Posts Tagged ‘biography’
Garry Kasparov on Bobby Fischer, and Frank Brady’s new biography
A long and detailed article on Bobby Fischer, with a review of Brady’s new Fischer bio in the mix.
If you have even a smattering of interest in the topic, I encourage you to read the full piece. If you prefer a black-and-white understanding of Bobby Fischer, you need read nothing. Over the coming weeks and months, there will be plenty of opinion pieces to satisfy your needs. As Kasparov points out, there have always been “starry-eyed sycophants”, as well as “spiteful critics” whose need for facts will never extend beyond listening to his lunatic rants in his later years.
The sycophants you can easily ignore. The critics less so. But as you encounter one or another writer who portrays Fischer simply as a man with no principles, understand that that is not the opinion of many– I think most– Grandmasters. On the contrary, as Kasparov reminds us:
Fischer returned from beating Spassky in Reykjavík—the Match of the Century—a world champion, a media star, and a decorated cold warrior. Unprecedented offers rolled in for millions of dollars in endorsement deals, exhibitions, basically anything he was willing to put his name or face to. With a few minor exceptions, he turned it all down.
Keep in mind that the chess world of the pre-Fischer era was laughably impoverished even by today’s modest standards. The Soviet stars were subsidized by the state, but elsewhere the idea of making a living solely from playing chess was a dream. When Fischer dominated the Stockholm tournament of 1962, a grueling five-week qualifier for the world championship cycle, his prize was $750.
Of course it was Fischer himself who changed this situation, and every chess player since must thank him for his tireless efforts to get chess the respect and compensation he felt it deserved. He earned the nickname Spassky gave him, “the honorary chairman of our trade union.”…
It’s important to understand that Fischer turned down the huge advertising deals on principle. He didn’t feel that being a champion gave him any special perspective that should make someone else go out and buy a brand of sneakers that he endorsed. Maybe there are some American athletes who have displayed similar character regarding endorsements. Maybe you can name me one.
Brady does not, Kasparov tells us, spend much time trying to defend, explain, or judge Fischer’s bizarre side. Fischer was never medically diagnosed, so Brady’s– or your or my– analysis would be speculative and probably, for most of us, self-serving. In the end, Fischer’s failings are an important issue, but one outside of the questions that Fischer raised as a chess player. As Kasparov says:
Despite the ugliness of his decline, Fischer deserves to be remembered for his chess…. There is no moral at the end of the tragic fable, nothing contagious in need of quarantine. Bobby Fischer was one of a kind, his failings as banal as his chess was brilliant.
Fischer’s decline was a sad thing. Personally, I can leave it at that. As can also, apparently, Garry Kasparov.
_____________________________________________________________
Related Link:
Above, one of a number of previously unseen portraits of Bobby Fischer
For the cricket fan who thinks they have everything…
After scoring 1st ever Double Century in a One-Day International
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
A special edition new biography of Indian cricketing star Sachin Tendulkar will contain drops of his blood, its publishers have reportedly said.
Costing $75,000 each, 10 copies are being printed containing a signature page mixed with his blood…
With more than 1,500 pictures, the “Tendulkar Opus” biography will weigh 80lb and each of its 852 pages will be edged in gold leaf.
Tendulkar’s career has spanned two decades, during which he has scored more than 30,000 runs and become the only player to have hit a double century in a one-day international.
The 10 special edition copies, which will contain traces of Tendulkar’s blood mixed into the paper pulp for the signature page, have reportedly already been pre-ordered ahead of publication next February.
Carl Fowler, chief executive of the publisher Kraken Opus, told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that their book may not be “everyone’s cup of tea”.
“Some may think it’s a bit weird,” he said. “But the key thing here is that Sachin Tendulkar to millions of people is a religious icon. And we thought how, in a publishing form, can you get as close to your god as possible?”
Kraken is also expected to publish about 1,000 regular copies of the book to be sold for between $2,000 and $3,000.
Wow! I have been a sports fan all my life.
I have autographed photos of the starting 4 of the 1951 Boston Red Sox. I have watched, eaten and slept by the side of the Mulsanne Straight at LeMans. I first attended an Auld Firm Derby in Glasgow in 1971.
But, this is beyond being a fan – for me.
Art Linkletter is dead (1912-2010)
No, I’m not quite sure why I’m blogging this. Hell, why do I blog every dead chess player I can find?
No.. wait.. I know why I blog the dead chess players.
Here’s a piece from the New York Times: Art Linkletter
Newton’s apple story goes online
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
The original version of the story of Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple has been made available online.
Newton recounted the story that inspired his theory of gravitation to scholar William Stukeley. It then appeared in Stukeley’s 1752 biography, Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life.
The UK’s Royal Society converted the fragile manuscript into an electronic book, which anybody with internet access will now be able to read…
Martin Kemp, emeritus professor of the history of art at Oxford University’s Trinity College, UK, said that being able to see the manuscript in its original form, rather than rely on a transcript, was “incredibly valuable to historians”.
“We needn’t believe that the apple hit his head, but sitting in the orchard and seeing the apple fall triggered that work.
“It was a chance event that got him engaged with something he might have otherwise have shelved.”
The society will, at the same time, make other treasures from its archive available online. These include Thomas Paine’s iron bridge design, the philosopher John Locke’s contribution to an early American constitution, and rare natural history illustrations from the 17th through to the 19th Centuries.
The feel and look of the time adds to the telling of the tale.
While Obama is busy with his day job, he wins British book prize
US President Barack Obama fought off competition from Paul O’Grady and Dawn French to take the biography prize at the British Book Awards.
The president won with his memoir of his youth, Dreams From My Father. He was unable to collect his trophy – owing to more pressing commitments at the NATO summit.
The president was beaten to a second award by Aravind Adiga who took home author of the year for his Booker Prize-winning novel The White Tiger.
Obama’s political thesis, The Audacity of Hope, had been in the running in that category.
What a refreshing difference from the former occupant of the White House. Whatsis-name will be hard-pressed to decide how many crayons to include with his political insights.
