Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition)

Author - Frank Brady ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Dover Publications was reviewed on 11-Oct-2008.

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1) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications. Nearly everyone who has some decent experiance with chess has heard about Bobby Fischer and his mysterious behavior. He is one of the best chess players in history and I bought the book recently to get more insight into his character and mind. The book has about 400 pages and a little more than a half consists of his biography from childhood up to 1972 Fischer-Spassky Championship and the other part is 80 selected Fischer games with very good annotations and turnament results.

The biography in itself consists very little of Fischer´s personal life, and majority of it are various turnament events and how well Fischer did at them. I think it´s well worth reading for people who have interest in Bobby Fischer, and would like to immitate his career to some extent.

The part that has put biggest imprint on my memory is when the author (Bobby´s early chess advisor) and Bobby went to meet one of the NYC bussinesmen who offered to fund Bobby´s travel to a turnament. ´Tis what happened: after a short conversation the bussinessman added:

"[...] ´However there´s just one thing I´d like you to do. If I put up the money and send you to this turnament, and when you win and are interviewed by the press, or anybody, I want you to say: ´I couldn´t have won this turnament without the help of Sam Blanker."´
Bobby was on his feet immediately, seeming to have grown years in a moment. ´I can do that´, he said evenly. ´If I win a turnament, I win it by myself. I do the playing. Nobody helps me. I win the turnament myself, with my own talent.´" Bobby rejected the offer for one particular reason.

This gives a lot of insight into Fischer´s mind.

The pluses and minuses:
1. Pluses: The book was written in a very simplistic form without input of unnecessary words and information which makes it quick and pleasant to read. I read entire book in 3 days and I don´t regret it. The attached annotated games and turnament results are a very good idea for people who are interested in Fischer´s chess style (if it can be called a style) besides his biography.

2. Minuses: There´s one huge problem with the book which to some extant destroys the postive impressions with the book. I took a way 2 points for this. The author over and over again rationalizes Fischer´s behavior in a positive manner which might not be true and tries to impose on the reader the idea of Fischer being the greatest and most rightous genius on the planet. This happens especially in conclusion, of which I read only 2 pages as I couldn´t cope with its "Fischer worshipping tone". I advise anyone who reads the book to simply not care so much about those parts.¤

2) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications. 3.5 stars

It is just so hard to review this autobiography, completed at the height of Fischer´s triumph, knowing what was to come. Though not meant to be ironic, the author´s comments about Bobby having finally found his place atop the chess world cannot but seem ironic now.

That aside, and it is not wholly the author´s fault, the book is neither as much as a puff piece as the earlier version was, to my mind at least, nor was it as penetrating as it could have been. It comes across as a sterile recounting of Fischer´s career with little mention of a personal life, or wondering about the lack of one.

Though not penetrating and mentioning the seeds of behaviors that even then would have been known to Fischer´s friends before they fully blossomed before the entire world the book is not full of praise for Bobby either. The recountings of his continued dropping out of tournaments, his altercation with Benko do not cast Fischer in the kindest light.

The author does seem to be softening, and explaining and excusing, these events but he is enough of a scholar that he leaves them reasonably unvarnished for the reader to make their own decisions.

Interesting, but now incomplete, reading to see the rocky and troubled rise of the solo chess prodigy Bobby Fischer.¤

3) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications. Frank Brady´s "Profile of a Prodigy" is a frustrating combination of good and bad. The good first: Brady gives fascinating behind-the-scenes information that I´d read nowhere else, giving you the sense that you are there. The bad: the book is riddled with mistakes, stuff you wouldn´t find in a High School newspaper! Dates and misstatements of facts, too numerous to mention. And some chessic misjudgements too, like when Brady says, speaking of the 1972 Title Match, that Fischer varied his opening repertoire to an English Opening in Game 8 from the QGD of Game 6. But it wasn´t Fischer who varied; he played 1.c4 in both games. It was Spassky´s reply in game 8 that changed the opening. The book would´ve benefitted from a good editor, one who knows how to play chess. But despite all this, I´d still recommend the book. It´s a fascinating read.
Bob Hunt, Hillsborough, N.J.¤

4) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications. I bought the first edition of this book by mail order when I was about 16, and devoured it eagerly. In those days world-class chess was relentlessly dominated by the USSR, challenged mainly by other Eastern Europeans and the occasional American like Reshevsky, Evans and the Byrne brothers. Boris Spassky was soon to play "iron Tigran" Petrosian for the world title, and the only wild card seemed to be a crazy teenage genius from New York who could beat anyone at all on his day. Frank Brady´s writing captured the sheer excitement of it all. For instance, in a great tournament with most of the best players in the world, Mikhail Tal expected Petrosian to crush the upstart Fischer, "but when Bobby beat the USSR champion the crowd roared".

Brady´s style is journalistic, but it fits his subject quite well. This much expanded edition takes Fischer´s story all the way to winning the world championship, which is probably a logical place to stop. (Fischer stopped playing chess at that point, so the rest of his life has been lived in a very different world). The book is full of interesting facts that you could not read about anywhere else, and until a professional biographer turns his attention to Fischer - which may never happen, because he is about the least cooperative subject imaginable - it will remain the last word.

The games section is a different story. Only a narrow cross section are given, with notes by Brady that reveal his lack of expertise. They are only there for completeness´ sake, and should be read as an extension of the biography. If you want to understand Fischer´s chess, read his Collected Games, his own "My 60 Memorable Games" (which is itself very limited in scope, though superb in depth), or Elie Agur´s brilliant "Bobby Fischer: His Approach to Chess".¤

5) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications. Fischer was a genius, no question about that. This book is a good buy for the price: you get a (weak) biography of a great player, 8 pages of pictures, and 90 (poorly) annotated games for less than US$15.00! Altogether not a bad deal. However, I take issue with the author. Because he was a friend of Fischer´s he did not want to ruin his relationship with him by revealing Fischer´s odd character traits, as many other reviewers have noticed. Worst, the author wants you to believe Fischer was a good boy, the American self made sportsman who increased the popularity of the game while fighting for better playing conditions and higher appearance fees, which would ultimately benefit chess professionals as a whole. This might be true. However, it is also true that Fischer left chess players as a whole with an undeletable image: that of nerds, eccentrics and the like. All in all I think his contribution to the image of chess was negative, not positive. Upon reading the book it struck me that Spassky allowed himself to play that fatidic match in Iceland. Fischer did not show up at the date and time they had originally agreed. Spassky gave in to Fischer´s absurd demands, falling pray to Fischer´s psychological warfare. He should have walked away and kept his title, period. Since he did not the rest is history. At the end of the day the character of a World Champion is seem not when he wins a world championship match but rather when he loses it. Fischer, unlike Spassky, Karpov, and Kasparov never showed up to defend his title. This will be his sad legacy.¤

6) Paperback Book Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) by Dover Publications.

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 8-Nov-2008, 04862592509780486259253, 500-590-310-4X0-501-L2B-KMB-8

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