Bobby Fischer, American Chess Grandmaster, is at it again!
December 3, 2001 8:12 AM   Subscribe

Bobby Fischer, American Chess Grandmaster, is at it again! Bobby says: "It is time to finish off the US once and for all."
posted by mfoight (36 comments total)
 
Gawd. I'd heard that he was an anti-Semite, but this takes the cake.

"I was happy ... the US had it coming to them ... Israel and Jews were responsible ..."

Excuse me while I throw up.
posted by dhartung at 8:30 AM on December 3, 2001


::sigh:: I guess that aluminum helmut he wears to thwart Zionist thought waves must have a lead lining that's seeping into his brain.

With the exception of Paul Morphy, Fischer is almost certainly the greatest chess player who ever lived. Why, O, why does he have to be such an imbecile in every other respect?
posted by RavinDave at 8:30 AM on December 3, 2001


Bobby Fischer is a cooky guy. It's really quiet strange how open he is about all of this and how he is not seen as a fred leuchter. Or how his opponents don't seem to mind any of this.
posted by tiaka at 8:33 AM on December 3, 2001


wow. I didn't realize he was THAT nuts.
posted by presto at 8:38 AM on December 3, 2001


RavinDave: History has passed Fischer by. Most people give Kasparov the greatest-ever title.

Any good study of Fischer's life implies he is, if not autistic, equivalently impaired in any form of routine functioning outside of chess (plenty of people have described him as never being able to decide which arm goes with which leg when you walk).

And yes, his opponents certainly have seemed to mind. Just about no one will play Fischer in standard competition (not that he's offering much). His famous match with Spassky in 1972 almost didn't happen because Fischer couldn't approve a table/chair combination for the match -- they had to go through about 50 before he could be "satisfied." (No doubt it was the fault of the Jews).
posted by argybarg at 9:00 AM on December 3, 2001


Oh god, I just got the most annoying flash ad ever on that article. The space ship whipped out the text! as I was reading it!!
posted by corpse at 9:07 AM on December 3, 2001


I've always believed that playing chess at that level requires a certain amount of mental illness. Thinking on the level of Grandmaster pretty much precludes you from being able to comprehend the mundane. This pretty much proves it.
posted by jpoulos at 9:19 AM on December 3, 2001


I'm not deleting mine. In mine there is a secret FBI agent that is on a tight schedule, no really, he is given 24 hours to "locate" or "search" for Bobby Fischer, aka the chess terrorist mastermind, it includes sharp hair raising turns that mimic a chess game with bobby always keeping one move ahead of the FBI agent, until the Checkmate. He targets the Whitehouse, the Kuala Lumpur towers and New York synagogues. He sends letter to the FBI agents giving him secret clues that are worked up in chess games that will tell where the bomb is going off. "Riveting, suspenseful and intelligent"
posted by tiaka at 9:35 AM on December 3, 2001


"What goes around comes around"

This is certainly true.
posted by dydecker at 9:37 AM on December 3, 2001


(curse you, tiaka and your quick hands)

Right now a thousand aspiring screen writers are deleting their copy of "Searching for Bobby Fischer II" and loudly cursing to themselves.

Nah, they're just changing the genre from drama to action.

From the final scene of SBF2: Josh, by Gosh

INT: DAY Fischer Fortress of Solitude
Ben Kingsley comes crashing through a stained glass portico. Machine-guns blazing, he leaps from the balcony and topples the board.

Ben Kingsley: Rook to e-5. Check and mate, bitch!
posted by ColdChef at 9:40 AM on December 3, 2001


Well, the man is schizophrenic. His crazy, paranoid ranting is a common sympton.
I'd take the Telegraph's claim that they "discovered" this with a pinch of salt. Here's an unreliable-looking but probably not unrepresentative extract from the Radio Bomba interview.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:44 AM on December 3, 2001


He's just pissed off at Hollywood. Seen the movie? I'd be pissed too if I were him. He sounds like a spoiled brat. Best not to waste another breath on him.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:45 AM on December 3, 2001


"What goes around comes around"

This is certainly true.


dydecker: At the generic and inutile level of all cliches, yes, it is true. Just don't confuse it with thinking.
posted by argybarg at 9:52 AM on December 3, 2001


What is it about insane anti-Semitic geniuses ranting on the radio about the Jews? First Ezra Pound, now this?
posted by solistrato at 9:53 AM on December 3, 2001


his crazy, paranoid ranting is a common symptom of paranoia, miguel. lots of people are paranoid and are not necessarily schizophrenic. timecube is the product of a schizophrenic, probably; fischer just seems like an eccentric person, paranoid perhaps, but eccentric -- to me he does, anyway.
posted by moz at 9:53 AM on December 3, 2001


Isn't Bobby Fisher Jewish? So by extension, does he blame himself for the attacks?
posted by cell divide at 9:58 AM on December 3, 2001


moz: The verdict for Fischer's schizophrenia isn't just based on his ranting. It's based on the twenty or so years he spent in a combination of homelessness and living in fleabag apartments, despite being thoroughly wealthy; it's based on the years he spent riding buses with a portable chess set, muttering to himself; it's based on his years of irrational, vindictive sniping at chess tournaments. If you read about his life, especially as it devolved after the early '70s, you get a clear portrait of a schizophrenic.
posted by argybarg at 10:03 AM on December 3, 2001


Not only is Fischer likely schizophrenic, he also is a likely sufferer of Ausperger's Syndrome -- the savant form form of autism. In any case, his offensive rantings are the product of the damaged mind of a once-famous, now reclused man who does not warrant the public attention that this article has accorded him.
posted by Dreama at 10:09 AM on December 3, 2001


Int: Pentagon Briefing Room

Powell: [points to map of US] We believe Fished to be holed up in a cave somewhere in Detroit. We have our best computer, Big Blue II, working out exactly where he is, based on a series of chess moves we found mailed to us coated in Anthrax.

