Poking a dead guy with a stick
Click here to for a journalist revisiting revelations about Bobby Fischer's ancestry, among other things (LA Times). Not much chess in there.
posted by Blue Devil Knight at 9/22/2009 01:13:00 AM
15 Comments:
Now that bobby is dead the interest in him is greater than ever.
Unlike say music where someone writes a book about Beethoven non music people will read it.
If nothing else because of the historical factor.
But how many people outside of chess would read about Fischer on mass.
So his story is pumped up added to expanded on,his off board life is more interesting to non chess players than his on board life.
This makes it more interesting as most people reading it would not know the true facts.
Fischer should be known to non chess people as one of the greatest chess players ever,but he is becoming known for his political ramblings and confused rantings about history.
We dont need this http://bobbyfischerlive.com/
Hmmmmmm, i thought it was already longer known that Paul Felix Nemenyi was Fisher's dad and not Gerhardt then mentioned in the article.
Nevertheless i dont find this all intresting. What i find intresting is his chess legacy: his games.
To just focus on his chess would be strange in a biographical treatment of Fischer. There are lots of purely chess treatments of his life.
I was at the presentation that the author and his wife gave at the Marshall. He showed the picture of Nemenyi during the presentation. He certainly does look a lot Fischer.
I missed Fischer when I heard of his passing. The chess is not really that important to me anymore, it's what he achieved with his life that matters.
I find it funny and rather amusing how people can complain about his anti-Jewish statements since it was all a bunch of rubbish anyway (he may have had personal issues over it, but that's _his_ personal business, not ours - he was just airing it out publicly, interesting the word "turrets" was mentioned).
I sort of feel that we've lost classic chess. We've lost Fischer, we've lost the original world championship format. It's gone too "indie" (independent) for my tastes, at the top stage; whereas, I think that chess should be something borne of proud time-honored traditions, and not mixing stuff up all the time.
If you are going to mix-up chess, why not follow some other suggestions such as fischer-random or adding squares (Capablanca had some such suggestion).
i thought the title was a metaphor referring to commenters prompting you (BDK) to start blogging daily again. :)
katar: LMAO!
I have read quite a bit about Fischer and I think it is important to separate his antics from the chess when one is studying his games. His games and for the most part his comportment at the chess table were wonderful. His playing was obviously revolutionary.
However, I think it is also important to NOT separate his antics from his chess when studying him as a person. He was obviously a troubled man and is a good cautionary tale.
How many times have we seen a genius cave into his or her lesser nature because no one told them no? Everyone always bent over backwards for Fischer which only helped to enable him. Heck even Spassky acquiesced over some very important points in their famous match.
On a not entirely separate track I am sort of over the as long as you win mentality that permeates our country. It is is possible to compete and win with CLASS.
People like Bill Belichick don't understand that, or worse don't care! And when we excuse their behavior because they win, we just continue the downward spiral. The same thing could be said about politicians. Where the heck has CIVIL debate and discourse gone?
So yeah, Fischer's personality and lack of class are important and we SHOULD take note of it.
This is the wrong blog to be dissin' Bill Belichick.
Belichick is an amazing coach (for those that don't know, he coaches the New England Patriots in football).
Last season the Pats won 11 games with a backup quarterback. He has taken them to four superbowls in the last decade, won three. As a lifelong Pats fan, I know that is three more than they had in the entire history of the team before he came in.
In terms of the cheating allegations from three seasons ago, that is one way to put it. His staff broke a rule by videotaping some sideline signals (signals any fan can see from the stands), and he should not have done that. But to act as if that explains his team's performance would be insane.
He did what pretty much every coach in the NFL did (did you see Jimmy Johnson's reaction, he was laughing about it). They sit out on the sideline with a camera where everyone can see them, and it was standard that everyone turned the other way, a kind of coach's courtesy. Mangini, who used to work for Belichick, broke the code, ratted Belichick out because of bad blood between them.
Obviously, just because everyone did it, and Mangini is a rat fucker doesn't justify the behavior, but it nullifies the argument that it explains why the Patriots have done so well since he was coach.
Belichick is awesome. He is no nonsense, not a particularly funny or fun guy, pretty much all business, all football. Not even all that likeable, frankly. But he is a great coach. People love to pile on the Pats, but not at this blog. I will publish no more comments on Belichick. This is the last word.
:)
That was a fascinating article.
I did a google search for an image of Paul Nemenyi and came across this image:
http://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/articles/7678.jpg
very striking resemblance indeed.
I still think Fischer was a result of Asperger's Syndrome unchecked.
Did you ever see the movie "Like Mike" where a kid magically gets Michael Jordan's basketball skills when he wears a pair of MJ's old sneakers?
They absolutely need to make a "Like Bill": a washed-up high school coach becomes a genius by wearing one of Belichick's old hoodies...
BP: Holy crap that is an amazing resemblance indeed. Thanks for the link.
LEP: LOL. He would also have to become grumpy and impatient.
A good example of Belichick's classless behavior (if it had been the sanctimonious Tony Dungee we would all have known about it), from Sports Illustrated:
"In the last conversation Tillman had with Bauer [his agent], he told his agent, "You won't believe the letter I got from Bill Belichick." In the letter, Belichick praised him for his courage, his leadership, his willingness to set an example for people in this materialistic society, and he said that it was an honor to be in the same league he'd been in."
No class.
Class isn't effectively revealed by how enthusiastically you shake someone's hand in public, but how you treat the person when nobody is looking.
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