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Even if you don’t give a damn about chess, or Bobby Fischer, you’ll find yourself engrossed by Frank Brady‘s book about Fischer, which reads like a novel.
The facts of Bobby’s life (I knew him from several memorable appearances on “The Dick Cavett Show” on both sides of the Big Tournament) are presented in page-turner fashion. Poor Bobby was blessed and cursed by his genius, and his story has the arc of a Greek tragedy---with a grim touch of mad King Lear at the end.
The brain power and concentrated days and nights Bobby spent studying the game left much of him undeveloped, unable to join conversations on other subjects. Later in his life, unhappy with his limited knowledge of things beyond the chess board, he compensated with massive study---applying that same hard-butt dedication to other fields: politics, classics, religion, philosophy and more. He found a hide-away nook in a Reykjavic bookstore---barred from his homeland, Iceland had welcomed him back---where he read in marathon sessions. (After he was recognized, he never went back to his cozy cul de sac.)
In Brady’s telling the high drama of the Spassky match quickens the pulse; the contest that made America a chess-crazed land was seen by more people than the Superbowl. People skipped school and played sick in vast numbers, glued to watching Shelby Lyman explain what was happening. The fanaticism was worldwide. The match was seen as a Cold War event, with the time out of mind chess-ruling Russian bear vanquished.
Arguably the best known man on the planet at his triumphant peak, Bobby is later seen in this account riding buses in Los Angeles, able to pay his rent in a dump of an apartment only because his mother sent him her social-security checks. The details of all this are stranger than fiction, as is nearly everything in the life of this much-rewarded, much-tortured genius.
I liked him immensely, knowing only the tall, broad-shouldered, athletically strong and handsome six-foot-something articulate and yes, witty, youth that Bobby was before the evil times set in, with deranged anti-Semitic outbursts and other mental strangeness preceding his too early end at age 64.
I can’t ever forget the moment on the show when in amiable conversation I asked him what, in chess, corresponded to the thrill in another sort of event; like, say, hitting a homer in baseball. He said it was the moment when you “break the other guy’s ego.” There was a shocked murmur from the audience and the quote went around the world.
Frank Brady’s Endgame is one of those books that makes you want your dinner guests to go the hell home so you can get back to it.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. When Bobby Fischer died in January 2008, he left behind a confounding legacy. Everyone knew the basics of his life: he began as a brilliant youngster, then became the pride of American chess, then took a sharp turn, struggling with paranoia and mental illness. But nobody truly understood him. What motivated him from such a young age, and what was the source of his remarkable intellect? How could a man so ambivalent about money and fame be so driven to succeed? What drew this man of Jewish descent to fulminate against Jews, and how was it that a mind so famously disciplined could unravel so completely? From his meteoric rise, to an utterly dominant prime, to his eventual descent into madness, the book draws upon hundreds of newly discovered documents and recordings, and numerous firsthand interviews conducted with those who knew Fischer best, to paint, for the very first time, a complete picture of one of the most enigmatic icons. This is the definitive account of a fascinating man and an extraordinary life, one that at last reconciles Fischer's deeply contradictory legacy and answers the question: 'Who was Bobby Fischer?' The fascinating biography that for the first time captures the complete, remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer's life. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781780336923
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9781780336923
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Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 1780336926-2-1
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. The fascinating biography that for the first time captures the complete, remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer's life. Seller Inventory # B9781780336923
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 464 pages. 7.76x5.12x1.18 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __1780336926
Book Description Condition: New. 2012. Paperback. The fascinating biography that for the first time captures the complete, remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer's life. Num Pages: 464 pages, 8pp B&W plate section. BIC Classification: BGS; WDMG1. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 128 x 31. Weight in Grams: 344. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9781780336923
Book Description Condition: New. 2012. Paperback. The fascinating biography that for the first time captures the complete, remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer's life. Num Pages: 464 pages, 8pp B&W plate section. BIC Classification: BGS; WDMG1. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 196 x 128 x 31. Weight in Grams: 344. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9781780336923
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # GB-9781780336923