Grandpa’s old letters and it’s pretty cool. He won multiple chess championships (some amateur and some professional) in the late 40s and early 50s. He also was involved in a few professional chess clubs and magazines. He was born in 1909 and while I like to think he taught Bobby a thing or two to help him gain his immense success that year, it’s likely the 13 year old schooled my grandpa. My grandpa quit chess in 1957 to turn professional in bridge because it was better financially (chess tournaments didn’t pay well back then). Though, he probably played teenage Bobby enough to know he stood no chance in the future. If a 13 year old made a multi-time champion quit the game entirely, he must have been truly special. My grandpa could card count so I don’t think he had a problem switching to bridge, and became a national life master in bridge and had a successful career. I never got to meet him because he died before I was born (I’m only 23), I would’ve loved to ask him about Bobby. Maybe my mom knows a bit more. All I have are letters and a few chess trophies. It’s very hard to collect information from the early 50s.
Forgot a fun fact! My grandpa was questioned by the government (FBI/CIA not sure) during the Cuban missile crisis because he regularly played games through mail to other players all over the world (including Cuba) they thought he was sending information but he was literally mailing one chess move at a time back and forth. Still the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard but it’s true. If anyone has questions, I can dig through more letters to see if I can find more information. There are a ton of them but his connection to Bobby is rare and worth exploring.
People should credit Spassky. The dude was also a nasty player that also beat every russian big guys that existed in their time. He even had great sportsmanship against Fischer. Throughout Fischer's maddening, Spassky was always there to support him and try to calm him down with a game of chess. Spassky was the MVP no one recognized
Spassky - what an absolute gent and a legend too! Not just for his achievements, but for the humility and compassion he showed Fischer. He obviously recognised his tormented genius and shared common ground with him.
Spasky seems to be a hell of a person even with all the advantages on his side in every situation he respected an embattled man to the utmost degree and was willing to compromise for a fair duel never kicking a man why he was down only extolling him to the highest so noble of him
@@Sam60420 I'm trying my best to be like that bu tthe problem with this society is that most people think it's a weakness or something they can abuse for personal gains. It's quite messed up...
I think it's very interesting that he played against himself so much as a child. Almost like reflexive machine learning. A self generated data set. That GO computer that self trained crushed using totally irregular tactics. Because they weren't taught "how to play properly" in advance but explored into new configurations and strategies
My dad was a state chess player and he used to do that a lot 3 to 4 hours a day, he'd say it practice but that was crazy to watch. He passed away a year ago he was the best player in our town.
When you play over Bobby's brilliant Queen sacrifice against Donald Byrne in 1956, you marvel at the fact that a thirteen-year-old kid could see that far ahead. But then you realize that that kid had a genius I. Q., a photographic memory, and basically played and studied chess every day.
People always have this misconception that IQ score has anything to do with chess despite numerous studies showing they are not coorelated. This means either chess skill is not a measure of intelligence...or IQ test are not a complete representation of intelligence.
@@memegazer Well, I'm not a child psychologist or human-development expert. Chess requires concrete reasoning ability, and the ability to see 17 or 18 moves ahead, at least on the grandmaster level. I don't think too many top players today have average, or even merely somewhat-above-average, I.Q.s. But I get it. No direct relationship. The fact that Fischer did nothing else throughout his life, and his memory capacity, certainly were fundamental factors in contributing to his strength over the board.
@@steelers6titles The point I am making is that I think IQ tests only give a limited amount of data about human intellectual capacity. Take the current super GM Hikaru for example...on a stream at one point he took an IQ score and was basically pointed out as average. But on another stream he took the human benchmark test and scored in the 99 percentile. IMO I think people put too much stock into IQ scores as being some kind of comprehensive biometric of intelligence. I think it is probably safer to assume that IQ scores only measure some portion of human intellectual capacity rather than an exhaustive and overall general measure.
@@memegazer Can you give me a single study that support your claim that IQ and performance at chess are unrelated? If Hikaru didn't try hard it is no surprise that he got average, I think he must have above average IQ. I don't think the relation between chess performance and IQ is simple, but there is a relation.
He was quite a lovely man. I had the fortune to play him in 1971 and to have a chat with him. He told me I could have had a draw in our game (he beat me in 27 moves), but didn't tell me what the moves were to obtain it! It took 40 years and chess engines to show me what the drawing line was.
Spassky put on a clinic for the entire human race to witness in how a true champion conducts himself at all times. In defeat he wasn't bitter and showed pure class when he applauded Fischer along with the audience because he is well aware of his own skill level which I would imagine is why it was only appropriate he applaud his opponent on a job well done to have overcome such a powerful and dangerous adversary in himself.... It is how I envision true gentlemen conducting themselves and the fact that he was willing to join Fischer in his incarceration is moving beyond words and really shows the champion this man is/was but the world as a whole can learn alot about how they conduct themselves from this rare treasure of a man Spassky....
Bobby Fischer became a bitter anti-semite because the Jews were furious that someone was smart who wasn't also a Jew. The Jewish community has basic bitch energy turned up to 11. It's a cult which is extreme in matriarchal toxicity. When you go against what-ever their issue of the day is they use their collective powers to attack and target you. Kayne West, Bobby Fischer, Jesus Christ. If you're talented and not Jewish you'll eventually find yourself on the wrong side of the Jews. Their favorite move is to say you're crazy when you go against them. Bobby Fischer, Kayne West aren't crazy. They're just tired of being fucked with by bitter jealous bitches with too much time, money, power, envy.
I love how Spassky had such an obvious bro crush on Fischer. When you beat a guy in a sport and he's willing to share a prison cell with you on the condition he can play the game you beat him at some more, that's Ancient Greek-style love right there.
He probably never found anyone else to match Fischer. I know what it's like not to find a good opponent to play with. That's why I started playing against computers. But I guess at that level of competition, you'd want an opponent on a par with you.
Touching sentimental and nostalgic was the fact that Spassky offered to stay in fishers cell with him in Japan but required to be given a chessboard 's💕 it seems as if those two had some sort of very deep connection in the cosmos I wonder if they were friends or maybe brothers in another life
Spassky was a true gentleman and you can tell cared so much about the game he was willing to be imprisoned if he could spend those years playing with Fisher.
I studied chess quite hard as a child. I'd go to the library, get out books and study the games of the masters. Spassky, Botvinik, as well as some of the older ones (Capablanca, Morphy, etc). I never liked studying Fischer's games. IT was a rabbit hole trying to understand them and you got the sense that there was something not quite human behind them.
?? I find Fisher's games to be fairly simple(don't get me wrong, they are excellent) compared to what modern day GMs play. I can't imagine one person finding Fisher's games complicated while understanding even a few moves of what the modern players play. Carlsen even said, 'Fisher had the rare gift of making chess look simple.'
@@jamesm7649 Of course, but I'm saying what I'm saying by how easy it is to understand the meaning behind each move the players make. These days Fisher's games would be considered 'very simple' but maybe that wasn't the case back in the day
Born in USSR during WW2 he luckily escaped the german onlsaught by train, where he learnt chess. He became youngest grandmaster at the time at 16 (Before fischer took the record), and while he lost the world championship match against Petrosian in 1966 he won it in 1969, and then was scheduled to play fischer in 1972 where he lost. Afterwards, he still proved his strenght by winning the USSR championship in 1973, reaffirming that he was still the strongest USSR player even after losing the title, where soviet officials begun moving efforts to support Karpov, which they saw as the best chance of retaking the title. Spassky eventually defected to France in 1980s despite the great efforts of soviets to prevent him, and he stayed and played for France and was still a strong player for a long time. He is still alive currently, but little is known about him nowadays
Spassky was literally a chess player thats the best you could describe him lol he always played to his best never made excuses and when fisher whined about something in the stage Spassky simply agreed to play in the back with no interruptions mans just wanted to play some chess lol
@@josefn738 Spassky was a genius, just not to the degree of Bobby. Spassky has a universal playing style, with the ability to seize initiative, play solid or aggressive very well. His games with Bobby, also a universal player with an aggressive skew, are one of the more interesting chess games for an enthusiast. They were all close fights, and his wins against Bobby were extremely genuine and telling of his skill.
For everyone Commenting about Magnus -125 WIN streak Well that was not only wins it consisted of 42 wins and 83 draws So it was more like not lost for 125 matches Whereas Bobby's 20 streak is of only WINS( consecutive)
It was not just Spasky ..the world-class GMs at that time generally all rooted for FIscher. They all wished for FIscher to somehow overcome being his own enemy, and that foe was too great. Those who saw his state of being instinctively and humanely rooted for him as if he were the underdog despite him being utterly dominant above all others on the board.
He was honestly more than that, I'd even go so far as to say he was a high quality bro as well. The guy literally joined him in prison, so they could play together and keep each other company. That level of friendship during their time, is honestly remarkable.
There is a story about Taimanov, after he lost 6-0 to Fischer in their match, the Soviets took away his vacation home. After Fischer beat Bent Larsen 6-0, they gave it back.
@@biazacha Not petty, Chess was a large psychological factor in the Cold War, where Russians beat literally everyone else for decades. It's similar to the space race, where Russia and the US needed a propaganda boost for their populace, and losing Chess as a propaganda point was important for Russia.
Maybe all this "insanity" is in the eye of the beholder. My sister is retired psychiatrist and she tells anyone that there is no such thing as a "NORMAL" person.
@@jzk3919 True enough. Although there is such a thing as abnormal. Ideas and thoughts can and are taken to a point of no return with horrific consequences. Read the news sometime.
People's personalities that are destined to go insane are difficult to divert from that end. The fact that this man played Chess is a side note. He could just as well collected baseball cards or designed nuclear fission devices.
would have been good to mention why he withdrew from that tournament he was leading that could have possibly seen him play for the world title at age 16. he suspected the Russian players were cheating by agreeing to pre arranged matches and it turned out he was right! it even changed the rules a bit to how the candidates (a tournament to decide the world challenger) is played. hard to believe he could have possibly been the world's youngest champion ever at 17 but he was cheated out of it
Fischer would have been a champion maybe in 1963 or 1966. In 1959 he was still too young, he needed to expand his opening knowledge. He lost the 1969 because he could not handle the Caro Kann defense, and Tal was wreaking havok on the board because people had not figured out his attacking style. By 1970, Bobby was too strong for the competition.
Spasky was a class act. Says a lot about him going with the demands to keep playing, he wasn't content with a DQ win, he wanted to beat the best to be the best.
This story should also be a story of Boris Spassky. If the information is correct, the guy is a really decent person. Spassky could, repeat, could be a world champ without competing, but no. When Fischer had his "ticks", Spassky said just give in, and let's play. Many years later Spassky told then US-president Bush to "Free Spassky", and even met Fischer in prison to play chess Boris Spassky was obvisously one of a kind. A human face of communism
@@WooperButBetter That's not what actually landed him in prison, though. According to the video, it was the Japanese authorities who imprisoned him for travelling with an expired passport.
I really want to think that it was Spassky's love and passion for the game that caused him to be such a good sportsman. People who truly love the games/sports they play typically don't care too much about winning or loosing. It's the joy of the game that they live for. They also tend to respect their opponents because of the shared passion as well. He could have also been eager about the challenge of playing against Fischer in and of itself, interested in the thrill of it, and didn't want win 'by default.' I don't know how much Spassky loved chess or that the above assumption's true, but it's still really heartwarming to see such good sportsmanship and support even for one's rival.
@@CLairsoftFTW At those stratospheric levels, it's also a sport. Even physically, it is very demanding to play a tournament in the championship cycle. Fred
@@ffggddss there is nothing physically demanding about a sport where men at 50+ years old still dominate just because you enjoy a game a lot and it’s very special to you doesn’t make it a sport lol🤣 you’re the type who’d say snooker and darts are sports too😅
@@CLairsoftFTW Chess is not particularly special to me. I played it somewhat in my youth, but was never good enough to even consider trying to get into tournament play - I never would have got in. I did later take up distance running, and was not too bad at that, placing in the top 10% in my best outings. Now I'm not claiming that championship chess is as physically demanding as a road race, but it does require better than average physical fitness to be truly competitive. Brainwork is not totally detached from overall fitness; if you believe otherwise, just try tackling a challenging crossword, or mathematical problem, when you're physically exhausted. The point here, is that 99% of all the games of chess that are played, are not physically demanding; but if you're trying to win against a player with an ELO over 2000, you'd better be at your best physically, in addition to having chess skills at a 2000 level! Fred
Imagine how many games you play without challenge, then meet somebody who does. Its at that point the only person you can still learn from. To get to that level you need to be willing to learn from your mistakes and losses, to become a better player. He offered him a worthy opponent, that could also improve his own skill.