Colonel Travis: How do you intend to smoke him out?

Powell: We plan to offer him ten million dollars to play Krusckev, an secret counter-chess-intelligence operative we've had in the field searching for Bobby for almost three years.
posted by Neale at 10:11 AM on December 3, 2001


"It's time to finish off the US once and for all?"

That's right, because we must be stopped, no matter the cost! The world hasn't got much time... they probably can't take it any longer...

Who the hell talks like that? Where'd he get that line, out of a "Masters of the Universe" rerun? Shuh-yeeeesh.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 10:45 AM on December 3, 2001


the article said he had gained weight. With that being said, is it time for personal attacks? "He's just a crazy fat man".
posted by tomplus2 at 10:45 AM on December 3, 2001


Krusckev eh? Hmm...

Hmm.. Searching for Bobby Fischer rewrite 2.

It's a war film with Bobby Fischer being stuck behind enemy lines, now he does support the taliban and all, but he's an american and it's up to Tom Hanks to save him, along the way the face enemy fire and learn about each other.

Searching for Bobby Fischer rewrite 3.

Bobby Fischer is an international terrorist hacker who hacks jewish websites and posts "I haxor you! Stop the global conspiracy and I'll stop eXpolioting your servers!"

Searching for Bobby Fischer rewrite 4.

Bobby Fischer sets up a plan to blow up major metropolitan areas in the year 2030, he lives his life, untill someone finds out about his plans, they have to obtain how and where these explosions will be, but the problem is he is now old and senile, doesn't know or understand anything but chess. When all the areas explode he thought when he was younger he'd rejoyce and be extremely happy, but alas his age cought up with him and even he was not able to remember why he wanted to kill all those people.
posted by tiaka at 10:52 AM on December 3, 2001


Regarding moz's timecube link: cubes have eight corners, not four.
posted by Eamon at 11:36 AM on December 3, 2001


I call TOTAL BULLSHIT !!!

Go see bobbyfischer.net

Look at the September 11 entry:

September 11, 2001
Let the world mourn the loss of lives lost in the heinous terrorist attack on the United States today.


C'mon, people...that took me thirty seconds to research
posted by Godling at 12:16 PM on December 3, 2001


Godling, that site isn't created by Fisher, it's a fan site.
posted by cell divide at 12:23 PM on December 3, 2001


Tiaka: hey, don't rip off Cowboy Bebop.
posted by Charmian at 1:15 PM on December 3, 2001


good eye, charmian. i completely missed that one.
posted by lotsofno at 1:25 PM on December 3, 2001


Searching for Bobby Fischer rewrite 5.

Bobby is the undead spawn Satan, victimising others with obscure chess piece references "You are my pawns, fleshlings, and I your master and King". Final scene involves a fledgling wizard with a lightnings scar challenging him to a duel with giant chess pieces.
posted by Neale at 1:47 PM on December 3, 2001


Searching for Bobby Fischer rewrite 6
The little kid from the original movie is now a teenager. He learns from this Metafilter thread that his idol is a real prick and an anti-Semite and a vicious, bitter, lonely man.
Then he thinks about the beauty of Fischer's game and he decides he doesn't really care. A very bad man dreamt up some of the most astonishing chess ideas ever, OK: the kid then learns that you can fall in love with somebody's talent even if you deeply despise everything else about him.
(sorry for the irony-free post)
posted by matteo at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2001


Hey, Hitler was a great leader.

And he was evil.
posted by jragon at 2:18 PM on December 3, 2001


Godling: It does not look to me like Bobby is afiliated with Bobbyfischer.net, or any of the other Bobbyfischer domains, tho http://djbobbyfischer.com/ may prove me wrong.
posted by thirteen at 2:18 PM on December 3, 2001


...it includes sharp hair raising turns that mimic a chess game with bobby always keeping one move ahead of the FBI agent

...and his sexy girlfriend who becomes an unwitting pawn in fisher's game, until the Checkmate.

just trying to help you get the sale, tiaka.
posted by lescour at 3:07 PM on December 3, 2001


When I knew him around 1977, he was always foisting conspiracy theory books on me and reciting, verbatim, whole chapters from them. At the time, I thought it was a temporary infatuation, and would pass. I guess I was wrong.

I remember one book filled with pictures of atrocities supposedly perpetrated by Zionists. There were pictures in there that still haunt me. Studying those books would damage an ordinary balanced mind.

He always struck me as being developmentally arrested at the age of 13. Physically and socially awkward, yet incredibly intelligent and voluble on subjects that interested
him, he'd be right at home at Def Con.

It's a pity that his deranged utterings should receive the attention of the press. Anyone else would go unheard (unless he signed up at MeFi.)
posted by Geo at 3:57 PM on December 3, 2001


Wow. What an ass.
posted by zztzed at 4:18 PM on December 3, 2001


Searching for Bobby Fischer 2: Charlie Sheen was traveling upriver; today was the 97th day of a rolling drunk that had begun when he'd gotten the assignment and escaped the rehab clinic. Now, he had located the lair of Fisher the Evil One. Clawing his way through the mountains of grist for the memorization mill telephone books, he finally laid eyes on the despised Jew-Hater;the immense bulk of 1400 pounds obscured the wisdom reputed to have once resided within the tortured rainman gone Osama brain. Always a thrifty fellow, Charlie saved the bullet and tossed a five pound bag of salt on the slug-like, festered carcass...oh whatever, that doofus savant has always been a bore.
posted by Mack Twain at 5:04 PM on December 3, 2001


wow Geo, you're my new hero for actually knowing Bobby.
posted by gyc at 5:59 PM on December 3, 2001


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