I would have been in my early teens at the time and my father had taught me to play chess from an early age, we would play most nights and it was fun. It was also educational from the point of view it encouraged lateral and critical thinking and for that I am eternally grateful to him. I am sure without that I would not be where I am today. Though some may argue the point seeing as I am in Bogota, Colombia, South America.
The world was still in a state of uncertainty at this time time as the two big powers Russia and America vied for nuclear supremacy. So when the little heard of up till then World Chess Championships became headline news in 1972 because of the battle between Bobby Fischer of America and the then World Champion Boris Spassky of Russia, in the internationally neutral city of Reykjavik in Iceland, the news coverage worldwide took on a look and feel of a major confrontation, a sort of war fought out on the chess board between these two super powers for intellectual superiority, instead of the fields of Europe.
There is no doubt chess became a much more recognised past time due to the coverage on TV and in the Press and as a young keen chess player I followed the stories and examples of the games, playing each move out on my small portable chess set. The sort that had little pegs to hold the pieces, by pushing into a hole on the board, magnetic boards had not yet been invented.
Although both players moves were interesting and even exciting to a young player to watch. It was Fischers play that captured my imagination and that I learned from. In chess he was cold, ruthless and his capacity to out think his opponent almost legendary.
I immersed myself in his style of play reading everything I could. I remember playing through one game in total awe. Fischer sacrificed his queen on about the
12th move. When you consider the queen is the most powerful piece on the board and that to exchange it takes a force of will, but to sacrifice it for position or a lesser piece is usually looked on as a move by the foolhardy. Fischer knew better and in a series of moves forced upon his opponent Fischer won the game some 14 moves later. The average chess player can from my memory calculate and look 3-4 moves ahead, the better players up to 6-7 moves ahead but Fischer had looked at every option, move and counter move up to 12 moves ahead, something I doubt even todays Super Computers designed to play chess can do as well, and certainly not 30 years ago.
Needless to say soon after my immersion in the style and play of Fischer my games with my dad phased out, there were I expect many reasons. I was getting older, he was involved in University as a mature student and I had reached a stage where I needed to play against stronger opposition to improve. School and Club competitions were where my chess playing went as Internet Chess Sites didnt exist, Hell the Internet was still a spark in its fathers eye, well the US Militaries eye anyway. Finding a place in the Club team required a game against the Club Captain, beating him ensured I had a place in the first team, and I enjoyed the mental challenge of chess.
Unfortunately later teenage years took away the desire, drive and enthusiasm to compete (I blame girls personally !!!) and I eventually once I started working drifted into playing Contract Bridge, after teaching myself how to play on my first real computer.(An Amstrad 6128).
I still love Contract and Duplicate Bridge, and I still play chess but now online against opponents around the world.
I am not as sharp as I was as a boy but the feeling of satisfaction when you coldly destroy an opponents game still gives me that thrill I remember from first playing through one of Bobby Fischers games.
I fully expect to see a headline somewhere that Bobby Fischer is playing chess against God and God is losing (Probably in the Fortean Times but it will be there)
School Updates later.
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