The search for Bobby Fisher was my favorite movie for several years. I asked my chess playing teacher if there was anything more about him and he went and bought me 3 of his favorite books about B. Fischer. I read em several times over and my teacher taught me some chess strategies and took me to some chess competitions he went to. I never won but it was a lot of fun.
@@KillAllCops88 i dont think him being racist matters much. the majority of "special" peoples "lore" doesnt matter because theyre known for X. the guy was a genius in a way & played chess in a different way. couldnt care less if hes racist or an alcoholic or whatnot personally
When Paul died, Peter actually looked after Bobby. This was while he was credited for the stats test bearing his name right before Bobby started his world title run. Tons of history there that’s super interesting
At a big chess tournament in Reykjavik in the late 1990's, several players were going over some games. Someone was at the counter buying up several chess books. As he was leaving he glanced at the board and commented "Oh, that's the Knight to f6 game." The people going over the game just looked up wondering what he was talking about. The man left after his statement and the winning move in the game they were going over was, Nf6. It was Bobby Fischer.
Bobby ended up hating chess for its "opening theory", where move after move from the start of the game by each player had been carefully planned beforehand and committed to memory. In his eyes, he'd rather figure things out more as he went, as this was a better test of true skill, rather than simply memorize and play the "best moves". Thus, he created Chess960, also called Fischer Random. In this format, the 8 pieces on the back rank, which are the 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen, and 1 king, begin in random positions on the back rank. There are 960 possible combinations of ordering the pieces this way, so as to prevent players from memorizing the best moves and to encourage creativity and unique games.
One thing Fischer was right about though was the invention of Fischer Random, or Chess960. It forces you to forget everything about opening theories and "opening tricks" (which don't work on grandmaster level anyway) and concentrate on the game and how pieces move. It's one thing to memorize every possible variation of let's say Sicilian Defense, but what if you started a game where the pieces are set up like "Q, B, B, N, R, N, K, R"? Now all of a sudden all your memorized opening theory won't do sh*t for you.
To me classical chess is a much better game than Fischer Random. The talented few and the lazy always seem to want to take the puncher's chance of the diligent untalented hard worker out of chess as much as they can. But the fact that anyone can easily learn to prepare sound openings is one of great qualities of chess. All the opening preparation in the world won't help you against a much stronger player. But preparation does enable more players to develop their pieces harmoniously and put up a fight against almost anyone. Chess is a better game than poker because unlike in poker, in chess anyone can aspire to become better than 99+% of casual players through hard work alone even without talent. Hard work is not nearly enough to become a Grandmaster. But it's more than enough to learn to beat most players most of the time. I don't want chess to go down the road Major League Baseball took when it turned classical baseball into a baseball variant in an artificial attempt to give the offense the upper hand and attract new fans with novelty at the expense of anything enduring. That is the reason I am no longer a baseball fan and I won't watch or play Fischer random either.
Chess has become more and more ridiculous with the pros running chess engines for weeks just to get a slightly better advantage in their opening reprotoire. There are openings like the Ruy Lopez where you might play 25+ moves that are all forgone conclusions before even making what would be considered "original" moves. Fischer Random would save chess and bring back the true genius in the game if people would just accept it. No more would a weaker player have a major benefit simply by massive amounts of memorization of theory. It would be fantastic to bring the originality of chess back.
Traugott - I love the idea of something which takes away the experience advantage as much as possible. Imo true gamesmanship is better determined by how well a player does at something Never seen before although proficiency with the mechanics should be the same between players. In many life endeavors I have learned, over time, that brilliance (with a bit of development) is superior to experience which mostly just means trial-and-error. A brilliant generalist can excel in a nearly limitless number of ways/endeavors where an experienced specialist tends to be good at only one narrowly defined thing and poor at nearly everything else. I realize that mine is not the popular view, being that individualism has been under intense cultural attack for some time now and generalists are not only looked down on, but dismissed and misunderstood.
@@morelhunter3966chess doesn't need saving. Unlike most games, in which only talent matters, chess also rewards the hard work of the untalented although not as much as it rewards talented hard workers. Yes opening preparation does play a significant role in serious chess (one of the game's redeeming features). But the role of opening preparation should not be exaggerated. There are still plenty of opening ideas that work extremely well in practice even though the chess engines don't like them. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 the Philidor Counter Gambit with 3...f5 loses according to the Stockfish Engine. But good luck winning by force against a strong player as White in that line if you are human. It is not so easy and Black has many tricks. The Lopez Countergambit after 3.Bc4 f5 is even less popular in Master Chess (and even worse according to Stockfish). But on lichess.org the Lopez Gambit scores well over 40 percent. Unlike in chess variants like Fischer Random, in classical chess even club players can prepare risky moves or avoid them and that is how it should be. And the opening options available in chess to White or Black are almost endless. Magnus Carlsen has shown that almost any reasonable opening moves can be played to win even at the top level. Recently the Stafford Gambit has become pretty popular except at the highest levels of chess and scores reasonably well on lichess.org (again well over 40 percent). And when (or if) someone takes the shine off it, other "dubious" but tricky lines will replace it. Less than one percent of tournament players know opening theory 25 moves deep or close in any lines anyway. If you could force all chess players to migrate away from chess to an artificial chess variant like Fischer Random there would be less brilliant chess, not more, and certainly far fewer gambit lines. And after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 the Petrov at most levels with 3...d6 is only slightly more drawish than the Morphy defense after 2...Nc6 3.Bb5 a6. And after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe4 the Stafford Gambit with 3...Nc6 while much riskier than the Petrov with 3...d6 gives reasonable practical chances at most levels too. Chess shouldn't be only a game for geniuses and should also reward hard work as well as courage. And fortunately despite some of Fischer's nonsense chess does exactly that.
@Steveross2851 I wouldnt use Magnus Carlsen to prove almost any reasonable opening moves can work. Hes literally the strongest player of all time. Lets be real here. Thats like saying stockfish can beat any player with pawn odds with any reasonable move therefore opening prep shows virtually no advantage. Not a fair comparison at all. And again saying the Stafford Gambit has become popular except at the higgest levels defeats your own argument because its those very highest levels of chess where the most opening preparation is done therefore youve unwittingly backed up my point. Personally I wouldnt use a lichess to prove your points. Online chess is rampant with cheating. No one famaliar with the field of statistics would use any site to back up their claims. At least use in person tournaments. But really thats just a personal disagreement. Random Chess would remove opening preparation and put a much greater emphasis on understanding the principles of the game. When memorization is taken away it becomes purely about ones understanding of the princples behind strategy and tactics since there is no crutch to fall back on with gaining advantage through memorizing opening theory. Really I dont think what you said makes a ton of sense. Obviously if you take away the opening advantage you would, by necessity, have to make up that advantage somewhere else and in this case it would have to be in better understanding of strategy and tactics.
@@lyrimetacurl0 How incredibly pretentious of you. You are nowhere near the degree of chess mastery as Fischer. Hell I'd be damn surprised if you're even above 1500 elo, a complete amateur. To you, chess is simply a game, a hobby, a way to pass time. And yet here you are, talking so seriously and so poignantly, as if your casual little chess games here and there were really taking a toll on your sanity and existence. As if you have any idea whatsoever what Fischer went through. As if explaining quantum physics to an ant. To you and me. You, and everyone else in this comment thread, quit chess because you were bored. You simply had enough, as any child may decide they have had enough with any of their particular hobbies. Or perhaps you hit a ceiling, perhaps it was 1000 elo, 1200 elo, or even 1500 elo. The cherry on top is you deny reality and self-proclaim your abandonment of chess as anything remotely related to IQ or wisdom or hindsight. Laughable. Adorable really.
I have a feeling Fischer's issues have a lot to do with his mother's abandonment. Bad mothers can really fuck you up emotionally. My mother was shit and for several years I was heavily misogynistic even though I am also a woman. It took a serious self reflection and therapy to change that and I'm still distrustful of woman in general.
Well not just abandonment but she also possibly cheated on his "dad" with another man that could actually be his real father. I'm sure with Fischers intelligence he would be able to figure out if his mother really did such thing.
Sounds likely. I also think that when a person sacrifices so much of their life to focus on one thing, their ability to reflect and mature emotionally will be diminished. He sounds like he could have been somewhere on the autistic spectrum as well.
1972 was a rough year for the USSR. Fischer dominated them on a chess board while Team Canada overcame a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 against Team USSR at the Summit Series.
@@nguyenthuthao2699 Have someone else explain it to you; since it's so odvious to me, i wouldn't know where to start with you so you can comprehend it.
To try and get some context for his 20 in a row, I looked it up and Kasparov managed 10 against high level competition, although they were not all GMs like Fishers. Looking into it, winning 4-5 on the bounce is considered astounding when playing high level competition. After some research Fishers 20 in a row is among the greatest sporting records of all time. ^^For those who were curious.
20(it is actually only 19) games is indeed astonishing. But the game of chess has radicaly changed since the era of computers. Almost to an extent where comparing chess records from todays time is useless. Austrian World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz won 25 games in a row.
@@charleyiverson8919 It's true that computers changed chess radically, but you have to consider that Bobby also didn't have access to those strategies same as his competitors. Steinitz played 100 years before Bobby, back when chess was a game that no one really took seriously. In Bobby's era, chess was already very sophisticated and the grandmasters of the time could compete with the ones of modern times (aside from the very top modern players). The fact that Bobby was that far ahead of his peers is what really counts.
well winning 20 games in a row aint important, winning tournaments is. kasparov usually drew his remaining games when he knew he realised he had already won the tourney. thats why kaspy has 15 consecutive super tournament wins. and fischer has 2 :)
@@KingKong11730 During steinitz time people did take chess seriously, sure it wasn't as widely played as it is today but the people who played it did take it seriously. There were matches for good sums of money up to 100k in today's money. Even Morphy was invited by all sorts of royalties (which would be equivalent of people today) solely because of his fame as a great chess player.
I remember those Bobby Fischer years, as I was a bit of a chess nerd in high school. I began playing in tournaments in NYC until an obnoxious 9-yr-old crushed me and my headache convinced me that chess wasn't gonna bring me worldwide acclaim. I've played some pickup games in the 50 years since, and won them, but that's just relying on old MCO studies. Competitive chess is a brutal world. lol
Boris Spassky wound up being chess’ hero. Fischer thought nothing of walking away from events, while Spassky lobbied to accommodate an opponent’s selfish ultimatums in order to pursue competition at its highest level. A TRUE sportsman’s act.
When my great uncle taught me to play chess, I was 9 and it was 1994. He told me everytime we played that I should study bobby fisher. My great uncle jack was the biggest bobby fisher fan. Thanks for this video!
Brilliant video - I felt you captured the key events really well. 64 is symbolic for the number of chess squares on the board for Fischer's final age. If you do another chess video which I really hope you do, I think someone in chess who might be even more "up your street" for intrigue is arguably the "Most talented chess player ever" - Mir Sulthan Khan - apparently, he could not read English and yet won many tournaments and even beat players like Capablanca. A true mystery in the chess world for raw talent. Cheers, K
i remember growing up in Philippines in the 90's.saw my dad playing chess with his buddy while having some beers. i asked "what are you guys doing?" took me to the side, they reset the pieces and showed me how to play. i remember him telling me about Bobby Fischer and how great he was. dad was a huge fan... i also remember the very first opening he taught me, 2 knights... decades later, i still play 2 knights despite knowing other openings now lol (also, never managed to beat my dad when he played seriously. at his peak he was around 21-2200)
I was the youngest in my family, chess was often the game of choice when there was only 2 around. I'm in my seventies and I've succeeded in bettering them all over the decades. My brother and I are the last chess players in the family, no-one wants to exercise their brains anymore, it's all social media and video games.
When I was his age, this chess master came to our reformatory school. He played 20 of us at the same time. He beat everyone else within an hour, then we played until well past the close of school, and he beat me, and it was night time when I left after the game.
Having lived in the era of the Fischer vs Spassky World championship match, I felt both the political and social impact these 2 men had on the world. Spassky was a true gentleman; Fischer was an impetuous, single-minded individual. I watched the games as they were posted on boards shown on PBS, move by move. Wins, losses, and draws all had an impact on those of us favoring our respective player. The tension and drama, mostly from Fischer's insistence on having his way, seemed childish and undignified for such a noble game and location. In the end, Fischer showed his latent genius, winning the World Championship. It is sad to reflect on the end of those immortal games knowing how Bobby Fischer ended his chess career... and his solitary life, at age 64. I celebrated Boris Spassky's 80th birthday by replaying some of those immortal games from 1972. I wished him well. And I believe he hoped Bobby Fischer finally found peace.
That's the thing tho it wasn't childish he changed the game he owned it he was many steps above even his toughest competitors and also a champion although after the fact he was still above the rest so he indeed has the right to make stipulations and ask for changes if he's literally changing the game himself and has been playing all of his life things change no sport has always been or stayed the same throughout the history of time he was the only one willing and brave enough to challenge that early on and change things
No Fischer was right about everything he demanded and said , not childish , he stood for what was right , especially annoying press clicking cameras flashes , and he was right about his political views , that's why he is slandered
@@BrettHall-b1u this 100% His political ideas were at least as far ahead as his chess. He stood for what he believed in and didn't back down. People that worship power, and people in power fear that kind of man. That kind of man is called "Righteous"
Although 14K comments precede this, I have to add mine. I was really impressed with this profile of Bobby Fischer and his career. Summarizing a life in 22 minutes isn't fair, but I feel like you did your research and worked hard to present a balanced view. I lived through the time of Fischer's dominance and was aware of the tension surrounding his match against Spassky. I had no idea Spassky intervened on Fischer's behalf - not once, but twice. That dispels the belief that the Soviet players were programmed and inhuman. Since Muhammad Ali lost his boxing title, I was disappointed yet not surprised that Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title. Politics and mental health. Yet, your video gave me a better sense of how dominant Fischer was. I knew he'd been a young champion, but I didn't know his self-destructive bent prevented him from contending for the World title sooner. How many prodigies and geniuses never got to shine for any of a number of reasons? Thank you also for not skirting the ugly side of Bobby Fischer. Makes me think of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh who expressed support for the Nazis. You were right: giftedness does not excuse hurtful conduct. Maybe, for me, it took a Brit to present the story of Bobby Fischer from a neutral standpoint in order for me to get a better appreciation of the man. He was a flawed hero, but I better understand why Bobby Fischer is - to this day - considered arguably the greatest chess player who ever lived. Thank you!
![ลองสุ่มไอโฟน 990 โกงมั้ย? [ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.101 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bfsWe0j492k/mqdefault.jpg)
Mad respects for Spassky. He could have easily gone to be a bitter enemy, hostile and happy that the one guy who could regularly beat him in his profession was going through rough times. Instead, he accepted some ridiculous demands, campaigned to get his enemy out of jail and exile and, when that failed, OFFERED TO JOIN HIM IN PRISON. Spassky was a true sportsman and friend, through and through.
the sport they were into made them such a companion that really understand each other
I wish I could have a friend like that. He brought actual tears to my eyes.
The real hero of this story is Spassky
Would he have done the same if he was Jewish or a woman? I have zero sympathy for bigots
@@KillAllCops88 He did what he did because he was a fellow sportsman -despite him being half-Jew in a time and place where simply KNOWING someone from that culture would get you legally shot dead.
And if you're referring to Bobby; he was the way he was because A) he was likely autistic (also; possibly OCD) B) isolated and C) thrown away by his own mother so she could pursue her job. Not to mention D) probably had to hear a lot of people say he was, shall we say, "half-breed" (avoiding the other word because auto-censoring exists). I might not agree with his views but I can very easily see how he came across them.
Take your 1st world modern sensibilities and re-examine the point where they led you to 'other' and 'have zero sympathy' for people that are different from you. Oh and to block the screech I'm predicting; not telling you to forgive, but to sympathize.
Spassky is the definition of a true sportsman. The respect shown for his competitor is unrivaled in any other sport. He didn’t even let the Soviet Us relations tarnish his views.
He knew that "genius", as a trait, has some very demanding needs. You got to meet those demands, no questions asked. That's the way of a genius.
@@cryostatcells5642 garbage , everyone liked fischers demand , he brought a lot of money to chess and made the game a profession , all soviet players had a real job unlike fischer who played only chess
@@sathishtamil7481 I was talking about the quite room demand. What are you even blabbering about?
It's damn beautiful
Spassky is by far my favorite chess player. Beautiful games, beautiful sportsmanship, and (by all reports) a genuinely good person.
You know who really stands out in this story? Boris Spasky. What a great sportsman and concerned opponent. Outstanding!
Yes, he must have known the Soviets wouldn't be happy about not taking every chance he could to take the title.
@@keithbessant Perhaps, but I believe Spasky was ALSO a truly decent human being. The USSR (as Russia does today) possessed lots of tools for disposing of inconvenient “problems” and had few issues with doing so (more like US than I’d like to admit). Fischer was totally quirky, but he was also highly respected for his brilliance (probably the very most by Spasky).
I agree completely, and I also think he wasn’t going to miss any opportunities to beat him. So without the challenge, he’d have been given the title without an actual feeling of accomplishment. But I do feel that it may have been more balanced towards being a good sport.
It wouldnt have been decisive if boris let bobby off the hook. Still he, as most chess players back then, was a good sportsman, and he paid for it psychologically through the match and later by the government that once supported him.
Bobby must be praised for demanding the extra prize money since the prize up until then was a thousand dollars, mainly to keep any non russian from going after it seriously, and as for the Russian players, they were supported and subsidized by the communists
@@scottaseigel5715 I rarely see an American condemn or even try to admit the atrocities their country has committed, unless they are radicals. You don't radiate any radical vibes in that way (radical might be a good thing sometimes sure, but not in this case). Good for you and those like you. =) Have a good life sir!
For people curious about the winning streak Fischer won 20 games in a row
But in todays time they often make it sound like magnus had a winning streak of a lot of games which are typically very impressive but there are draws in his. Magnus streak is just him going without losing however here Fischer is only winning which is insane
Magnus did it in the age of engines, which is arguably much more difficult. The players, on average, are much stronger than in Fischer's generation, although people would argue the opposite is true.
@@KKSuited yup that’s a fair point but I think since neither side has an engine maybe u could say engines are negligible but I feel like your right in the fact that once engines came more draws also came 😂
@@bossman4112Magnus and Nakamura have both complained that chess bots like StockFish have ruined the world of chess. Instead of it being a game of strategy and wits its now a game of who can remember the stockfish moves the best, and thats it leading to boring drawn out games. Theres no more creativity in tournaments anymore. Its why Magnus wishes they would bring back 960 chess
@@KKSuitednah.
Capablanca won 40 straight. Absolutely amazing.
Edit: my bad...he won 40 straight tournament games. Still, a feat that no one else has, or will ever accomplish
And he died at 64, one year for every square on the board. Poetic.
Yeah, that was my thought too-how very appropriate.
@@silversolver7809 did you mean it was your...
thoughty 2?
thats dedication
omg yes
That explais how Fischer had his "white" and "dark" side
Spasky was honestly the mvp of the story with giving into Fischers demands to ensure he got a fair shot to prove his title even though he was being pressured to win at all costs by the soviet union, just because he respected him. Plus even though Fischer went off grid for like twenty years, Spasky was willing to go out of his way to play with him again. Then to try and personally protest for his release from prison and even ask to stay in his cell to play chess with him, just because he respected his skill so much.
I agree. Spasky wasn't just in awe of his skill, he knew Fischer was troubled and wasn't well mentally.
chess players be like that. chess grand masters were huge celebrities in the soviet union, they knew that they could get away with a lot more than other soviet citizens. in fact, top chess players HAD TO be treated well by the state because they had plenty of freedom to travel that they could have used to request asylum somewhere else and then play chess for another country (well, unless they had relevant family in the soviet union to leverage against them) - that would have been a propaganda disaster! for the soviet union, chess was like having a gold medal subscription in an olympic discipline that implies that your country is the smartest. the soviets were very interested in olympic medals too (and world leaders in doping xD), but winning at chess was better PR than any other sport could ever be.
A good man from the SU.
He had respect for his opponent greatness. No hating 💪🏽💯
Fischer was mind fucking him. Fischer threw the first game.
I remember watching an interview with Fischer and he mentioned how during matches even the wrong lighting would throw him off. Definitely seems like he might have had sensory issues that weren’t well understood at the time.
After searching more about him, I thought so too! he’s def not neuro-typical
@@gloriadeb Haha, most Chess GM's aren't. He just happens to be a famous one who went off the grid
@@scarcedude3353 being different doesn't give you the right to be a racist psycho. I don't know. Maybe if they knew more about that, they could have helped him. But it still doesn't excuse what he did.
@@r.n.holmes5625 Yeah your opinion is probs more correct than the literal genius 180 iq person. Most definitely
@@r.n.holmes5625 Never implied that mental illness justified his behavior. That's why it's called a mental illness after all - his ideologies and beliefs cannot be compared to those perceived as normal. In any case, most chess grandmasters are fine, and are leading perfectly normal lives. Bobby Fischer was one of the unlucky ones who didn't have the privilege of having a nurturing childhood; his early experiences furthering his extremes. Who knows, if it weren't for his radical behavior and obsessive mind, he might have never made a name for himself in the chess community. Just be aware that you cannot explain the behavior of someone that does not think the same as you, as you can only justify it with your "normal" brain. It is much different for the unfortunate Bobby. His behavior is nonsensical from your perspective, but from his, it is all he has known. Don't take his actions and words to heart. He was a troubled man.
My grandfather taught me how to play chess as a kid. He was ruthless. Never once did he allow me to win. We played for YEARS before I was able to beat him. The day I won I can picture the rickety kitchen table and cheap laminate floor sitting in the corner of my grandparents old farm house down to the last detail. He fell down a bottle when my grandmother past away. Such a kind and brilliant man. I am 39 now and have taught both of my sons to play the game.
When playing chess with your sons, did you inherit your grandfather's "ruthlesness" or allow them a victory here and there?
Did you let them win?
Boris spassky was such a nice guy, not taking the tittle of the worlds best just to have a fair match with Bobby, and even going to his jail cell just to play with him, it's just great how he never gave up on beating him
Yeah.
He was not just a great guy he was a true champion, somebody who is absolutely obsessed with being the best in the world does not care about titles fame or money at all literally 0%. They want to find out if they are the best at any means possible and when they meet somebody who is better than them they begin to idolize them because they could possibly learn from that person and or they are so impressed by the person that they become a super fan of that person because they understand just how good they are.
This is why Bobby didn’t care about forfeiting matches because he knew he was by far the best player and these events were below him as well as every other player.
A title is meaningless to the reality. A title is something somebody/organization gives you who is below you and doesn’t understand what they are even talking about. Somebody who dedicates their entire waking existence (16 hour days), even when they dream in their sleep, knows that they are the best and if they meet somebody who is better than them it is an extremely exciting and life-changing experience and it makes you realize that there is almost always somebody out there who is better than you or on your level even if they have never been at a tournament or nobody has heard about them.
Source: Former serial world champion in multiple video games for 20 year time span.
@@ZxAMobile who was that world champion?
that dude's a real g
@@justarandomguy1808soviet chess was not simply a game but a lifestyle to its players
Spassky deserves so much respect for what he did. Fischer was rude to so many people, possibly even Spassky. Most people would never talk to him again from there but Spassky, he went to great lengths to make sure Fischer felt happy and comfortable. A real mature man, Spassky was.
From Spasky's viewpoint, it was like 'finally a worthy opponent'.
I don't think Fisher was that bad. You might know he had friendship with Tal
@@cropeverything1152 he was a known anti-Semite and sexist. I think he was that bad
Dont forget Spassky was representing the whole Soviet Union too. So he did not want to let all those people down. Or go to the Gulag if he did really poorly. Ie- he was doing what he was told. Some of it may have come naturally. But most of that was because of his CCCP handlers. Everything was political in those days in Russia.
Spassky had a chip on his shoulder, and thought Bobby was trying to weasel his way out of the series so he wouldn't lose. Spassky wanted to beat him without a shadow of a doubt, so he could be the undisputed greatest chess player in the world.
Needless to say, Spassky grew to respect and admire Fischer. I'm sure Fischer did too but the dude was too damn crazy to know for sure.
Spasky wanting to be imprisoned with his rival as long as they’re given a chessboard is really moving. He really lived for the game.
The question posed in the video is misleading. A better question would be why not every chess prodigy/legend goes insane dedicating so much of their lives and brain space toward the mastery of a very narrow finite game.
@@daarom3472 Amen to that
His name is "Spassky" but yeah, Boris was clearly a better person than Bobby so the Russkies won that one
Boris sounds like a awesome dude
@@jeffersonott4357 he was so classy to give in to fischer unreasonable demands, even though he'd end up losing it... i like it that russians seem less "entitled" where they go... they just do the hard work and shut up!
To put that 20 game win streak into context, the two greatest players of all time, Kasparov and Carlsen, both have 6 wins as their longest classical win streak, and Karpov, another top 5 all time player who succeeded fischer as world champion (and lost to kasparov) also has 6. One of today's best players Fabiano Caruana achieved 7 in a row at a tournament which is literally the greatest performance in modern chess. Fischer did 3 times that
It’s a lot harder know then Fischers time chess engines have made chess more difficult back then you had to play chess physically and pretty much only then know you can play chess from the comfort of your home chess know is a lot more difficult Fischer no lifed chess during his time he would play it all day there’s a huge gap during his time a chess elo of 800 was the average chess elo currently a 1500-1700 is the average elo that record is impossible to do at this current time place magnus in that era and trust me he would be near or equal if not past that
@@SamuraiAtlas I agree it its impossible now. But the record is still crazy. Average elo is not 1500-1700
@@noahpalmer6653 search it up currently average is 1500-1700 in competitive chess
@@SamuraiAtlas You can't use Elo to prove something when comparing different eras.
@@dannygjk smh 🤦♂️ elo is a rating that’s what it’s for it’s common sense that current chess players are a lot better then the last eras it’s not even an argument
My dad tried to teach me chess, I was only 10, he was 52. I picked up the moves of the pieces easily. Halfway through our first game he said “Do you have a strategy or are you just making moves at random?” I said “Making moves at random.” He boxed up the pieces and that was that. I later turned out to be a terrific poker player 😁
Of course anyone learning the game is gonna button mash, you have to see what works and what doesn't
@@bugglemagnum6213 not rlly, like with no initial knowledge of the game and just being taught how the pieces move and the goal it doesnt take like some genius prodigy to realise moving pieces randomly wont win u the game
Your last statement leads me to believe you were actually a chess genius but didn't want to hurt your dad's feelings so you lied... 😆
@@upisntdownsilly I don’t know, I usually somehow beat whoever I play against with confusion unless they actually know what they’re doing
@@sea_triscuit7980 nah I have a short attention span, perfect for poker and blackjack, bad for strategy games. I think I won Risk once in my whole life. But I KILLED at Trivial Pursuit!
I believe in an interview he said he hated chess and said that it was an old game that wasn’t able to grow and there was nothing new to learn about the game because every move ever to be played in the game has been played. He ended up trying to make his own variations of chess to keep the game interesting to himself. If you can imagine Einstein discovering the theory to everything and that there was nothing else to learn about physics, then you can also understand why some physicists who’ve dedicated their lives to the subject would go insane. That’s just a little window into his madness.
couldn't he have just switched to go?
@@Ass_of_Amalek should've played shotgun chess
He invented 960Chess because he hated the memorisation in the game, which I can respect
Shouldve played Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, etc.
@@CybersteelEx regular chess is harder and chess 960 is better
One thing that this video fails to mention, is that many of Fischer's complaints about playing conditions were valid criticisms, and that many of the changes that were made to meet his demands are considered standard today.
Ye
Such as keeping the press out of the room right?
@@BananaPhoPhilly I'm fairly certain that's due to social anxiety - he felt it affected his play because he couldn't handle being watched so closely and felt judged by the masses.
@@impishlyit9780 Exactly.
Fischer was not crazy at all. He started calling out the people who run the world, so THEY called him crazy. He was 100% spot on with everything he said
My teacher, Joan Targ, was his older sister. She shaped young minds for many decades. Her son Nick went to the same high school and university I did. He was regarded as a genius like his mother and uncle.
I am happy to hear this.
his entire family also went to school with me
@@Hg-vl6fk Cool. In Palo Alto?
@@STEAMerBearpretty sure they're joking
@@Toiyf. Thank you
Anyone with obsessive habits knows why Bobby lost his mind. It’s a lonely life. I’m up to over 2,000 hours drawing and painting this year while working 12 hour swing shifts and overtime. I eat my dinners alone. I take walks alone. I spend my breaks drawing alone… The lack of human intimacy really messes your head up
Your comment may not be perfect with this video's libe, but is really underrated.. Yes how disturbing this figure of life we have today..
Can relate to this as well, it’s a lonely world
You aren't alone when you are friends with your own mind.
@@cat_the_real it's completely normal to like a lot of alone time just make sure you still have some regular contact with people you enjoy exchanges with and you'll be fine. Isolation and solitude are not the same thing and have different effects on your mental health
I haven't left TH-cam in 10 years, I have decided to make the ultimate no life choice....I'ma become a....**gulp** TH-camr!
But seriously yes, being alone is the most painful thing.
imagine if his sister bought a snakes and ladders boards instead
He will be hacking the matrix to manipulate the dice to land where he wanted it to.
Lol
Sounds like he would have dominated capitalism then.
@@FLdancer00 Nah hed turn into a god like bear grylls
Eels and escalators
I love how as he said "they learnt how the pieces moved" and then the animation showed the knights moving in a straight line.
Why not you go edit the video yourself?
@OwlPhobic that's a rather odd, and somewhat aggressive suggestion. You're right, I as the publisher should edit it myself and then random weirdos will turn up and defend me.
@@Alex.The.Lionnnnn that wasn't the point what i mean't was why would you discriminate on a mistake he made even though you should understand how hard to edit and animate these videos are.
I didn't discriminate. I just thought it was funny. Get over it.
@@owlphobic it's not that deep dude, and wdym discriminate? how can someone discriminate against an editing mistake? discrimination is when we're talking about a group of individuals being treated unfairly for being in that certain group.
It's natural to strive to become like the best at a profession, however the story about Fischer's life has made me value the importance of one's character in tandem with proficiency way more than before. Spassky, despite losing, has definitely earned my respect.
Character will make your own life better while living. But proficiency will immortalize you, regardless of your character. Having both is ideal ofc.
"The difference between genius and insanity is measured only by success"
He was pretty successful
@@dububro Does not make him insane.
Difference between crazy and eccentric is your bank balance.
That sounds like something Doc (Back to the Future) would say. Or at least in my mind, when I read this, that's the voice I heard and face I saw. Lol
Valid point indeed
massive respect to spasky. Im sure he could tell that for all fischer's greatness, he was troubled. Spasky simply wanted to help him do what he was meant to do.
i dont think its about helping him. as a serious chess player, it was important to him to know that his victories (and falls) are real and not result of spaciel circumstances. that why he insisted to play againat him ratter then win technic victory.
I agree with you here.
Bro, there's NOTHING I saw in this video that makes him "troubled".
You might not like his political views.. but do you know how many people in the world hold the same views as Fisher ?
Newsflash : billions ! Just in the muslim states alone, especically since Bush's "war on Terror".
As for his reclusive nature, introvert geniuses are all like that.
@@goofygrandlouis6296 bro, hbelieved the world was gonna end, reclused from the world, and freaked out to insane degrees if his demands weren't met. His political views got nothin to do with it lmfao.
@@youdontneedtoknow1057 OK, so here's my interpretation of it, as they are MANY videos about high-IQ / gifted pupils.
a) Most of them are hyper-sensitive, both physically (light, sound.. like TV cameras) and mentally (they endure emotions in a much intense ways, like mom not giving out love)
b) They also need regularity (thus the schedule incident) and often-time have border-line Asperger tendancies (like Elon Musk).
In short, Fisher (just like Turing or Rousseau) needed an environnement of love & support, and an alter ego to talk to (like Spasky). They did not have that, thus fell into reclusivity.
His mom abandoning him may have had something to do with his downfall, childhood neglect follows a person forever
it's pretty clear that the reason he hates his Jewish side is because of mommy issues
Something like that affects people for their entire lives
She was ethnically Jewish as well, so you wonder if that trauma explains his antisemitism.
@@ctrainbeats your dad was a terrible piece of shit, a dad should impose his authority on his kids and discipline them, but he should NEVER subjugate them causing them to become withdrawn and timid
learning coping skills is seriously important in living a healthy life after trauma. trauma affects your physical body responses to stress even if you didn’t know you were about to go from 0-100. it’s fight or flight often. i wish health care was more accessible, trusted, funded, and affordable for all.
My grandfather taught me years ago that sometimes when you are too far ahead of your time it makes you a little crazy. That seems true for Bobby.
Not sure if someone can be 'ahead of his time' when it comes to a game, let alone such an old one. I do think, though, that having an IQ of 180 comes with brilliance for sure, but also with lots and lots... and lots of problems concerning mental stability and compatibility with other people.
I was a young man when he played Boris spassky and probably due to the Cold War he was made out to be kind of a bad guy. I am overjoyed finally to hear what a good human being he was.
Is. Spassky isn't dead yet.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard this and thought to myself. “This Boris fellow actually seems like a decent person and good sportsman.” He could have walked away with that championship by default. Instead he did everything he could to see that it could happen so he’d win or lose legitimately. I respect that.
All Wars are Disinformation WARS to Manipulate the Masses into Hating the Victims and siding with the Provokers.
@@doukdouk2550 Aaah, that´s why fischer hated the jews...
@@leefswgoh7558 no, misinformation was why Boris was portrayed as a bad guy to western media, Fischer being antisemitic is a reflection of himself not media portrayal
The light sensitivity and erratic behavior are symptoms of a person "on the spectrum". It is not uncommon for people like this to prefer lamps to ceiling lights as the glare is annoying to them. Lashing out comes from difficulty communicating, feeling different and knowing you are different, it is easy to believe that you are being mocked and lacking the skills to compete it is easier to flee than fight. Fishers mental health was probably not caused by chess but the pressure that came to surround him due to his success at chess. While playing he probably felt safe, knowing the rules, knowing everyone had to obey them and that he would not be mocked for some social faux pas he didn't understand or care about.
Youre incorrect. If you look him up on earlier talk shows, he's quite sociable. Understands banter without hardship. There's a correlation between OCD and superstition for high level performers across every domain. Singers, pro athletes, etc
@@TaskerFilms just because he's "social" in a talk show where the host is literally doing their job by trying to get him to talk doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't on the spectrum
@@TaskerFilms Elon is sociable and understands jokes in interviews and yet, he explained that he is on the spectrum. A spectrum means not everyone have the same degree of challenges.
I'm also "on the spectrum," and I had a similar outburst when I was on the math team in 4th grade. At the beginning of the first tournament, I got frustrated with my teammates because they wouldn't put down the answer that I _knew_ was right (they confused perimeter with area), so I let out a blood-curdling scream, forfeited the tournament, quit the team, and had to be replaced by a backup.
