Bobby Fischer's 70th Birthday

Bobby Fischer would have turned 70 years old today. He has been gone for a little over five years now, and his chess heyday passed more than 40 years ago. He remains a towering figure in chess history, though, especially to those of us who can at least remember his second match with Boris Spassky in 1992. For those who are feeling nostalgic, or want to get a glimpse into the Fischer phenomenon, ChessBase has an article featuring a large quantity of video material covering his life from his teenage appearance on "I've Got a Secret" up through the end of his life.

Happy viewing!

A Pair of Fischer Training Games

In 1992, Bobby Fischer played a series of ten training games with his old friend, the late Yugoslav/Serbian grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric. Gligoric was nearly 70 then, but Fischer clearly felt that Gligoric would make a useful training partner for his forthcoming rematch with Boris Spassky. Fischer won at least three games, Gligoric at least one, and at least two of the games are available to the general public - or at least, two scoresheets are. Whether the attempts to decode Fischer's lousy handwriting are successful is another story!

You can read much more about that training match here, and see the scoresheets for yourself; my attempt to reconstruct those games is here.

Magnus Carlsen on 60 Minutes This Weekend (Updated)

The news magazine show "60 Minutes" is one of the longest-running television shows in U.S. history, airing every Sunday night on CBS since the invention of dirt (or so it seems). 41 years ago Bobby Fischer was interviewed on the program

and this coming Sunday night they will have a piece on Magnus Carlsen. Hopefully it will be available afterwards on the web; if not, then those who can see the program and are interested will want to watch or set your DVRs or VCRs. After all, we might have to wait another 41 years until our next opportunity!

UPDATE: Macauley Peterson comments that the show will be be available online Monday after 12 a.m. ET.  Who needs VCRs? (For the kids out there, that's what we used to record TV shows and watch movies back in the dark ages.)

(HTs: Brian Karen and Brian Perez-Daple)

1992 Fischer Training Games

Before his "world championship" rematch against Boris Spassky in 1992, Bobby Fischer played a series of 10 training games against his old friend, the former super-GM Svetozar Gligoric. Well-known collector David DeLucia released three of the game scores last year (why not the other seven?), and they can be replayed on ChessGames.com - you'll find them at the end of the list on this page.

HT: Brian Karen

Karpov on Fischer

It's not a new interview (and almost all the info was familiar), but it was new to me and may be to you as well.

HT: Brian Karen

Lombardy on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match

I'm not sure where this 1974 article by GM William Lombardy was originally published, but it's a good read and offers some insight and info on the 1972 World Championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky that was at least new to me.

HT: Brian Karen

Kasparov Reviews Brady's Fischer Biography

Here.

HT: Brian Karen

Bobby Fischer Against the World: On TV and in Theaters Soon

Have a look here. No specifics, though, so don't buy tickets or set your DVRs yet.

HT: Brian Karen

Frank Brady, An Excerpt from _Endgame_, and Game 2 of Fischer-Euwe

Have a look here. Of special interest is the publication of a game that had seemingly been lost to history, the second game of the 1957 mini-match between Bobby Fischer and ex-world champion Max Euwe.

Fischer Pics, x2

First, Tony Boron informed me that he has some old pictures of Bobby Fischer taken in Iceland in 1972, which he has posted on his blog. Have a look.

Second, when I wrote my review of Frank Brady's forthcoming Fischer bio Endgame, I stated that it didn't have any pictures. I was subsequently informed that the final edition would have pictures and made the correction, and now, having received a copy, I can confirm that this is indeed the case.