Bobby Fischer Dies

[filkertom]

When I was growing up, I was something of a chess prodigy. Or at least I thought I was. Turned out I was just better than average. I remember a two-day tournament where, on the first day, I blasted through the competition, and apparently I was somewhichwayhow mathematically ranked as a master for a few hours, because that's all I faced on the second day and they put me in my place. It was a devastating, humbling experience, and probably one of the most important of my life, because it showed me that not only is there likely someone better than you, there's likely a lot of people better than you, so don't get too full of yourself.

Anyway. It was the perfect time to be a chess nut: 1972. Boris Spassky was the dirty lousy undeserving commie chess "champion", but we, the Good Guys, the U. S. of A.... we had Bobby Fischer. Who, it turns out, was not exactly hero material. But Godamighty the man could play chess.

Mr. Fischer has passed away at the age of 64. May he find the rest he never could while alive.

Who were your heroes when you were a kid? The ones who really influenced you? Mine were Doc Savage and Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Spock, but I never came close to achieving their emotional fortresses. (Thankfully, Mr. Fantastic showed me I didn't have to, and I could still get the girl.) Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, of course. You may not believe it, but Galen and Joseph Lister (I had a fantastic kid's biography of heroes of medicine). My school principal at the time of my tournament-chess days, Dr. Betty Ritzenhein. And then one year, tenth grade, everything changed: I heard the works of Cosby and Carlin, and I picked up books by two guys named Asimov and Ellison, and dubheach told me about this other guy named Tolkien....

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

When I was younger, I played a lot of chess. Enough to know that I wasn't really good at it, but it got me facinated in the history of competitive chess and I devoured it, and immediately fixated on on Fischer, who was an iconoclast's iconoclast (and, we would later learn, just a bit touched, but that's a different story).

You are, I'm certain, familiar with Tim Rice's masterful "Chess" musical? If not, get the original concept recording, which is brilliant beyond all words. The character of "The American" is rather purposefully patterned on Fischer.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I've got at least three different recordings of Chess lying around here somewhere, including the original original version with the song where Florence leaves the American. And the Broadway version, which suffers terribly from the bullshit plot with Florence's father they stuck onto it, but on the other hand Florence is sung by Judy Kuhn and it has the song "Someone Else's Story".

Interestingly, because of the way the whole concept is structured -- and because of the guy's weird voice -- the first time I heard it, I thought that "No Contest (http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/chessnewyork/nocontest.htm)", from the Broadway version, was being sung not by Freddy and his new advisor Walter, but as a calling-out song between Freddy and the Russian. I envisioned them getting in each other's faces, each one singing about the other that "he lost it a woman and a half ago". Puts a whole different light on it that way.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

I confused everyone by begging for the original cast recording of Chess for my 14th birthday. Took them forever to find it. I *used* to be able to hold that note in "Nobody's Side."

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

It will sound odd, but as a child -at least as the child I can still remember- my heroes were the (to be expected) Superman and, a few years later, Alfred Hitchcock. Sure, I loved the astronauts I saw on TV and the fictional hero Jupiter Jones (of the Three Investigators fame) probably drove me in the direction of the fabled director, but I actually researched and wrote papers about Mr. Hitchcock. When he died, shortly after making "Family Plot", I was really devastated. I didn't have another big "hero" for a long, long time. Julia Child was one of those, in the end.

Does that make sense?

As a side-note, tell me, did the portrayal of Mister Fantastic in "Civil War" leave you cold?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

The entirety of Marvel Comics over the past several years, with the exception of JMS's work on Thor, has left me cold. For that matter, so has most of DC's output. Thank FSM for the DCAU (DC Animated Universe).

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

Oh, sure, there has been the Vertigo comic "Fables" but most of my childhood (and teenage and young adult) heroes have been kinda warped beyond recognition, y'know?

Anyway, I wonder if continuing to have heroes would help.

