| | Bobby Fischer is legendary for brilliant, unusual winning moves which no other grandmaster would have made.<ref>https://www.chess.com/video/player/bobby-fischers-top-five-moves</ref> | | Bobby Fischer is legendary for brilliant, unusual winning moves which no other grandmaster would have made.<ref>https://www.chess.com/video/player/bobby-fischers-top-five-moves</ref> |
| − | Late in life and prevented by the [[United States]] from returning as a free man, Fischer became known for making [[anti-Semitic]] and [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American]] remarks in the media over the next ten years, most notoriously his praise of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], when he stated "well, this is all wonderful news. It's time for the [expletive] US to get their heads kicked in. It's time to finish off the US once and for all."<ref>''Bobby Fischer on September 11, 2001'' Transcript [http://everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=1214006 everything2org]. Accessed 18 January 2008. The interview can also be heard on YouTube, but does contain the uncensored expletives.</ref> This cost him his membership in the United States Chess Federation (USCF), which has since been restored. This was generally viewed as symbolic, since Fischer not only did not play chess anymore, but was also not welcome in the United States. In 2004, Fischer was arrested in [[Japan]], and afterward took [[asylum]] in [[Iceland]]. He died of [[kidney]] failure in January 2008. | + | As someone who spent nearly all his time in isolation studying [[chess]], without a wife at least until well after age of 60, Fischer seemed to become paranoid. He would overreact to incidents like the unexpected sale of his goods in a storage locker by its owner to satisfy unpaid invoices. He read fringe books. He would say many off-the-wall, offensive things. But most people who knew him did not think he was an evil person, and today his work in chess is highly respected despite his extremely offensive, off-topic remarks. |
| | + | Late in life and prevented by the [[United States]] from returning as a free man, Fischer made [[anti-Semitic]] and [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American]] remarks in the media over the next ten years, such as his praise of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] when he stated "well, this is all wonderful news. It's time for the [expletive] US to get their heads kicked in. It's time to finish off the US once and for all."<ref>''Bobby Fischer on September 11, 2001'' Transcript [http://everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=1214006 everything2org]. Accessed 18 January 2008. The interview can also be heard on YouTube, but does contain the uncensored expletives.</ref> This cost him his membership in the United States Chess Federation (USCF), which has since been restored. This was generally viewed as symbolic, since Fischer not only did not play chess anymore, but was also not welcome in the United States. In 2004, Fischer was arrested in [[Japan]], and afterward took [[asylum]] in [[Iceland]]. He died of [[kidney]] failure in January 2008. |
| | Even though Fischer himself was [[Jewish]], he often signed his name as “Robert James”, eliminating the racially ambiguous “Fischer”, and had demanded to be excised from a Jewish encyclopedia. According to Grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer had once told him that he admired [[Hitler]] because "he imposed his will on the world". At a 1992 press conference, Bobby Fischer called communism, rightly enough, “a mask for Bolshevism,” but he then stunned his audience by calling Bolshevism “a mask for Judaism.” In January 14, 1999, during an interview on Filipino radio, Bobby Fischer said, “You know they [Jews] invented the [[Holocaust]] story. There’s no such. There was no Holocaust of the Jews in [[World War II]].” Bobby Fischer also admitted to belief in a “giant conspiracy of the Jewish world government.” Yet, despite, Bobby Fischer's openly anti-Semitic remarks, he had several close Jewish friends. According to the American Jewish master Ron Gross: "Bobby says we’re all victims of the conspiracy." | | Even though Fischer himself was [[Jewish]], he often signed his name as “Robert James”, eliminating the racially ambiguous “Fischer”, and had demanded to be excised from a Jewish encyclopedia. According to Grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer had once told him that he admired [[Hitler]] because "he imposed his will on the world". At a 1992 press conference, Bobby Fischer called communism, rightly enough, “a mask for Bolshevism,” but he then stunned his audience by calling Bolshevism “a mask for Judaism.” In January 14, 1999, during an interview on Filipino radio, Bobby Fischer said, “You know they [Jews] invented the [[Holocaust]] story. There’s no such. There was no Holocaust of the Jews in [[World War II]].” Bobby Fischer also admitted to belief in a “giant conspiracy of the Jewish world government.” Yet, despite, Bobby Fischer's openly anti-Semitic remarks, he had several close Jewish friends. According to the American Jewish master Ron Gross: "Bobby says we’re all victims of the conspiracy." |