Inky Horizons

Bobby Fischer died Thursday in Iceland at the age of 64.

Good riddance.

What an incredible waste of a human life this guy became.  And he wasn't much to start with, either, in the beginning.  His chess genius was unbelievable. No one can take that away from him. He took on the Soviet chess machine single-handed and defeated them -- crushed them, actually.  His games against them were played in the spotlight of the Cold War.  But he was always pouting, sulking, and trying to find reasons NOT to play the Soviets, or any other opponent for that matter. He was  a spoiled me-first bastard with no social skills whatsoever.  He had no use for people, even the people who wanted to help him, and was a raving anti-Semite despite the fact his mother and father were both Jewish.  He denied the Holocaust and said Jews in America should be rounded up and executed. He even ran an anti-Jewish website.

He was undeniably and certifiably insane.  And not in a good way.  He laughed with glee when the towers fell on 9/11. He blamed it on the Jews.  He said Jews hated elephants because their trunks reminded them of uncircumcised penises.  (Yes, he was that insane.)  He never got any better.

Nevertheless, after he defeated the Soviets he was almost human for about a four or five month period.  He admitted he had acted badly, he did things for people, he was understanding of others' feelings and reasonable.  It didn't last. He refused to defend his title because he didn't agree with the conditions in which the match would be played.  He was stripped of his title.  He became a recluse, occasionally calling a Philippines radio station to rail against America or the Jews, or both.

Despite all that, and it should never be glossed over or forgotten, Fischer did contribute an amazing amount of theory and artistic quality to the game of chess. A variation is named after him. No one could play white in the Ruy Lopez opening like he did. Some of his games have gone down in history and they will be remembered forever and they should be studied.

But what a waste.  What a total waste.  I can't help but think what this guy could have accomplished not only for chess but for international relations if he hadn't been such a putrid excuse for a human being.  It's a real shame.

The chess world, as one might suspect, is concentrating only on the games and the brilliance Fischer left behind.  They condemn the other facets of his life but there is no way they should be expected to ignore the good things he brought to the game. It's just that in my mind what Fischer brought to the game is and always will be overshadowed by the spoiled, impossible brat he was, and the self-hating monster he became.

I like chess.  I'm not very good at it, but I like it. So I kind of follow what's going on in the chess world.  I also write about Russia from time to time.  There's a lot of fascinating history there and I like exploring how Russians today live with their history, how it shapes them, how they view the future because of it. Lots of material there and I have the added benefit that not too many other writers concentrate on the Russian milieu, so that gives me a bit of an "in" with my stories when I submit them to editors.

A similar thing happened about 5 years ago when editors were suddenly buying lots of disability stories.  But that peaked pretty fast because there's only so much you can do with that topic and it was exhausted in no time.  Russia is a deeper treasure trove. So is Asia, another topic I often use as a foundation for my stories. All writers have their favorite wells to draw water from.  I expect you do, too.

Where was me?

Oh. Right. Chess and Russia.  Both have a long history together. I expect they're going to have a long future together, too. Lately, Garry Kasparov, a chess player with the highest rating in the world, has been critical of Putin's leadership. He put himself out as a candidate for office, his slogan being "We're not fighting to win elections, we're fighting to have elections."

Despite some reforms that have taken place in Russia, this is still Russia we're talking about.  Mouthing off about elections and freedom and democracy in Russia is going to get you arrested and thrown into the nasty Petrovka 38, headquarters for the Moscow police.  But, hey, that's progress -- of sorts --because in the old days you would have been dragged to Lubyanka and shot in the back of the head with a small caliber pistol. Except, it now appears more than a few murders have been instigated by the Russian government.  Maybe the bad old days are coming back. As a human being I don't like that one bit. As a writer the future has suddenly opened up in a big way.

Like I said, Russia is a rich treasure trove.  As a writer I'm not exactly rubbing my hands with glee...but you get the idea.

But while Russia is Russia, and always will be, chess is still a game.  And a country arresting and detaining a chess player of Kasparov's caliber is making a big PR mistake.  The chess world, while small, is extremely vocal.  They went ballistic over Kasparov's arrest. But that's the road Putin is going down and, Russians being Russians (they love strong leaders) while there may be some outbursts over his holding onto power, most people will accept it, and learn to live with it.  You've got to remember this is a people who learned to live under Stalin.  Putin is a flower compared to Stalin, and that's how the Russian people are going to view him.  And if the Russian people suddenly decide to go against their entire past and rise up...well, that's a deep well, too, and I'll write about that.

I guess we'll see what happens. As much as I hate GWB and the rat fuck Republican NeoCONS, there are other countries with shittier governments.  I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. My anger stems from the fact we are on the fast track of being more like those shitty countries than not...and the American people don't seem to care.  But that's an essay for another time.

  Kasparov was released recently and I expect you'll hear more about this in the coming weeks.  Oh, and there's an election in Russia this Sunday.  Wanna bet who wins?  We'll see what happens, but no one is going to be surprised by the outcome.  Least of all the Russian people.