From: rgp@mpd.tandem.com (Ramon Pantin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Re: Fischer being put to rest
Date: 10 Oct 92 14:56:41 GMT
Organization: Tandem Computers, Micro-Products Division

In article <1b5f8aINNkfg@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> wjames@cse.ucsc.edu (John Amenta) writes:
>To: rgp@mpd.tandem.com
>Subject: Re: Fischer's Back! (alas)
>Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
>In-Reply-To: <2610@devnull.mpd.tandem.com>
>References: <16149@mindlink.bc.ca>
>Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz (CE/CIS Boards)
>Cc: 
>Bcc: 
>
>>> So you think that Alekhine was chicken because he did not gave
>>> Capablanca a chance at "his" title?  Look at chess history and you
>>> will realize that in the old days the champion decided who the
>>> candidate was and when he would play him.  In these days FIDE
>>> regulates the Chess Championsi.  Get real, Fischer hasn't
>>> earned a chance the play Kasparov or Karpov.  If they do decide
>>> to rest once and for all.
>
>>> Ramon Pantin
>
>
>You do not seem to remember what Fischer was like 20 years ago.
>
>I for one, if I were Kasparov, would begin battening down the hatches,
>securing the tackles, removing the sails ...  
>
>-wj


Yes, I do have memories from those days, lots of hype because
Fischer was the first chess player with potential for being a
Chess Champion out of the USA, (or the west for that matter) since
FIDE was established.

I am surprised that you nobody is reading between the lines here.
Fischer already played chicken once against Karpov and Fischer chickened
out of that match (1975).  Don't you have memories from all the brilliant
chess that Fischer played after winning the championship?  *** NONE ***.
The only chess champion that didn't even attempt to defend his title!
that is really his place in chess history, he won't be much more than
a psychological curiosity.  There will always be questions about "what
could have been if he had not retired after winning the crown", the
truth is that FISCHER DESTROYED HIMSELF WHEN HE DECIDED TO STOP PLAYING
IN 1972 (NOT IN 1975 WHEN HE HAD TO DEFEND HIS TITLE AGAINST KARPOV
WHICH IS WHAT MOST PEOPLE SEEM TO BELIEVE).

Now that the cold war is over, probably some of the bias that the west
has put into their writting of chess history will begin to fade out,
and chess history will begin to be written with a more objective eye.

There have been LOTS of chess players with more interesting 
chess production than Fischer's, quite a few of them never became
world champions.  Players are remembered by their games, the number
of tournaments that they completely dominated, the years where they
had complete domination of the chess scene.  Fischer only reached that
level in the candidates matches and in the world championship match.
Even those supossedly impressive victories have to be tied together
to the incredibly tense environment that he always created, always
bitching about everything and threatening to pull out at every turn
of a match or tournament.

Do you remember the 70s?  Remember when Fischer was going to play
Korchnoi, after Korchnoi was robbed the title by Karpov (1978) ?
Well, Fischer also chickened out of that one also.  I think that after
winning over a lazy Spasski he was simply afraid that other players
would immediately demonstrate that he did not dominate all of his
contemporaries as any other champion would.  He was afraid of not
being able to keep the psichological presure and tantrums as a world
champion and that he would loose the edge that he obtained by
distracting the concentration of his opponents.  If you have played
chess seriously, specially tournament play, you should now that the
only state of mind where your best chess is played is when you are
completely calmed, relaxed and capable of complete concentration,
just imagine having to play with a moron who has been distracting
everybody in the tournament with a bunch of stupid complaints.

I'll continue to read Fischer's games out of curiosity.  Any games
played recently by Kasparov, Anand, Short, Timman, Karpov, Judith Polgar 
(and many others) are certainly much more interesting and instructive
to me than any of the games played so far in this charade.  I just
can't believe that Spaski could play any worst than he did in the
Benoni that they just played, it seems as if he was "throwing" the
game to Fischer, am I the only one that thinks that Spaski is just
being paid to show up AND loose?  Their last game looked like "profesional
wrestling" act, then again there are those who believe that WWF wrestling
is for real.

Kasparov must be really preparing to retire, Fischer is really going
to squash him (ha!).

I think that Kasparov should do another of those simultaneous that he
has done against several GMs (four?), give Fischer a spot, if Fischer
is even capable of drawing I'll be really surprised.

The standard reply to this message is:
	- Complete silence over Fischer having retired in 72
	  and not in 75.
	- Complete silence over Fischer "chickening" out of
	  the match with Karpov (75), or Korchnoi (78).
	- Complete silence over the possibility that Fischer-Spaski II
	  might be "fixed."
	- Lets wait and see.

So lets just wait and see.

Ramon Pantin
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess