Phil C
12-10-2007, 05:20 PM
I don't have any details but he was reportedly in a hospital but he may be out now.
At one time he was the best chess player in the world and is considered by most one of the greatest.
Please bear in mind I am not writing about his latest political and religious controversies but on his chess ability.
Most chess players peak in their early to mid twenties and last until their early to mid thirties even though they still play great chess in other times.
At his time he knew the openings better than anyone before him and he was outstanding in the middle and end games. He very rarely took over five minutes to make a move.
From 1957 to 1972 he played 576 games and won 327 of them with 188 being draws and 61 losses. This is outstanding. He won 57% of his games and in chess if a grandmaster wins 50% he is doing excellent. And his ration of wins to draws was an outstanding 1.74:1 where 1:1 is considered excellent. Since chess gives one point for wins and one half point for losses that means he had the outstanding score of 421 points out of 576 for 73%!
Of the 61 losses he was outplayed 38 times for a 62% of the losses, he lost 16 due to carelessness at 26% and he lost 7 or 11% due to trying too hard to win. In the ones he tried to hard to win he probably would have easily drawn them but he took chances to win. He lost 7 but most likely won many more by those efforts.
In 1969 he won the speed chess world championship (where the players move fast) by 4.5 points ahead of his nearest opponent. That is like winning the Super Bowl by 4 tds.
He really dominated the chess world on the way to the 1972 World Chess Championship crushing his opponents. He won the World Chess Championship in 1972 in 21 games and that was after spotting his opponent the first two games.
Outstanding indeed.
He was 29 when he won the world championship and unfortunately he was not to play international competition for the rest of his prime years. He didn't participate in tournaments which is needed to keep your chess playing form up. He refused to come to San Antonio for a Church's Fried Chicken tournament because he said it wasn't enough money even though it attracted the best players of the day including a former world champion, a future world champions and a future world champion contender.
It was a shame because if he had played serious chess for just 8 more years in his prime years he might have been considered the best chess player ever. Right now that goes to Garry Kasparov which is justified but I feel if both players could have played each other in their prime (which is impossible) I think Fischer would have had a good chance to win.
He did win a world championship though and is a great player. Too bad history couldn't have had more to work on. He really dominated chess from 1969 to 1972 for sure.
At one time he was the best chess player in the world and is considered by most one of the greatest.
Please bear in mind I am not writing about his latest political and religious controversies but on his chess ability.
Most chess players peak in their early to mid twenties and last until their early to mid thirties even though they still play great chess in other times.
At his time he knew the openings better than anyone before him and he was outstanding in the middle and end games. He very rarely took over five minutes to make a move.
From 1957 to 1972 he played 576 games and won 327 of them with 188 being draws and 61 losses. This is outstanding. He won 57% of his games and in chess if a grandmaster wins 50% he is doing excellent. And his ration of wins to draws was an outstanding 1.74:1 where 1:1 is considered excellent. Since chess gives one point for wins and one half point for losses that means he had the outstanding score of 421 points out of 576 for 73%!
Of the 61 losses he was outplayed 38 times for a 62% of the losses, he lost 16 due to carelessness at 26% and he lost 7 or 11% due to trying too hard to win. In the ones he tried to hard to win he probably would have easily drawn them but he took chances to win. He lost 7 but most likely won many more by those efforts.
In 1969 he won the speed chess world championship (where the players move fast) by 4.5 points ahead of his nearest opponent. That is like winning the Super Bowl by 4 tds.
He really dominated the chess world on the way to the 1972 World Chess Championship crushing his opponents. He won the World Chess Championship in 1972 in 21 games and that was after spotting his opponent the first two games.
Outstanding indeed.
He was 29 when he won the world championship and unfortunately he was not to play international competition for the rest of his prime years. He didn't participate in tournaments which is needed to keep your chess playing form up. He refused to come to San Antonio for a Church's Fried Chicken tournament because he said it wasn't enough money even though it attracted the best players of the day including a former world champion, a future world champions and a future world champion contender.
It was a shame because if he had played serious chess for just 8 more years in his prime years he might have been considered the best chess player ever. Right now that goes to Garry Kasparov which is justified but I feel if both players could have played each other in their prime (which is impossible) I think Fischer would have had a good chance to win.
He did win a world championship though and is a great player. Too bad history couldn't have had more to work on. He really dominated chess from 1969 to 1972 for sure.