When I look at the world, today, I keep thinking of people like Al Gore or Neal Armstrong, but my list runs a bit short. Perhaps it's a side-effect of age rather than a paucity of people to believe in?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Fables is fantastic -- I have to get that collected. But there are heroes, both real and fictional, to be had. Maybe we'll have that thread later.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Here's some good reading that I got permission to re-run in Aphelion a few years ago:

The Importance of Heroes by Tony Isabella

[sdelmonte]

And for all those cheap b&w reprints of Silver Age comics for those of us who missed it the first time. Jack and Stan are still there, waiting for me to pay a visit.

Hmmm. Stan Lee , come to think of it, was almost a hero to me. I sure as heck identified him with all that's good in the world when I was 10.

[bald-ruminant.livejournal.com]

Mine were Scotty, Batman, Robin Hood, firemen, and some kid named Luke Skywalker.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Hells. The headline: "Spassky: 'Checkmate.'"

Influences... If we're talking fictional characters, the most influential of them all was Steve Rogers, the one true Captain America. Perhaps oddly, he is followed in a close second by Victor von Doom; I'm not sure what that says about me as an adult.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

he is followed in a close second by Victor von Doom; I'm not sure what that says about me as an adult.

Two good things I learned from Doctor Doom:
Your word means something only as long as you keep it. But if you keep your word, it doesn't matter how much people hate you - they will learn to trust your promises.

What others think of you doesn't matter as much as much as what you know about yourself. If your own mother hates you, but you're comfortable with what you've done, you're doing something right.

[unclekage.livejournal.com]

Ultraman.

Definitely.

[sdelmonte]

Superman was and is at the top of the list. There are other fictional heroes that I want to be more now than as a kid, but whenever I played "let's be heroes" as a kid, it was Supes. He was stalwart and honest and didn't believe in violence as a first resort. And he was really a nebbish with glasses, so I related.

As for Mr. Fischer, his was a strange and sad and remarkable life. That he made chess cool for any time at all in the land of the jock is remarkable.

[renquestor.livejournal.com]

My heroes. Well, gonna have to go with some classics. Prince Dakkar, Captain Kirk, Bones, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Captain Smollet, John Wayne.

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

My childhood heroes were Mr. Spock and all the Apollo Astronauts- especially the Apollo 13 crew. When I got my DVD of the movie "Apollo 13", I was very glad to see that they'd included a commentary track with Jim and Marilyn Lovell. It was like having them in the living room talking about the whole thing.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Doc Savage and Elizabeth I of England were my two biggest non-family/friend heroes...still are today. Now there's an odd couple, no? I've since added Carl Sagan, Katharine Hepburn, and Deke Slayton.

I didn't know that you were into Doc Savage...I got started when my father handed me a copy of "The Land of Terror" because I was big into dinosaurs at the time (I was about 8 at the time). Any faves? Mine are "The Sargasso Ogre," "The Red Skull," "The Land of Always Night," and any story featuring Pat Savage. There was another heroine of my youth, come to think of it...I wanted to grow up to BE Pat Savage. :-)

But somehow I think I wound up more like Monk. Or Ham. Or a weird conglomeration of the two.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

The Devil Genghis, with John Sunlight, the only returning villain. There's a scene where Doc goes to strangle him in his sleep -- which lets you know how bad this guy is, that Doc is ready to do that -- only it's a dummy, and there's a pressure switch in the mattress, along with a shitload of explosives -- Doc moves, Doc goes boom. And I thought, "Now that's a bad guy."

[tokyosteven.livejournal.com]

My childhood hero was Ric Flair. My brother got me into wrestling at an early age and I was impressed by the Four Horsemen. Flair's natural charisma and leadership won me over.

[camric.livejournal.com]

Jacques Yves Cousteau. What an amazing life to have lead.

[briansiano.livejournal.com]

My heroes? No particular order, in fact and fiction, and some with severe flaws: Harlan Ellison, Stanley Kubrick, Mr. Spock, Charles Darwin, Bertrand Russell, Yossarian, Martin Luther King, Harry Flashman, Stephen Maturin, Noam Chomsky, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Dortmunder, Parker, Rick Blaine, Orson Welles, Douglas Trumbull, Christopher Hitchens, Isaac Asimov, Vladimir Nabokov, Clarence Darrow, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Moses.