However, unlike Fisher, I'm not a bigot, I would never join a cult, and I wouldn't break the law unless it was for the greater good, such as if the government was corrupt. I think such erraticness is often tied to high IQ. My mom told me that people with an IQ of 160 or higher may have a hard time functioning in society due to so much of their minds being allocated to their intelligence. However, many people "on the spectrum" have a higher IQ than average, so his behavior was likely a combination of autism and a dangerously-high IQ.
@@rowan404 Once you're smart enough you begin to understand how stupid things are, it's not hard to see why someone so bright would think of societal norms as worthless. You could also look at it the other way and understand how necessary they are, but it's all a matter of moral relativism in the end.
He was still right on the ZOG though, even though he was a complete ass.
One thing Thoughty forgot to mention... Bobby Fischer single-handedly made chess into a profession. When he burst upon the scene, the winning purse from a large tournament might be $3000. He realized he could demand more, and forced the winning purses to increase to $300,000 and even $1.2 Million. The flood of immensely talented chess players is a direct result of this change.
He also created the current timekeeping system, which increments (adds back) time to the players as the game continues.
Sounds like he has a very high IQ and was very smart. Maybe the things he said werent so crazy after all?
@@StandardName562 wouldn’t say that
Wrong. The Soviet Union made chess at profession.
@@StandardName562 you should look more into the things he said then. They were ridiculous
@@StandardName562 To paraphrase a different sort of brilliant mind, Carl Sagan, genius is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
I've played chess for over 50 years. I have seen and studied innumerable games. The one thing that comes through Fischer's play is the simplicity and clarity and extraordinary depth of his play. Most of his games seem almost innocuous, then he makes a couple of moves and his opponent resigns or gets mated, seemingly totally out of the blue. In the "Immortal game" against Byrne, at the end, when Byrne stands up THE EXPERTS WATCHING AND COMMENTING SAID, "well, Byrne just beat Fischer." THEN Byrne offered his hand to Fischer and resigned. EVERYBODY WAS STUNNED! It was sitting in front of them and the couldn't see Fischer had two moves to a massive victory. That was the depth of his insight.
Another short anecdote: Fischer was in Russia to play a tournament, and he got into a conversation with other Russian masters & grandmasters. He went into great depth about several up-and-coming FEMALE Russian players covered by minor Russian chess periodicals. They were stunned - that HE was following and analyzing very young RUSSIAN FEMALE PLAYERS, and, second, that THEY WERE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF THEM. Such was the depth and breadth of the World's greatest chess player.
What makes spasskys behavior so special is that he was representing a nation that would have and certainly did, berate him for his failure and look down on the way he handled the failure rather than heap praise on him for being an exceptional human being. I will always have respect for fishers skill, but it’s men like Spassky who I admire and respect.
That's not true. You are spewing western propaganda. He was very respected and admired
@@CoolGobyFish according to Spassky himself, he was mistreated when he returned after his loss and was banned from traveling abroad for 9 months. He literally moved to France and didn’t return to his homeland until 2012 because of how he was treated there after the loss to Fischer.
This is the book containing the interview with Spassky after moving to France
“Finding Bobby Fischer: Chess interviews” by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam.
Mark Taimanov also write about being persecuted by his nation for losing to Fischer in his book “I Was A Victime of Bobby Fischer”. You are doing these men a disservice trying to act like they didn’t show such grace through mistreatment by their country.
@@ampinghard111 That is quite sad. USSR could easily spin it to gain points inside country as well as worldwide. There is no shortage of how much rep it could have gained, not everything is about winning.
@@ampinghard111 he didn't come back home because after 1991 ussr was destroyed and Russia turned to shit
@@CoolGobyFish you’re right may be the homeland but the USSR obviously was no more in 2012 haha
When you have a friend like Spassky, you are never going to be alone.
I don't know that it was so much a case of Spasky liking him, I think it was more a matter of Spasky having a great deal of respect for him because of his god-given talent. He probably didn't feel right seeing that incredible Talent be wasted. It really was a waste what happened to him, because at his best there's probably nobody that has ever been that good. He was only at his best for a fairly short time unfortunately and the talent was wasted mostly, and yet he still set some records that still stand.
✨
@@actionjksn i'd say that it was a mixture of respect and liking him, i mean....he had chess with him in jail, you could say he just had THAT much respect for Bobby, but i feel like at that point you have to admit that Spassky liked Bobby at least a little bit, if not more
not many people visit someone in jail, in a different country, JUST to play chess out of respect, traveling to different countries can be quite expensive
Valid point indeed
The 777 likes just make this all the more better
Bobby wrote a column in Boy’s Life magazine that was designed to teach us Boy Scouts how to play chess.
In each article he would focus on how to best leverage a particular piece, starting with pawns, then the power pieces, one at a time…I ate it all up and became one of the dominant players at my high school, graduating in 1972. Then met a girl and lost interest. All the sour news came out; I didn’t follow too closely, but always I would tell the story of how I was “Bobby Fischer trained”.
Boy's Life was the greatest though! Loved that magazine as a kid.
@@alexcarter8807 Forgot about that one, brings back memories
WHO WOULD WIN, PRIME KASPAROV VS PRIME FISCHER?
@@scottwarren4998 Prime Fischer for sure
@@GAMTT sad they didnt face. many people say kasparov would win, but i believe fischer was better.
Who would win, prime Carlsen vs prime fischer?
It breaks my heart to see that people take those obnoxious remarks seriously and don't realise that those were actually the cries of help
They depict the need to be loved in his life which he simply couldn't have asked for directly to someone.
They always say outlandish things , loud enough, with a grin on their face wishing deep inside that maybe someone somewhere will understand the language they speak, and will feel for them
And it's not like they are fond of that language, but that's all they learned in reaction .
When love is denied, even buying hate seems to be a good trade for filling up the void inside
People with the greatest of egos and with the most ruthless of styles were actually once a child/or an adult maybe , who were denied tenderness from their closest of fellow beings .
Boris Spassky sounds like a genuinely stand up guy. Much respect.
I agree. Whatever else he is/was he’s still a good sportsman and fair opponent or rival. I respect that.
I believe this is why Fisher enjoyed playing chess with him. No doubt Bobby must have respected the honest character of Boris Spassky and enjoyed his company.
Considering Fischer's blatant and vocal anti-Semitism, Boris Spassky's support is almost incredible--Spassky is Jewish.
@@uptonsavoie well I didn't know that. You're right, that is incredible !
@@uptonsavoie Bobby Fischer was Jewish as well. There are many videos of him explaining his dislike for Jews. His explanations seem to be based on empirical observations, not of someone that has lost their mind.
Spasky was arguably even more impressive by being a grandmaster of kindness.
Made me smile! Great comment, very true as well. Specially the part where they played chess inside the cell.
*humble
I salute Boris for his great sportsmanship!
Or Karpov, for being a grandmaster of geniality, and courtesy.
He was the true hero of this story
That was a really well told story. I now have mad respect towards Boris Spassky. What a chap with his sportsmanship and respect he had towards his rival.
WHO WOULD WIN, PRIME KASPAROV VS PRIME FISCHER?
Maybe Spassky got his interest piqued by Fischer...? It's weird to me that someone would go to extents such as incarcerating yourself for another person's solitude just for sportsmanship. AND defend them against public media, ignoring the lens of the cold war parallels Spassky and Fischer were seen through.
Maybe it's a bit far-fetched, but from my point of view, Spassky got some kind of interest for Fischer. Perhaps.
@@scottwarren4998
Fischer would probably crush or draw Kasparov or even Magnus, dude was that cracked, too bad he was busy being baded
If both have equal opportunity to get engine analysis then yes otherwise magnus or hell any gm above 2650 would be able to beat fischer because how developed the theory is
It’s a good video but don’t be misguided he’s not a real chess player and doesn’t understand the reason it’s unfair to compare Fischer to carlsen. The computer chess revolution makes it so people memorize crazy 30+ move lines and just draw the world champion.
It seems like whatever we learned from about age 5 until age 10 is what we end up being best at. Bobby's obsession came at the right time. Not being shown "how" to play and being forced to learn from the ruleset alone, I think helped as well, so that he had a full understanding for his obsession to thrive within.
Playing outside at that age...still good at that😅
Most people don't have a clue what they're best at by 10. That's utter nonsense
"A man that is intellectually one step ahead of his peers, is known as a genius. But a man who is two steps ahead of his peers, is insane."
@HBitron I cant remember. I always care more about the quote/substance than the person who said it. I've heard my father (physics professor) say it many times in the 90s-2000s but it's not his quote. He was good about sharing and remembering powerful quotes. Sorry I'm no help
Everything he said was right, normal people are just low IQ, cowards and sheep, they shit themselves in their pants whenever someone talks truth to power near them.
🤯
Elon Musk is the epitome of this, with the exception that he's more than willing to be PROVEN wrong. When you can, I encourage parents to teach that skill to their kids (ie. support your argument). I have 2 above average IQ kids and where they struggle is the frustration that comes along with why others don't understand when they are right or think differently. That frustration in my oldest will cause her to flash anger sideways and at random moments, it causes my youngest to completely withdraw. They just don't understand why others don't see it their way and so desperately try to help, but the anger turns inward.
Edit - spelling
@@ladygodiva9294 LOL
MUSK, mate, my fucking god ...
I have such respect for Spassky for being a gentleman during their '72 match. All class.
Yeah every time Fischer made demands Spassky would agree because he was there to play.
Nobody is saying it as it is about that game - Fischer was an annoying pretentious little bitch while Spassky was a gentleman that put up with his shit because he knew better.
spassky should have taken the title.
@@princegobi5992 but there is no fun in that.
ok tits
In my years of playing and studying chess and the greatest players I've come to the conclusion that chess doesn't create madness, but it does attract it.
And, I can imagine, it brings it out of you.
@@tesone6783 Ahh...you prove my thesis. Thanx
I'm not as smart,can you elaborate?as to why it attracts it
@@CODESFV While not the pawn pushers like me, but the upper tier of players have brains that few of us can fathom. From Aspbergers to OCD quirkiness to full blown Autism, these people are attracted to games, puzzles, numbers, patterns, mazes...etc. And their abilities in memory retention and recall can boggle your mind. They were born that way, not made that way.
this guys just talking non-sense. sorry but you know it yourself
Spassky was very thoughtful and respectful to his opponent.
thoughty2: its impossible!
me, winning against my infant cousin 30 times in a row: *they called me a madman*
That is still impresive, how come your cosing didn't get tired of losing and stopped playing? Did you tie them up?
@@jestfullgremblim8002 he is stuck with me playing chess because theres no other toys other than uno which he literally almost ripped everything apart
🤣🤣
This made me ugly laugh.
and that infant cousin is so skilled in chess that I'm scared to play against him, making your win streak even greater!
This isn't the only instance of something like this happening. It is less about the game and more about the people attracted to spend their lives studying it. There is a quote by former British chess champion Bill Hartston, "Chess doesn't drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane."
That's a deep quote, fam
Who said Bobby was mad? Isn't it the world the one that's insane?
Kasparov said the same thing - when talking about Bobby.
That’s probs what happened to him when he left the game
Where you keeping them gold plates Joe?
He didn't have coaches or friends to ask for advices, he was a just a one man machine who defeated anybody in his way.
Can't believe you got fifteen "thumbs up" for such a profoundly ignorant remark. You better have a look at Brody's biography.
Highest rating gap between n1 and n2 ever which is a chess record, highest win rate among world champs, longest winning streak, perfect us championship score, one of the highest iqs ever measured. One of the legends of chess and a top goat
@@HegelsOwl like check
@@HegelsOwl Exactly. I mean, if you watch the video through at 4:35, you will find Fischer lost during his first game against a chess master before he was formally educated.
Defeated anybody in his way? How could you say that? He was way up against other all chess grandmasters at his peak, but still many games ended up in draw, and his pride and arrogance led many possible games forfeited, which I count as a loss on his side.
Regardless, Fischer is simply a legend, though you have to admit his success comes in a hard way with countless days of mental exercises and incredible friendships he built along the way.
Except... he did...
The pieces' movement at 3:15 is... interesting, to say the least.
Boris Spassky: “I’ve kept good memories of Fischer. I don’t have any grudges against him. I always forgave him the fact that he behaved like a child. Bobby was very pure and friendly. He liked children, animals. He was an avid cat lover! I also preferred cats to dogs, like Bobby.
He didn’t respect Karpov, or Kasparov, or Korchnoi or Campomanes… You know what he called them? Karpy, Kaspy, Korchy, Campy…
In Iceland Bobby found himself in zugzwang. The Americans insisted that he was given up to the USA and he could never leave the island for fear of arrest. And he died because he didn’t trust his doctors. He had severe kidney problems but rejected an operation… He also tried to dissuade me when I had acute appendicitis during my match with Hort. He phoned and said I shouldn’t go to hospital. He thought that I, like him, was on a “blacklist” and that I might die at the hands of the doctors…
Back when he was sitting in a Japanese prison I wrote a letter to the US President and sent it to Mioko Vatai, his last very close friend. She passed the letter to the Americans, but nothing came of it… Then I wrote that they should shut Fischer and me up in one room, give us a chess set and leave us in peace!”
the nickname kinda cute tho
@@Stint45678 no
@@JuliusCeaser_ yes
I think Fischer wrote a nice letter to Korchnoi after he defected.
@@JuliusCeaser_ yes
What a legend Spassky was, truly a respectable gentleman
Agreed
Spassky know fisher just respect him and let him win 2 times at first round. 🎉😂 only pro chess can know who let you win and respect later while idiots know only win and doesn't know why opponent let him win. Spassky join fisher can prison show their close relationship in chess and friendship.
he is still alive
@@Jesusandbible real
@@Jesusandbible Fischer died but spassky is still alive
My grandfather actually played with Bobby regularly in 1956 at the West Orange Chess Club in New Jersey. They played on the same team in inter-state tournaments. I found some of my Grandpa’s old letters and it’s pretty cool. He won multiple chess championships (some amateur and some professional) in the late 40s and early 50s. He also was involved in a few professional chess clubs and magazines. He was born in 1909 and while I like to think he taught Bobby a thing or two to help him gain his immense success that year, it’s likely the 13 year old schooled my grandpa. My grandpa quit chess in 1957 to turn professional in bridge because it was better financially (chess tournaments didn’t pay well back then). Though, he probably played teenage Bobby enough to know he stood no chance in the future. If a 13 year old made a multi-time champion quit the game entirely, he must have been truly special. My grandpa could card count so I don’t think he had a problem switching to bridge, and became a national life master in bridge and had a successful career. I never got to meet him because he died before I was born (I’m only 23), I would’ve loved to ask him about Bobby. Maybe my mom knows a bit more. All I have are letters and a few chess trophies. It’s very hard to collect information from the early 50s.
Forgot a fun fact! My grandpa was questioned by the government (FBI/CIA not sure) during the Cuban missile crisis because he regularly played games through mail to other players all over the world (including Cuba) they thought he was sending information but he was literally mailing one chess move at a time back and forth. Still the nerdiest thing I’ve ever heard but it’s true. If anyone has questions, I can dig through more letters to see if I can find more information. There are a ton of them but his connection to Bobby is rare and worth exploring.
@@GetOutOMahFace please do this sounds so fascinating haha
very cool
Mail chess was not rare, it was popular in the 60s all over the world
Write a report about all you find and put together
People should credit Spassky. The dude was also a nasty player that also beat every russian big guys that existed in their time.
He even had great sportsmanship against Fischer. Throughout Fischer's maddening, Spassky was always there to support him and try to calm him down with a game of chess. Spassky was the MVP no one recognized
Agreed 💯
Spassky - what an absolute gent and a legend too! Not just for his achievements, but for the humility and compassion he showed Fischer. He obviously recognised his tormented genius and shared common ground with him.
🎃
Spasky seems to be a hell of a person even with all the advantages on his side in every situation he respected an embattled man to the utmost degree and was willing to compromise for a fair duel never kicking a man why he was down only extolling him to the highest so noble of him
Losing a fair fight is a way better feeling than winning anything other way.
We need more people like Spassky in this world
@@Sam60420 I'm trying my best to be like that bu tthe problem with this society is that most people think it's a weakness or something they can abuse for personal gains. It's quite messed up...
@@DeivixLV not necessarily
@@DeivixLV i tried being that as well during primary and 6-10th grades but same result
I think it's very interesting that he played against himself so much as a child. Almost like reflexive machine learning. A self generated data set. That GO computer that self trained crushed using totally irregular tactics. Because they weren't taught "how to play properly" in advance but explored into new configurations and strategies
Exactly. Once everyone knows all the tactics, it's time for a new surprise tactic
My dad was a state chess player and he used to do that a lot 3 to 4 hours a day, he'd say it practice but that was crazy to watch. He passed away a year ago he was the best player in our town.
Stop blabbing
@@prashant_kerung_thegim0709 Sorry to hear of your father passing!
@@joshuaking7746 stop commenting
When you play over Bobby's brilliant Queen sacrifice against Donald Byrne in 1956, you marvel at the fact that a thirteen-year-old kid could see that far ahead. But then you realize that that kid had a genius I. Q., a photographic memory, and basically played and studied chess every day.
People always have this misconception that IQ score has anything to do with chess despite numerous studies showing they are not coorelated.
This means either chess skill is not a measure of intelligence...or IQ test are not a complete representation of intelligence.
@@memegazer Well, I'm not a child psychologist or human-development expert. Chess requires concrete reasoning ability, and the ability to see 17 or 18 moves ahead, at least on the grandmaster level. I don't think too many top players today have average, or even merely somewhat-above-average, I.Q.s.
But I get it. No direct relationship. The fact that Fischer did nothing else throughout his life, and his memory capacity, certainly were fundamental factors in contributing to his strength over the board.
@@steelers6titles
The point I am making is that I think IQ tests only give a limited amount of data about human intellectual capacity.
Take the current super GM Hikaru for example...on a stream at one point he took an IQ score and was basically pointed out as average.
But on another stream he took the human benchmark test and scored in the 99 percentile.
IMO I think people put too much stock into IQ scores as being some kind of comprehensive biometric of intelligence.
I think it is probably safer to assume that IQ scores only measure some portion of human intellectual capacity rather than an exhaustive and overall general measure.
@@memegazer Well, I won't disagree with you.
@@memegazer Can you give me a single study that support your claim that IQ and performance at chess are unrelated? If Hikaru didn't try hard it is no surprise that he got average, I think he must have above average IQ. I don't think the relation between chess performance and IQ is simple, but there is a relation.
The other hero in this story is Spassky. What a sportsman!
Absolutely!
Actually the only hero
Spassky is indeed the hero of the story
He was quite a lovely man. I had the fortune to play him in 1971 and to have a chat with him. He told me I could have had a draw in our game (he beat me in 27 moves), but didn't tell me what the moves were to obtain it! It took 40 years and chess engines to show me what the drawing line was.
Spassky put on a clinic for the entire human race to witness in how a true champion conducts himself at all times.
In defeat he wasn't bitter and showed pure class when he applauded Fischer along with the audience because he is well aware of his own skill level which I would imagine is why it was only appropriate he applaud his opponent on a job well done to have overcome such a powerful and dangerous adversary in himself....
It is how I envision true gentlemen conducting themselves and the fact that he was willing to join Fischer in his incarceration is moving beyond words and really shows the champion this man is/was but the world as a whole can learn alot about how they conduct themselves from this rare treasure of a man Spassky....
Yo chill out.
Bobby Fischer became a bitter anti-semite because the Jews were furious that someone was smart who wasn't also a Jew. The Jewish community has basic bitch energy turned up to 11. It's a cult which is extreme in matriarchal toxicity. When you go against what-ever their issue of the day is they use their collective powers to attack and target you. Kayne West, Bobby Fischer, Jesus Christ. If you're talented and not Jewish you'll eventually find yourself on the wrong side of the Jews. Their favorite move is to say you're crazy when you go against them. Bobby Fischer, Kayne West aren't crazy. They're just tired of being fucked with by bitter jealous bitches with too much time, money, power, envy.
I love how Spassky had such an obvious bro crush on Fischer. When you beat a guy in a sport and he's willing to share a prison cell with you on the condition he can play the game you beat him at some more, that's Ancient Greek-style love right there.
maybe he wanted to play him again to try and learn off him
no, there was enough ancient greek style love available in there already
i would guess it was just that chess game connection and respect.. chasing that dream of knowledge.... but .. whatever...
He probably never found anyone else to match Fischer. I know what it's like not to find a good opponent to play with. That's why I started playing against computers. But I guess at that level of competition, you'd want an opponent on a par with you.
Y’all just calling any male companionship gay now
Touching sentimental and nostalgic was the fact that Spassky offered to stay in fishers cell with him in Japan but required to be given a chessboard 's💕 it seems as if those two had some sort of very deep connection in the cosmos I wonder if they were friends or maybe brothers in another life
Spassky was a true gentleman and you can tell cared so much about the game he was willing to be imprisoned if he could spend those years playing with Fisher.
In other words he was insane as well?
was?
I studied chess quite hard as a child. I'd go to the library, get out books and study the games of the masters. Spassky, Botvinik, as well as some of the older ones (Capablanca, Morphy, etc).
I never liked studying Fischer's games. IT was a rabbit hole trying to understand them and you got the sense that there was something not quite human behind them.
More like superhuman
?? I find Fisher's games to be fairly simple(don't get me wrong, they are excellent) compared to what modern day GMs play. I can't imagine one person finding Fisher's games complicated while understanding even a few moves of what the modern players play.
Carlsen even said, 'Fisher had the rare gift of making chess look simple.'
@@devarthamorang3559 Fischer didn't have computers like modern day players have
Supernatural
@@jamesm7649 Of course, but I'm saying what I'm saying by how easy it is to understand the meaning behind each move the players make. These days Fisher's games would be considered 'very simple' but maybe that wasn't the case back in the day
I wanna hear spassky's story, he sounds like a great guy.
Born in USSR during WW2 he luckily escaped the german onlsaught by train, where he learnt chess. He became youngest grandmaster at the time at 16 (Before fischer took the record), and while he lost the world championship match against Petrosian in 1966 he won it in 1969, and then was scheduled to play fischer in 1972 where he lost. Afterwards, he still proved his strenght by winning the USSR championship in 1973, reaffirming that he was still the strongest USSR player even after losing the title, where soviet officials begun moving efforts to support Karpov, which they saw as the best chance of retaking the title.
Spassky eventually defected to France in 1980s despite the great efforts of soviets to prevent him, and he stayed and played for France and was still a strong player for a long time. He is still alive currently, but little is known about him nowadays
Spassky was literally a chess player thats the best you could describe him lol he always played to his best never made excuses and when fisher whined about something in the stage Spassky simply agreed to play in the back with no interruptions mans just wanted to play some chess lol
@@justinlewtp Spassky was born in January 1937, just before the war.
@@davidcopson5800 woops my bad
@@josefn738 Spassky was a genius, just not to the degree of Bobby. Spassky has a universal playing style, with the ability to seize initiative, play solid or aggressive very well. His games with Bobby, also a universal player with an aggressive skew, are one of the more interesting chess games for an enthusiast. They were all close fights, and his wins against Bobby were extremely genuine and telling of his skill.
For everyone Commenting about Magnus -125 WIN streak
Well that was not only wins it consisted of 42 wins and 83 draws
So it was more like not lost for 125 matches
Whereas Bobby's 20 streak is of only WINS( consecutive)
Mad respect for Boris Spassky, a true sportsman and class act.
He had an unfair advantage.
@@ompatel8988 ok and
Quite a cool guy ❤️🔥👏
It was not just Spasky ..the world-class GMs at that time generally all rooted for FIscher. They all wished for FIscher to somehow overcome being his own enemy, and that foe was too great. Those who saw his state of being instinctively and humanely rooted for him as if he were the underdog despite him being utterly dominant above all others on the board.
Yes - unbelievable, but understandable. He must have had an odd combination of self-love and self hate.
