From: tafrakes@athena.mit.edu (T. Andy Frakes)
Subject: Listen Up, Bobby Bashers
Keywords: bobby, champ
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 23:09:01 GMT

Anyone who knows anything about chess and Bobby knows who
the real champ is.  These two piddly K-dudes are totally
outclassed in chess ability.  One of the reasons Bobby quit
chess is out of boredom.  It takes a lot of fun out of the
game when no one out there can give you a good mental work-
out.  Before he quit, he had nothing else to prove.  He was
the best and he knew it.  He could have hung around a
little longer to keep pounding on people and keep breaking
his own rating records, but that gets old pretty quick --
where is he supposed to draw the line? 2780? 3000? Who cares?
It's like being in a foot race with a bunch of turtles.  "Hmm,
let's see....how badly should I beat them this time" or "How
much of a lead should I give them this time" or "Hey! Maybe,
I'll forfeit a game and just not show up just to shake things
up a little."  The only way he can even give himself a decent
challenge is to give every one 20 years to catch up and come
out of retirement as a 50 year old man.  He hasn't even had
time to oil all his rusty joints yet and he's STILL mowing
down the competition.  If Kasparov or any other contemporary
players had done the same thing, they'd be getting pummelled at
this very moment.  Of course, any other player wouldn't be
getting $5M to play a match like this.  With this 20-year
absence from the game, he's effectively playing with half his
brain tied behind his back and it STILL isn't a fair fight.
There wouldn't be any controversy over who is the champ if
Kasparov would just be a man and quit ducking Bobby.  Bobby's
willing to let Kasparov take his best shot at the champ if he
wants, but he keeps hiding behind the Candidates' Matches that
everyone knows Bobby has no intention of wasting his valuable
time with.  People are willing to pay a lot more money to see
the REAL champ play.

As far as contributions to chess....Bobby has made far greater
contributions to chess than Kasparov.  Playing lots of games
and being "active" in tournaments is all well and good, but not
if nobody is playing or interested.  Bobby increased interest in
chess far more than Kasparov.  Suppose (strictly for argument's
sake) that Kasparov had found all kinds of theoretical
novelties and eventually solved chess, but the chessplaying
population doesn't really go anywhere because he doesn't create
any excitement about the game.  Then, suppose Bobby doesn't make
any contributions to theory, but creates a world craze out of the
game.  Who, then, has made the best contribution to chess?  It's
a rhetorical question, but I'll answer it for you anyway (all the
sane people please excuse me)....the answer is Bobby, of course.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm glad Bobby finally came out
of retirement to remind the rest of the world where the best chess
is really played....The United States of America.  Some of the
other countries may have more and better chumps than the US, but
there is only one CHAMP and that's Bobby -- made in the USA. 

-- 
T. Andy Frakes (tafrakes@athena.mit.edu)