Searching for Bobby Fischer?

The search is over. Bobby Fischer has been found. He currently resides in the Laugardaelir Church Cemetery in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. Possibly the best chess player to ever live, Fischer led an interesting life.

In the summer of 1972 Fischer became an American Cold War hero when he defeated Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship 12^1/2 games to 8^1/2. Fischer was the first and only American to ever hold the title. The news coverage of Fischer's victory transformed the game of chess overnight into a sensation that would empty store shelves of chess sets around the country. After attempting the lifestyle a celebrity he retreated instead to one of seclusion eventually having his championship title stripped from him when he refused to defend it in 1975.

Fischer was born March 9th 1943. The son of Regina Wendler a naturalized American citizen of Polish Jewish descent who was studying to be a nurse as well as pursuing a career as a school teacher. His father (allegedly) was Hans-Gerdhart a German biophysicist. The two met in Moscow each while studying in their own field and we quickly married. By the age of two Fischer's parents were divorced. He remained with his mother. Growing up the majority of his childhood on the streets of Brooklyn, Fischer learned to play chess with a set that his sister bought him at a candy shop on the bottom floor of their apartment complex. Even as a young teenager Fischer attracted attention of the mdia. Sports columnist Dick Schaap even took interest in the boy. At one time Fischer said that Schaap acted as a "father figure" to him. Fishcer would later use different words to describe Schaap. Not all was well for the future Grand Master. At the age of sixteen Fischer dropped out of school convinced that school had nothing more to teach him. Shortly after he dropped out his mother moved out of the apartment they shared. Many believed that Fischer resented his mother due to her ties to communism and admiration of the Soviet Union. This resentment would player and person Fischer would grow to be.

Bobby Fischer, once an American Hero turned into a bitter, angry, resentful person. Quite possibly the greatest chess player the world has ever seen died a disgrace. We can all learn from the life of Bobby Fischer. Here was a man breaming with potential who let his talents, waste away and the pain of his past dictate the bitterness of his life. I seem to remember another story about wasted talents:

There was a business man who had three workers. Before leaving on a trip he called them all into his office. To one man he gave five talents. To the second man he gave two talents. To the third man he gave one talent. He then left on his trip. Both the man with the five talents and the man with the two talents invested them and doubled their investments but the man with the one talent went put it away, locking it in his desk drawer. When the businessman returned he asked each man about their talents. The first two men showed him their profits. The business man was so please with his workers that he said, "You were both faithful with the little I gave you, because of that you will both get a raise and a promotion." He then asked the man with the one talent of his progress. The man reproduced his talent from his desk. The man said, "I was afraid that I would lose it so I just put it away and didn't think about it." The business man responded by saying, "You wicked lazy man even if you had put the talent in the bank you would have gained interest." He then took away the talent and gave it to the man with ten. The business man decided that for every one of his workers that had risked and profited more would be give but for those who wasted what they had been given, everything would be taken away and the man fired. (Paraphrase of Matthew 25:14-30).

Bobby Fischer was like the man with the one talent. Fischer had the title of World Champion and because he hid away with his talent his title was taken away from him. He held onto his bitterness and could not learn to forgive. When instructing us how to pray Jesus says that we should forgive others because we ourselves have been forgiven. These are the two principles in life that Bobby Fischer failed to understand and as a result he is not remembered as the greatest chess player to ever live but instead a sad, angry, waste of talent. Don't be like Bobby Fischer.


Related Article: