How to Beat Bobby Fischer

Rating:
Summary: I am at 919 trying to break a 1000
Review: Bobby Fischer is probably the greatest and most influential chess player the world has ever seen. Being only 14 when he won his first US championship. My dad recalls when Fischer won the world title in 1972, when he returned to college from summer vacation everyone was playing chess. That showed Bobby's influence on the nation.

How to beat Bobby Fischer is a great collection of games in which fischer was simply outplayed. You would think there wouldn't be many but there are well over 50 games that are fully annotated with commentary.

Although this resourceful chess study tool contains many lectures on Fisher's weaknesses it contains a detail account of Bobby's childhood to when he completely disappeared from the chess world.

The greatest game Fischer ever played (and lost) was one against Boris Spassky in the world championship in Iceland. Fischer played Black as the defending champion. The game opened with a Nimzo Indian Defense (Pawn bishop and knight formation) , Spassky had an Eye on the Title. Although Fischer lost on a careless error it was a very suspenseful match. At around the 20th move Fischer stood up and ordered the spectators out of the auditorium. Bobby went on to lose the title in the match and thus disappeared from the chess world.

I received this as a gift from my dad when I first started to study chess and play competitively. The strange thing is that I never read it until recently. I feel that this book is a necessary addition to any chess library.

Rating:
Summary: dream on, it has kept us playing chess... ;-)
Review: Everyone wants 5 minutes of fame at least once in his/her life. To be able to beat the champion in any category is a dream come true. Until the time Fischer forfeited his chess title, he had been considered the most fearsome player since Tal. With win/draw ratio of 2/1, he is the most dangerous player (as Mednis mentioned in the book, the ratio 1/1 is already very awesome.) Mednis took the 61 Fischer's losses since Fischer becoming the U.S. champion at fourteen, and grouped into four significant periods during Fischer's career. Then he created 8 tables to show the statistics on:
1) How mush Fischer lost with White/Black pieces
2) Who had better records on Fischer
3) (Where) which countries had plus scores against Fischer
4) Why Fischer lost
5) What openings Fischer had problem with
And on the last table, Mednis listed the games in chronological order (when) Fischer lost them.
The stories begun of each part were insightful. The explanation begun and analysis during each game were good. The author now is a GM; he wrote the first edition (when he was an IM) after Fischer announced his retirement from chess (1974). Mednis is qualified to write the book and got fame when he beat Fischer one (1) game in 1962. This second edition from Dover, Mednis included an addition of the 1992 rematch between Fischer and Spassky. Fischer is still the better player, however comparing to the present tough competition Fischer would have to work really hard to maintain the expectation. Even so, he is still better than 95% of us (the chess mortals). (I guess, our chance to win is to wait until Fischer is 90 years old and he gives a 128 table simultaneous exhibition, and we remember to bring a portable Deep Jr. along.)


Rating:
Summary: Shows how a grandmaster loses
Review: Most game collections show how a great player wins, but how many of you have the skills of a grandmaster. Moreover, wouldn't a non-master want to know how to BEAT a grandmaster, insead of how grandmasters beat other masters and grandmasters. The annotations in this book are interesting and helpful. This is by far the best game collection book on the market today. Finally, it is great to see such a horrible person like Fischer gets his head handed to him. Never forget!

Rating:
Summary: Great book - no thanks to DanJJ's review
Review: Sorry DanJJ, but you need to read your chess history before posting such a review. Fischer wasn't the defending champion, Spassky was. And Fischer won the title off Spassky.

Rating:
Summary: Great book - no thanks to DanJJ's review
Review: Sorry DanJJ, but you need to read your chess history before posting such a review. Fischer wasn't the defending champion, Spassky was. And Fischer won the title off Spassky.

Rating:
Summary: Learning about Bobby Fischer!
Review: Who is he?What's so special about him?Where is he from?These are all questions we ask when it comes to Bobby Fischer.He is a man!A very smart man,that has a massive memory,and for some reason lives in a chess world.Bobby Fischer was capable of seeing moves in the blink of an eye!He could see ahead 3 moves within 2 sec and up to 7 within 5 sec,he also knew what to do to break a defense.He had a mind of a genius ,the memory of a computer,and the eyes of an Hawk.Born in Chicago on Mar 9 1943,learning to play chess at age six,Fischer took 6 years to become a "master".At age 12 Fischer was played 12 members of his chess club and won all 12 games.

Not only did he have a sharp mind but he could replay games move by move that he had played years earlyer with his opponents.He also has what any one would think to be the highest IQ the world of chess as ever seen.