Spassky was a true sportsman
100%
Often seems there is too little of that.
Gotto love Spassky for his sportmanship.
He was honestly more than that, I'd even go so far as to say he was a high quality bro as well. The guy literally joined him in prison, so they could play together and keep each other company. That level of friendship during their time, is honestly remarkable.
Yes!
@@Alliebutt a high quality bro lmao .
I applaud your eloquence and the insightful depth of your script in thisdocumentary. Very impressive.
There is a story about Taimanov, after he lost 6-0 to Fischer in their match, the Soviets took away his vacation home. After Fischer beat Bent Larsen 6-0, they gave it back.
Spassky flew to the match 1st Class. He was flown home Economy.
@@kirbyculp3449 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Also I recommend Yassir Sarawan's vid of Bobby Fischer stories.
Damn that’s some really petty shit LMAO
@@biazacha Not petty, Chess was a large psychological factor in the Cold War, where Russians beat literally everyone else for decades. It's similar to the space race, where Russia and the US needed a propaganda boost for their populace, and losing Chess as a propaganda point was important for Russia.
All I am taking away is that Spassky was a great guy
Saving everyone 22 minutes, he never answers why Fisher went insane.
You should be at the top
he did though
if i only read this 22 minutes ago
Maybe all this "insanity" is in the eye of the beholder. My sister is retired psychiatrist and she tells anyone that there is no such thing as a "NORMAL" person.
@@jzk3919 True enough.
Although there is such a thing as abnormal. Ideas and thoughts can and are taken to a point of no return with horrific consequences. Read the news sometime.
People's personalities that are destined to go insane are difficult to divert from that end. The fact that this man played Chess is a side note. He could just as well collected baseball cards or designed nuclear fission devices.
Fischer would have agreed with you. He stated himself that he was a genius who happened to play chess.
would have been good to mention why he withdrew from that tournament he was leading that could have possibly seen him play for the world title at age 16. he suspected the Russian players were cheating by agreeing to pre arranged matches and it turned out he was right! it even changed the rules a bit to how the candidates (a tournament to decide the world challenger) is played. hard to believe he could have possibly been the world's youngest champion ever at 17 but he was cheated out of it
Fischer would have been a champion maybe in 1963 or 1966. In 1959 he was still too young, he needed to expand his opening knowledge. He lost the 1969 because he could not handle the Caro Kann defense, and Tal was wreaking havok on the board because people had not figured out his attacking style. By 1970, Bobby was too strong for the competition.
Boris seems like a real stand up dude, love the sportsmanship
I’m glad you said that. I couldn’t just read the other 200 comments that say the exact same thing
@@MrShanester117 haha, why so rude?
@@MrShanester117 yeah you couldn’t, because they don’t exist.
Spasky was a class act. Says a lot about him going with the demands to keep playing, he wasn't content with a DQ win, he wanted to beat the best to be the best.
I think he liked learning from him. Not many people at his level he could learn from.
Your picture is a class act. I see you straight hating on Spassky. I bet you wish you had a someone like him by the way he was towards Fischer.
It must be very difficult to maintain your sanity when you have so much power running through your brain.
This story should also be a story of Boris Spassky. If the information is correct, the guy is a really decent person. Spassky could, repeat, could be a world champ without competing, but no. When Fischer had his "ticks", Spassky said just give in, and let's play. Many years later Spassky told then US-president Bush to "Free Spassky", and even met Fischer in prison to play chess
Boris Spassky was obvisously one of a kind. A human face of communism
How much Spassky identified with communism, is another question
And who imprisoned Fischer and why
@amin a he held a competitive chess match in Yugoslavia, and when the USA sent him a cease and desist, he spat on it
@@iiwi758 I know, that's one on me
@@WooperButBetter That's not what actually landed him in prison, though. According to the video, it was the Japanese authorities who imprisoned him for travelling with an expired passport.
@Paul Gauthier I guess Spassky agreed with you on that, since, according to this video, it was the US government he appealed to for Fischer's freedom.
I really want to think that it was Spassky's love and passion for the game that caused him to be such a good sportsman. People who truly love the games/sports they play typically don't care too much about winning or loosing. It's the joy of the game that they live for. They also tend to respect their opponents because of the shared passion as well. He could have also been eager about the challenge of playing against Fischer in and of itself, interested in the thrill of it, and didn't want win 'by default.' I don't know how much Spassky loved chess or that the above assumption's true, but it's still really heartwarming to see such good sportsmanship and support even for one's rival.
Chess isn’t a sport it’s a game
@@CLairsoftFTW At those stratospheric levels, it's also a sport. Even physically, it is very demanding to play a tournament in the championship cycle.
Fred
@@ffggddss there is nothing physically demanding about a sport where men at 50+ years old still dominate just because you enjoy a game a lot and it’s very special to you doesn’t make it a sport lol🤣 you’re the type who’d say snooker and darts are sports too😅
@@CLairsoftFTW Chess is not particularly special to me. I played it somewhat in my youth, but was never good enough to even consider trying to get into tournament play - I never would have got in.
I did later take up distance running, and was not too bad at that, placing in the top 10% in my best outings.
Now I'm not claiming that championship chess is as physically demanding as a road race, but it does require better than average physical fitness to be truly competitive.
Brainwork is not totally detached from overall fitness; if you believe otherwise, just try tackling a challenging crossword, or mathematical problem, when you're physically exhausted.
The point here, is that 99% of all the games of chess that are played, are not physically demanding; but if you're trying to win against a player with an ELO over 2000, you'd better be at your best physically, in addition to having chess skills at a 2000 level!
Fred
Imagine how many games you play without challenge, then meet somebody who does. Its at that point the only person you can still learn from. To get to that level you need to be willing to learn from your mistakes and losses, to become a better player. He offered him a worthy opponent, that could also improve his own skill.
The search for Bobby Fisher was my favorite movie for several years. I asked my chess playing teacher if there was anything more about him and he went and bought me 3 of his favorite books about B. Fischer.
I read em several times over and my teacher taught me some chess strategies and took me to some chess competitions he went to. I never won but it was a lot of fun.
Can you tell me the name of the books, I would like to read it
I don't if that's good look with his racism and all
@@KillAllCops88 im not sure what ur trying to say?
@@cheyhey2170 God damn auto correct. Saying being racist kinda destroys the whole lore around him
@@KillAllCops88 i dont think him being racist matters much. the majority of "special" peoples "lore" doesnt matter because theyre known for X.
the guy was a genius in a way & played chess in a different way. couldnt care less if hes racist or an alcoholic or whatnot personally
When Paul died, Peter actually looked after Bobby. This was while he was credited for the stats test bearing his name right before Bobby started his world title run. Tons of history there that’s super interesting
How does this have no replies?
Paul morphy and peter svindler :0
At a big chess tournament in Reykjavik in the late 1990's, several players were going over some games. Someone was at the counter buying up several chess books. As he was leaving he glanced at the board and commented "Oh, that's the Knight to f6 game." The people going over the game just looked up wondering what he was talking about. The man left after his statement and the winning move in the game they were going over was, Nf6. It was Bobby Fischer.
source?
@@dragonator0 Chess Life Magazine.
Wow .
Bobby ended up hating chess for its "opening theory", where move after move from the start of the game by each player had been carefully planned beforehand and committed to memory. In his eyes, he'd rather figure things out more as he went, as this was a better test of true skill, rather than simply memorize and play the "best moves". Thus, he created Chess960, also called Fischer Random. In this format, the 8 pieces on the back rank, which are the 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 1 queen, and 1 king, begin in random positions on the back rank. There are 960 possible combinations of ordering the pieces this way, so as to prevent players from memorizing the best moves and to encourage creativity and unique games.
Chess960 sounds like a good idea.
It's always been understood that there's a fine line between genius and insanity
Yep, there's also a zone like mine where I think I'm normal but some people think I'm insane.
@@lyrimetacurl0 Insane sounds better than outsane though. "You know what I'm saneing bro?"
Says who ?
No there isn't
True geniuses have always ended up insane.
Spassky showed profound artistry in handling everything. We should never lose that.
One thing Fischer was right about though was the invention of Fischer Random, or Chess960. It forces you to forget everything about opening theories and "opening tricks" (which don't work on grandmaster level anyway) and concentrate on the game and how pieces move. It's one thing to memorize every possible variation of let's say Sicilian Defense, but what if you started a game where the pieces are set up like "Q, B, B, N, R, N, K, R"? Now all of a sudden all your memorized opening theory won't do sh*t for you.
To me classical chess is a much better game than Fischer Random. The talented few and the lazy always seem to want to take the puncher's chance of the diligent untalented hard worker out of chess as much as they can. But the fact that anyone can easily learn to prepare sound openings is one of great qualities of chess.
All the opening preparation in the world won't help you against a much stronger player. But preparation does enable more players to develop their pieces harmoniously and put up a fight against almost anyone. Chess is a better game than poker because unlike in poker, in chess anyone can aspire to become better than 99+% of casual players through hard work alone even without talent. Hard work is not nearly enough to become a Grandmaster. But it's more than enough to learn to beat most players most of the time.
I don't want chess to go down the road Major League Baseball took when it turned classical baseball into a baseball variant in an artificial attempt to give the offense the upper hand and attract new fans with novelty at the expense of anything enduring. That is the reason I am no longer a baseball fan and I won't watch or play Fischer random either.
Chess has become more and more ridiculous with the pros running chess engines for weeks just to get a slightly better advantage in their opening reprotoire. There are openings like the Ruy Lopez where you might play 25+ moves that are all forgone conclusions before even making what would be considered "original" moves. Fischer Random would save chess and bring back the true genius in the game if people would just accept it. No more would a weaker player have a major benefit simply by massive amounts of memorization of theory. It would be fantastic to bring the originality of chess back.
Traugott - I love the idea of something which takes away the experience advantage as much as possible.
Imo true gamesmanship is better determined by how well a player does at something Never seen before although proficiency with the mechanics should be the same between players.
In many life endeavors I have learned, over time, that brilliance (with a bit of development) is superior to experience which mostly just means trial-and-error. A brilliant generalist can excel in a nearly limitless number of ways/endeavors where an experienced specialist tends to be good at only one narrowly defined thing and poor at nearly everything else.
I realize that mine is not the popular view, being that individualism has been under intense cultural attack for some time now and generalists are not only looked down on, but dismissed and misunderstood.
@@morelhunter3966chess doesn't need saving. Unlike most games, in which only talent matters, chess also rewards the hard work of the untalented although not as much as it rewards talented hard workers. Yes opening preparation does play a significant role in serious chess (one of the game's redeeming features). But the role of opening preparation should not be exaggerated. There are still plenty of opening ideas that work extremely well in practice even though the chess engines don't like them. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 the Philidor Counter Gambit with 3...f5 loses according to the Stockfish Engine. But good luck winning by force against a strong player as White in that line if you are human. It is not so easy and Black has many tricks. The Lopez Countergambit after 3.Bc4 f5 is even less popular in Master Chess (and even worse according to Stockfish). But on lichess.org the Lopez Gambit scores well over 40 percent. Unlike in chess variants like Fischer Random, in classical chess even club players can prepare risky moves or avoid them and that is how it should be. And the opening options available in chess to White or Black are almost endless.
Magnus Carlsen has shown that almost any reasonable opening moves can be played to win even at the top level. Recently the Stafford Gambit has become pretty popular except at the highest levels of chess and scores reasonably well on lichess.org (again well over 40 percent). And when (or if) someone takes the shine off it, other "dubious" but tricky lines will replace it. Less than one percent of tournament players know opening theory 25 moves deep or close in any lines anyway.
If you could force all chess players to migrate away from chess to an artificial chess variant like Fischer Random there would be less brilliant chess, not more, and certainly far fewer gambit lines. And after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 the Petrov at most levels with 3...d6 is only slightly more drawish than the Morphy defense after 2...Nc6 3.Bb5 a6. And after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe4 the Stafford Gambit with 3...Nc6 while much riskier than the Petrov with 3...d6 gives reasonable practical chances at most levels too. Chess shouldn't be only a game for geniuses and should also reward hard work as well as courage. And fortunately despite some of Fischer's nonsense chess does exactly that.