[ericcoleman]

Good to see there are still folks out there who remember Parker. I managed to actually impress Harlan Ellison just a little when he was at Minicon. He referenced a scene from one of the books, and I think I was the only one in the room who not only knew the scene, but in a great of detail as he did.

I need to get those out of storage.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

Old-time "smack-that-planetoid-out-of-the-way-with-one-hand-tied-behind-his-back" Superman stands out. While I came to appreciate a less invincible supes in my teenage years, as a little kid there was the appeal of someone who was able to just go and fix it.

[gryphons.livejournal.com]

hmm.. when I was a kid.. *blushes* Wahoo McDaniel, Ricky Steamboat, Jay Youngblood, Fabulous Moolah.. yeah I was a wrestling fan early.. got my first tickets to a match for my fifth bday..I admired them for their skill in the ring, and their "outsider" to some extent status.

Later, *blushes* the kids from Psi-Force.. my 10th grade World History teacher Dr. Young, Black Elk, and Fakir Musafar.. I've probably followed the path of Fakir the closest.. and never really looked back.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

Oh, bugger

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Who were my childhood heroes?

Well, I remember one was Gobo Fraggle.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I think one of my biggest childhood heroes was Lloyd Alexander, and James Howe.

Alexander still ranks up there as a hero of mine.

[brithistorian.livejournal.com]

Let me think here... From around age 3 to 13, in chronological order: Captain Kirk and Mr. Scott, Luke Skywalker, the Hardy Boys, King Arthur, Spiderman, the crew of Columbia and everyone else at NASA, Beethoven, Einstein, Lord Baden Powell, and Marjorie Friday. Looking back from a distance, I don't see any of those that I regret.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

As a kid, my #1 hero was Batman from the comics. He had brains, lots of cool gadgets, and he fought super powered bad guys without any powers of his own! Wasn't until I grew up some that I realized being ultra-rich was a super power in it's own right ;-)

As for chess, a part of me appreciates it for the mental gyrations needed, but ultimately it bores me. There's a lot about chess that annoys me (the illusion that you're in complete control of the board, that every game must be planned out 512 moves in advance, the belief that you can gauge a person's IQ by how well they play, etc.) but what turns me off the most is people take it far too seriously. When I play a game I want to have fun with the people I'm playing with.

[ericcoleman]

I stuttered very badly as a child, badly into my teens and 20s even. It stands to reason that my heroes were Harpo Marx (who autobiography I read at least once a year or so) and Buster Keaton.

Folks who could make you laugh and cry without a word.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

I'm from a musical theater family, so my early heroes were Rodgers and Hammerstein-or-Hart, Kander and Ebb, Schmidt & Jones, Leonard Bernstein, etc.

I have a few (likely to be unpopular) things to say about Fischer and his 9/11 statements, but I'm at work (and for once, actually busy), so they'll have to wait. Just as well, I left my flame-retardant suit at home...

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Let's see--in approximate chronological order:

Glinda, the Tin Man and the Wizard. Shaggy and Scooby. The Hardy Boys. The Addams Family. Peter Parker. The Banners (Bruce and David). Ian Richardson. Carole Shelley. The Duke Boys. Indiana Jones. Dustin Hoffman. Bob Gunton. James Beard, Julia Child and Paul Prudhomme. Wilde, Shaw, and Twain. The A-Team. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Labrada and Frank Zane. Flashman. Alan Jay Lerner. William O. Douglas. Aubrey and Maturin. Lisa Simpson. Travis McGee. Peter DeFazio. Gerry Spence. Honor Harrington. Miles Vorkosigan. Heather Alexander. Richard Thompson. Johnny Cash...and I've long since left "when I was a kid" territory, plus I've left out the most important ones, who are the great people who have influenced me personally but who are not well known to the general public.

[dbcooper.livejournal.com]

My heroes included Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Mel Blanc, the aforementioned Messrs. Holmes and Spock, Robert Heinlein, James Bond, Captain Kirk, and Superman.

