At the official Web site for FIDE there is a lead-in to an article
about Bobby Fischer. Here is how it starts off:

"Robert James Fischer (1943-2008), the only American ever
to become World Chess Champion in 1972 after winning the
title match against Boris Spassky...".


You gotta hand it to these guys-- unlike so many others,
they got the facts straight! Yes, BF was indeed the /only
American/ (or any other nationality, for that matter) to
become champ /in 1972/ and after winning the title match
against that guy. They nailed it. LOL


However, in the main body of the article they goofed by
attributing the *invention* of shuffle-chess to BF; obviously,
this was already well-known in the time of Jose Capablanca,
if not even earlier; all BF did was choose which particular
version he liked best, and slap his name on it; like when I
picked the Ferrari Testarossa... except that they refused
to rename it the helpbottarossa.


I also take issue with the claim that the time-delay clock
has solved the problem of time pressure; in one of my
recent games, I had a theoretically drawn ending, but the
clock had me at just four seconds and I was moving as
quickly as I could; I lost a position that a Class C player
would be embarrassed to lose, that is, were there no time
pressure and had the newfangled clocks solved this
problem, once and for all-- as claimed.


The article maintains that although BF has had many
disputes with "authorities", he almost never had one
with other chess players... WOW! Did they ever miss
the mark. In fact, BF attacked numerous other players,
calling them cheaters and accusing them of conspiring
against him; one example is Victor Kortchnoi, who was
unjustly accused by BF of "throwing" his games.


Obviously, the Fischer myth has blinded many to the
simple facts; it reminds me of Paul Morphy, and all the
crazy stuff that has been written about him-- or rather,
about Paul Morphy, the myth... .


-- help bot



http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=1578