@Steveross2851 I wouldnt use Magnus Carlsen to prove almost any reasonable opening moves can work. Hes literally the strongest player of all time. Lets be real here. Thats like saying stockfish can beat any player with pawn odds with any reasonable move therefore opening prep shows virtually no advantage. Not a fair comparison at all.
And again saying the Stafford Gambit has become popular except at the higgest levels defeats your own argument because its those very highest levels of chess where the most opening preparation is done therefore youve unwittingly backed up my point.
Personally I wouldnt use a lichess to prove your points. Online chess is rampant with cheating. No one famaliar with the field of statistics would use any site to back up their claims. At least use in person tournaments. But really thats just a personal disagreement.
Random Chess would remove opening preparation and put a much greater emphasis on understanding the principles of the game. When memorization is taken away it becomes purely about ones understanding of the princples behind strategy and tactics since there is no crutch to fall back on with gaining advantage through memorizing opening theory. Really I dont think what you said makes a ton of sense. Obviously if you take away the opening advantage you would, by necessity, have to make up that advantage somewhere else and in this case it would have to be in better understanding of strategy and tactics.
I hope this doesn't happen to the new best player in the world. I want to keep on watching his insane chess games.
You're my role model StockFish 15.1
i thought u meant magnus lmao
lmaoooo
Had me in the first half, not gonna lie 😂
who? i wanna watch. your comment is gripping!
This was the funniest comment ever lol
If this man went insane after years of chess, and I couldn’t even play 5 minutes of chess without having a breakdown, I need help
If this man has a bu@@@ho__e and went insane and I have one, I need help too
I gave up chess for this reason
At least I had enough "IQ" to see that it's a waste of life. Fischer did the same eventually I guess, that's why he didn't bother after becoming champ
@@lyrimetacurl0 may be he thought it was a good way of improving his IQ to the next level.
@@lyrimetacurl0 How incredibly pretentious of you. You are nowhere near the degree of chess mastery as Fischer. Hell I'd be damn surprised if you're even above 1500 elo, a complete amateur. To you, chess is simply a game, a hobby, a way to pass time. And yet here you are, talking so seriously and so poignantly, as if your casual little chess games here and there were really taking a toll on your sanity and existence. As if you have any idea whatsoever what Fischer went through. As if explaining quantum physics to an ant. To you and me.
You, and everyone else in this comment thread, quit chess because you were bored. You simply had enough, as any child may decide they have had enough with any of their particular hobbies. Or perhaps you hit a ceiling, perhaps it was 1000 elo, 1200 elo, or even 1500 elo. The cherry on top is you deny reality and self-proclaim your abandonment of chess as anything remotely related to IQ or wisdom or hindsight. Laughable. Adorable really.
This is the best Fischer documentary. Thank you
BF was a Rockstar. I couldn't give a toss about chess, but growing up in the 70s, everybody knew who he was. He transcended his game.
WTF does giving a toss mean ? 😐
I have a feeling Fischer's issues have a lot to do with his mother's abandonment. Bad mothers can really fuck you up emotionally. My mother was shit and for several years I was heavily misogynistic even though I am also a woman. It took a serious self reflection and therapy to change that and I'm still distrustful of woman in general.
Well not just abandonment but she also possibly cheated on his "dad" with another man that could actually be his real father. I'm sure with Fischers intelligence he would be able to figure out if his mother really did such thing.
Sounds likely. I also think that when a person sacrifices so much of their life to focus on one thing, their ability to reflect and mature emotionally will be diminished. He sounds like he could have been somewhere on the autistic spectrum as well.
@@ronibarlund4464 Cheating is nothing compared to abandonment, dude. Personal experience. Cheating is only really bad when it implies abandonment.
I have a feeling the mother-dauvhter dynamic has a unique complexity, to boot.
She was Jewish..
1972 was a rough year for the USSR. Fischer dominated them on a chess board while Team Canada overcame a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 against Team USSR at the Summit Series.
and then 8 years later...the Miracle on Ice
Must be that 50 year anniversary stirring Revenge Feelings...."Let's go beat up Ukraine!!!" :)
our grade 11 english teacher brought in a tv to catch a game of the summit series
@@thelmagreenwood1429 what does that have to do with this comment??
@@nguyenthuthao2699 Have someone else explain it to you; since it's so odvious to me, i wouldn't know where to start with you so you can comprehend it.
beautiful documentary. remarkable narration. superb 👏👏👏
To try and get some context for his 20 in a row, I looked it up and Kasparov managed 10 against high level competition, although they were not all GMs like Fishers.
Looking into it, winning 4-5 on the bounce is considered astounding when playing high level competition.
After some research Fishers 20 in a row is among the greatest sporting records of all time.
^^For those who were curious.
To this day Fabianos 7 game streak im pretty sure is the only one that surpassed fishers achievement of dominance
20(it is actually only 19) games is indeed astonishing. But the game of chess has radicaly changed since the era of computers. Almost to an extent where comparing chess records from todays time is useless. Austrian World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz won 25 games in a row.
@@charleyiverson8919 It's true that computers changed chess radically, but you have to consider that Bobby also didn't have access to those strategies same as his competitors. Steinitz played 100 years before Bobby, back when chess was a game that no one really took seriously. In Bobby's era, chess was already very sophisticated and the grandmasters of the time could compete with the ones of modern times (aside from the very top modern players). The fact that Bobby was that far ahead of his peers is what really counts.
well winning 20 games in a row aint important, winning tournaments is.
kasparov usually drew his remaining games when he knew he realised he had already won the tourney.
thats why kaspy has 15 consecutive super tournament wins. and fischer has 2 :)
@@KingKong11730 During steinitz time people did take chess seriously, sure it wasn't as widely played as it is today but the people who played it did take it seriously. There were matches for good sums of money up to 100k in today's money. Even Morphy was invited by all sorts of royalties (which would be equivalent of people today) solely because of his fame as a great chess player.
I remember those Bobby Fischer years, as I was a bit of a chess nerd in high school. I began playing in tournaments in NYC until an obnoxious 9-yr-old crushed me and my headache convinced me that chess wasn't gonna bring me worldwide acclaim. I've played some pickup games in the 50 years since, and won them, but that's just relying on old MCO studies. Competitive chess is a brutal world. lol
Boris Spassky wound up being chess’ hero. Fischer thought nothing of walking away from events, while Spassky lobbied to accommodate an opponent’s selfish ultimatums in order to pursue competition at its highest level. A TRUE sportsman’s act.
On the other hand, when Fischer demanded a bigger prize fund, Spassky also stood to gain a bigger prize.
When my great uncle taught me to play chess, I was 9 and it was 1994. He told me everytime we played that I should study bobby fisher. My great uncle jack was the biggest bobby fisher fan. Thanks for this video!
Brilliant video - I felt you captured the key events really well. 64 is symbolic for the number of chess squares on the board for Fischer's final age. If you do another chess video which I really hope you do, I think someone in chess who might be even more "up your street" for intrigue is arguably the "Most talented chess player ever" - Mir Sulthan Khan - apparently, he could not read English and yet won many tournaments and even beat players like Capablanca. A true mystery in the chess world for raw talent. Cheers, K
Definitely, he's no doubt a genius at chess, too bad his playing time was so short... I hope Thougty2 does a video on him too
Brilliant? If a smear-piece is 'brilliant' then sure.
@@celzolsen8988 Did we watch the same video? How is this a smear video? Nothing but facts
@@iLikesTheCoke I don't expect much from someone named Mike Litoris
@@celzolsen8988 this is one hell of a weak and idiotic non argument... You would had been better off not saying anything back
i remember growing up in Philippines in the 90's.saw my dad playing chess with his buddy while having some beers. i asked "what are you guys doing?"
took me to the side, they reset the pieces and showed me how to play. i remember him telling me about Bobby Fischer and how great he was. dad was a huge fan... i also remember the very first opening he taught me, 2 knights... decades later, i still play 2 knights despite knowing other openings now lol
(also, never managed to beat my dad when he played seriously. at his peak he was around 21-2200)
u from the future??
Holy crap that's like IM or GM level your dad is epic
@@emmalion1976 lmao IM is 2400-2500 and GM is 2500-2700 his dad was like a NM ( National Master )
@@b4ljxsh okay, but is it really that funny?
I was the youngest in my family, chess was often the game of choice when there was only 2 around.
I'm in my seventies and I've succeeded in bettering them all over the decades. My brother and I are the last chess players in the family, no-one wants to exercise their brains anymore, it's all social media and video games.
spaski (butchered that for sure) sounds like a cool dude, the man literally volunteered to go to jail just to play chess / be with a fellow chess god
Not enough credit is given to Spassky for his displays of sportsmanship
"Yo my 8 year old kid wants someone to play chess with"
*the best player in the country*
"One day you'll understand just how much love it takes to crush a little boy's dreams"
*The best in the world, arguably to modern day
When I was his age, this chess master came to our reformatory school. He played 20 of us at the same time. He beat everyone else within an hour, then we played until well past the close of school, and he beat me, and it was night time when I left after the game.
@@coronavirusisacommunistchi845 sounds 1000% believable
@@christopherclubb9167 incredibly profound
Boris Spassky is a great man, he was a true gentleman and treated bobby like a friend of some sorts
Having lived in the era of the Fischer vs Spassky World championship match, I felt both the political and social impact these 2 men had on the world. Spassky was a true gentleman; Fischer was an impetuous, single-minded individual. I watched the games as they were posted on boards shown on PBS, move by move. Wins, losses, and draws all had an impact on those of us favoring our respective player. The tension and drama, mostly from Fischer's insistence on having his way, seemed childish and undignified for such a noble game and location. In the end, Fischer showed his latent genius, winning the World Championship. It is sad to reflect on the end of those immortal games knowing how Bobby Fischer ended his chess career... and his solitary life, at age 64.
I celebrated Boris Spassky's 80th birthday by replaying some of those immortal games from 1972. I wished him well. And I believe he hoped Bobby Fischer finally found peace.
That's the thing tho it wasn't childish he changed the game he owned it he was many steps above even his toughest competitors and also a champion although after the fact he was still above the rest so he indeed has the right to make stipulations and ask for changes if he's literally changing the game himself and has been playing all of his life things change no sport has always been or stayed the same throughout the history of time he was the only one willing and brave enough to challenge that early on and change things
No Fischer was right about everything he demanded and said , not childish , he stood for what was right , especially annoying press clicking cameras flashes , and he was right about his political views , that's why he is slandered
@@BrettHall-b1u this 100%
His political ideas were at least as far ahead as his chess.
He stood for what he believed in and didn't back down. People that worship power, and people in power fear that kind of man.
That kind of man is called "Righteous"
@@BrettHall-b1u Completely agree , until the last letter.
@@bamaboitube8572
Fischer didn't change the game. He was at world top GMs elite approx 10 years till 1972
Although 14K comments precede this, I have to add mine. I was really impressed with this profile of Bobby Fischer and his career. Summarizing a life in 22 minutes isn't fair, but I feel like you did your research and worked hard to present a balanced view.
I lived through the time of Fischer's dominance and was aware of the tension surrounding his match against Spassky. I had no idea Spassky intervened on Fischer's behalf - not once, but twice. That dispels the belief that the Soviet players were programmed and inhuman.
Since Muhammad Ali lost his boxing title, I was disappointed yet not surprised that Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title. Politics and mental health. Yet, your video gave me a better sense of how dominant Fischer was. I knew he'd been a young champion, but I didn't know his self-destructive bent prevented him from contending for the World title sooner. How many prodigies and geniuses never got to shine for any of a number of reasons?
Thank you also for not skirting the ugly side of Bobby Fischer. Makes me think of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh who expressed support for the Nazis. You were right: giftedness does not excuse hurtful conduct.
Maybe, for me, it took a Brit to present the story of Bobby Fischer from a neutral standpoint in order for me to get a better appreciation of the man. He was a flawed hero, but I better understand why Bobby Fischer is - to this day - considered arguably the greatest chess player who ever lived. Thank you!