Endgame / Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall -- from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness
Language: English
Published by Crown Publishers, New York, 2011
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Cat's Curiosities, Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.Cat's Curiosities
AbeBooks seller since June 20, 2007
Condition: Used - Fine
US$ 25.00
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
"First Edition" stated; number line complete 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 -- the first printing. Yes, the Soviets cheated -- they'd grant each other early "draws," allowing their teammates to save their energy to defeat the lone Western challenger. And of course they subsidized their competitors, while Bobby, living in poverty, had to beg travel money. He beat them all, anyway, sometimes 9-0 with no "draws," which was unheard of. But eventually, his own paranoia destroyed him. 402 pp. including Index. Reduced from $42.
Seller Inventory # 012718
- Title
- Endgame / Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall -- from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness
- Author
- Brady, Frank
- Publisher
- Crown Publishers, New York
- Publication year
- 2011
- Condition
- Fine
- Dust jacket
- Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0307463907
- ISBN 13
- 9780307463906
- Illustrator
- cover photographs by Stephen Green, Everett Kennedy Brown
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Printing
- 1st Printing
- Dimensions
- 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall
- Seller catalogs
- Conspiracies, Psychology
At first all one noticed was how gifted Fischer was. Possessing a 181 I.Q. and remarkable powers of concentration, Bobby memorized hundreds of chess books in several languages, and he was only 13 when he became the youngest chess master in U.S. history. But his strange behavior started early. In 1972, at the historic Cold War showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he faced Soviet champion Boris Spassky, Fischer made headlines with hundreds of petty demands that nearly ended the competition.
It was merely a prelude to what was to come.
Arriving back in the United States to a hero’s welcome, Bobby was mobbed wherever he went—a figure as exotic and improbable as any American pop culture had yet produced. No player of a mere “board game” had ever ascended to such heights. Commercial sponsorship offers poured in, ultimately topping $10 million—but Bobby demurred. Instead, he began tithing his limited money to an apocalyptic religion and devouring anti-Semitic literature.
After years of poverty and a stint living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Bobby remerged in 1992 to play Spassky in a multi-million dollar rematch—but the experience only deepened a paranoia that had formed years earlier when he came to believe that the Soviets wanted him dead for taking away “their” title. When the dust settled, Bobby was a wanted man—transformed into an international fugitive because of his decision to play in Montenegro despite U.S. sanctions. Fearing for his life, traveling with bodyguards, and wearing a long leather coat to ward off knife attacks, Bobby lived the life of a celebrity fugitive – one drawn increasingly to the bizarre. Mafiosi, Nazis, odd attempts to breed an heir who could perpetuate his chess-genius DNA—all are woven into his late-life tapestry.
And yet, as Brady shows, the most notable irony of Bobby Fischer’s strange descent – which had reached full plummet by 2005 when he turned down yet another multi-million dollar payday—is that despite his incomprehensible behavior, there were many who remained fiercely loyal to him. Why that was so is at least partly the subject of this book—one that at last answers the question: “Who was Bobby Fischer?”
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About the Author
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Cat's Curiosities
Pahrump, NV, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since June 20, 2007
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | US$ 6.00 | US$ 14.00 |
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Store description
Eclectic vintage and out-of-print collectable condition books and records in every genre. Cat's Curiosities closed our brick-and-mortar location in Las Vegas in late 2016, and is now an Internet-only seller, specializing in Nevada & The West; Free-market & Austrian Economics; Vintage vinyl LP records (many signed); Century-old juvenile series books; Health & Medicine; Cookbooks (many signed) & Alcoholiana; Travel, Exploration, & Geology.
Specialty
Nevada and The West, Free-market & Austrian Economics: Vintage vinyl LP records (many signed); Century-old juvenile seriSeller's business information
Cat's Curiosities
NV, U.S.A.
Terms of sale
While we mark down our unsold books on a regular basis, our "BEST PRICE" on any given day is the price posted. We purposely avoid selling on the "Make me an offer" auction sites, where every book is "acceptable" and paperback reprints of "The Great Gatsby" bearing ISBNs and barcodes are listed as "published 1925." And we DECLINE to jack up our prices by 20 percent so we can offer every supplicant a supposed 10 or 15 percent "discount," thus turning anyone who simply pays our asking price into a "sucker." NOTE TO TOBACCO PROHIBITION ZEALOTS AND THOSE WITH 'ALLERGIES': Cat's Curiosities sells used books, which can average between 40 and 180 years of age. We attempt to identify books which have a damp or musty smell, when we sell them at all. Otherwise, while our books are currently stored in a low-humidity, temperature-controlled, smoke-free location, buyers should assume used books have previously been shelved inside human habitations with animal pets co-resident and have been exposed over the decades to some combination of wood smoke, tobacco smoke, leather dressing, or other aromatic agents unknown to us. We are not responsible for allergies, likely caused without your consent by "physicians" bribed to cripple your infant immune system with excessive toxic "vaccinations" containing poisonous mercury preservatives. We offer no certificates of hypoallergenic purity. Those wishing to make symbolic gestures of support for the prohibition of tobacco and other medicinal plant extracts by hopping about and shrieking that perfectly normal used books "reek like an ashtray" should apply elsewhere. (Pristine new softcover reprints are widely available Online. Also see "Smoke and Mirrors," in Bennett & DiLorenzo's "From Pathology to Politics / Public Health in America," Transaction Publishers 2000, pp. 103-105.) SIGNATURE REQUIRED: We now ship most parcels valued at $90 or more "signature required," at our expense. Buyers are responsible to provide a secure mailing address, and should be on the lookout for a "notice of attempt to deliver," should no signer be available when the mailman calls.. Email vin@catscuriosities.com. For return and refund information see ABE policies. No refunds will be issued in the case of money orders "accidentally issued for too much" -- we're wise to that one.
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