I admired Mark Twain for his wry but accurate ability to observe the world around him and show it to the rest of us from his point of view. I respected Einstein for his ability to model the universe in his head. I loved Mel Blanc because he gave life to many of my favorite characters. I both envied and respected Holmes' clarity of mind and ability to connect seemingly unrelated facts. In Spock's case, I loved his ability to keep a clear head. I loved Robert Heinlein's work because he never forgot human feelings--and motivations. I liked Captain Kirk because he got all the girls, but still got his job done. James Bond managed to do the same thing, but as part of the job. (Hey, I was young.)

As I grew up, I added James Randi, Penn Jillette, and Teller to the list for their healthy and analytical skepticism. There are many others, but this comment is getting a bit long. :D

[drfilk.livejournal.com]

So sad about Bobby. As far as I'm concerned he was unquestionably the greatest chess player of all time despite the mathematical nonsense that would make some knob named Kasparov the highest rated. The proof is in the amazing lead-up to his world championship match, when he had, if memory serves nineteen straight wins against the highest level of competition. No one has ever done anything like that, and I'd wager a small sum that no one will again. As for the personal eccentricity, there's a great tradition of booga-booga chess masters.
As for heroes, I don't recall having any as a kid. Perversely, I've taken it up as an adult. I must mention a fellow you've probably never heard of, the too appropriately named Edmund Morel. He organized the first international public pressure campaign against the genocidally oppressive rule of Leopold, King of the Belgians, in the Congo (Gods has that country had a run of bad history!). Later he was jailed in Britain for opposing the First World War. He succombed shortly after the war to health problems related to the conditions of his imprisonment, but not before winning a seat in Parliament by defeating a fellow you may have heard of, one Winston Spencer Churchill.

[tuto.livejournal.com]

There were two people whom I considered my heroes. Roberto Clemente and Oscar Romero. Both died doing something they loved and believed in and I find that beautiful. Having been raised in Puerto Rico where baseball is life, Roberto Clemente is god. He had a dream to build a facility where any child would have an opportunity to play/learn and excel at any sport. Because of his efforts and dedication there now is a sports city in Puerto rico which cover acres and acres of baseball fields basketball courts and many others sports facilities that are available to any child who wants to use them.

Oscar Romero was an archbishop in San Salvador who was shot dead after after speaking against civil rights violations he witnessed there. There is a song by Ruben blades that speaks of his life and tragic death called "El Padre Antonio y el Monaguillo Andrés" that was what got me aware of his life and works. Check it out and contact me if you want me to translate.There is also a movie called Romero that stars the Raúl Juliá about Romero's life.

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

My music teacher in middle and high school. I adored that man. I read Tolkien in high school, too. Otherwise I was a typical teenage girl -- The Monkees, lol.

And our minister's wife. One cool lady.

[birder2.livejournal.com]

Childhood heros? Real life--George Washibngton Carver, whose life partially at least influenced me to become a chemist. Fictional? Couple of comic book characters--"King of the Royal Mounted", Wonder Woman (Yes, she really is that old.) Prince Valiant. (The current strip bears NO resemblance to the one from 60 years ago.)

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Superman and quite a number of the folks from the Legion of Super-Heroes. I had the Adventure comic that they first contacted Superboy. I was 8 in 1960, so the Silver Age was in full bloom--villains like Mechano, Bizarro, Konga, Braniac. All of them were worthy of a fight with Superman and could hold their own, at least for a while. I admired Superman's code in that he would not kill anything, even if they deserved it.

During my junior-high years, James Kirk and Doc Smith's Galactic Patrol.

High-school, I discovered Heinlein, so I admired Jubal Harshaw and Wyoming Knott and worshipped Valentine Michael Smith. About the same time, I discoved stories about a bunch of doughy halflings and a wizard. I probably reread LOTR two-dozen times during my Junior and Senior years in high-school.

The person who most affected my life, however, was David Lamb, from Time Enough for Love. I read about him during my third year of college in 1973, dropped out of school, and modelled my life after him. So far, it's working great.

Tom