You know nothing about chess. Don't pretend like you do.
I'm Indian buddy, I told you earlier all my friends were chess dorks (which is why I have zero interest in it). Russia made chess what it is, not Bobby Fischer. Fischer may have had an impact on the AMERICAN side but it's always been Russians and Europeans who have fostered growth and interest in chess.
I don't expect you to change your mind over this, anyway. You're not a chess player, so you don't see him in the same way that I do. You can argue that he was a terrible person who caused more harm to society than good to chess, but that's debatable. I don't consider Fischer to have been a major influence on international politics. He was just an individual, after all.
And yeah, go argue that last part however much you want. But you don't have an understanding of chess players if you think that most of the chess world isn't going to be saddened by this news.
I can honestly say that if anyone in a circle that I paid attention to, political, musical, whatever, died and they had a history of anti-semitism or racism, I wouldn't call them a hero. some of my favorite writers and thinkers went on to do incredibly terrible things and I don't call them heroes.
I find it incredibly suspect that you posted an OP without once mentioning the only thing Fischer's been doing for the past like twenty years. you can keep saying "A LOSS FOR THE CHESS WORLD" but you're purposefully ignoring the fact that after 1975 Fischer played about once. he also made ridiculous demands, resigned the title of world champ but then later refused to believe anyone else was, and
claimed professional chess was all rigged.
how you heroworship this man even in a chess communal sense is beyond me. you're purposefully ignoring everything he did in and after 1975, in attempt to glorify his image, when in fact his continued existence was an embarassment to the chess community.
He wasn't "a" hero. He was one of my heroes. That has nothing to do with you. He was hardly a hero to the world.
You guys just didn't get inspired by Fischer like I did. That's the issue here. I'm a chess player and I know that he was one of the most iconic and important figures in the history of the game. Whether he was the greatest, I don't know, but he's the reason a lot of people are playing it today, including some of the top players, like Kasparov.And yeah, feel free to flame me for taking up this stance or whatever (there's no need to do that by the way, Man-O-War). But that's what I think. And I'm not excusing the fact he was a lunatic. Because he was. I'm not trying to downplay it either, despite thinking that he wasn't actually harmful at any time. But I'm a chess player and I find it difficult.
well uh, first off, you don't play professionally, do you? it's like your, what, year long fascination with a game has led you to some greater understanding than myself or anyone else? everyone knows what it's like to respect someone for what they do but abhor them as human beings. Fischer made a lot of public statements, and quite a few that were denigrating professional chess. we can draw a parallel in the situation.
I just don't like the fact that I opened this topic, expecting you of all people to address his very famous comments, and then discover you purposefully glossed over them and then got incredibly defensive and harsh when I brought up the fact that he was a terrible human being, if a spectacular chess player. the second does not excuse the first and then that raises the question as to why you think it does to the degree that you'd say he's a personal hero.
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Bobby Fischer dies at 64