The Tragic Story of the World's Greatest Chess Player

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Published 2022-06-16
Bobby Fischer's rise and tragic fall. Ready to sleep better? You're 1 click away: www.magnesiumbreakthrough.com/newsthink. Use code: NEWSTHINK10 for 10% off.

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Many of the images featured in this video were sourced from Alamy.

Interviews featured in video:
4:43 Carson Tonight Show interview with Bobby Fischer    • Bobby Fischer solves a 15 puzzle in 1...  
5:25 CBC interview with Bobby Fischer    • Retrobites: Bobby Fischer (1963) | CBC  
10:45 60 Minutes interview with Bobby Fischer    • Video  

Interviews featured in this video are meant to be used for news reporting and educational purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use.

Sources:
0:03 DiscipleofDrax, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
0:26 Background image: MMZach at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
2:25 Chess game on right: Morn, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Image on left: @FIDE_chess on Twitter
4:24 Image on left: Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
4:36 Yanping Nora Soong via Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License. Previously published: Flickr Previously published: www.flickr.com/photos/photopoesie/20350700824/
4:40 Vysotsky (Wikimedia), CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
5:08 Image of Einstein: DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
5:12 Stevan Kragujević, CC BY-SA 3.0 RS creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/rs/deed.en via Wikimedia Commons
5:17 Bert Verhoeff / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
5:21 karpidis, CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
6:22 Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-76052-0335,_Schacholympiade,_Tal_(UdSSR)_gegen_Fischer_(USA).jpg: Kohls, Ulrichderivative work: Karpouzi, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
7:08 Image of Fischer: Punt / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
9:35 Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-76052-0335 / Kohls, Ulrich / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en via Wikimedia Commons
9:47 Broers, F.N. / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
9:53 Image of Dr. Reuben Fine: Harry Pot, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en via Wikimedia Commons
10:42 Image on left: Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
11:39 Image on left: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-76052-0053 / Kohls, Ulrich / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en via Wikimedia Commons
12:25 Bert Verhoeff / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
12:32 Punt / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
13:23 Jóna Þórunn, CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

All Comments (21)
  • Its hard to call him paranoid while then admitting that his family was being spied upon for years.
  • "He was paranoid the FBI was watching him" "So anyways in the FBI's secret files on his mother..."
  • @sb3424
    He didn't go insane. He just knows more than you.
  • @Farinata2
    "With talent, study and a positive attitude there is no limit to how far you can go" - Bobby Fischer
  • @pariable
    Bobby was not mad. His pattern recognition eventually laid out the world for what it was to him. It's an unfortunate place.
  • @ali09gaming58
    the people who you cannot criticise, he criticised and then was called insane
  • @turdeaugottago114
    he didnt go insane, he got increasingly clear understanding of the way this world works as he aged.
  • @pavlos712
    He didn't go insane. His last interviews did not manifest any sign of insanity, and he rather always displays logical arguments.
  • @lukeves
    Dr. Skulason said that when they first met, Fischer, knowing of his profession, joked that “he was so normal that he was almost boring.” After getting to know Fischer a bit, Skulason said, “He was not crazy. Not at all. He was very hurt about being outlaw from his own country.”
  • @Mooseman327
    Fischer did not "go insane." The world that accuses him of that IS insane. And as Jiddu Krishnamurti once said, ""It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
  • @toddubow2599
    "Failed to live up to his own words." World Champion against the entire solviet system. Most influential player ever. His legend continues to grow despite vids like this.
  • @jayjay2637
    "Nothing is as healing as the human touch" Bobby Fischer. That gave me chills
  • @tarrasch_
    - Fischer never met his father or even had someone to display a figure for him - His relationship with his mother from the very beginning was really cold and distant, the level he was pratically moving away from home at age 13 - At age 29 living almost 16 years of complete loneliness he became WC and started to be noticed, so much he couldn't handle - After years he disappeared, Bobby lost potentials wifes (due his own behaviour), got banned from his own country and dismissed by everyone, painting him as a coward for leaving the WC, and for his comments about 09/11 Basically in the last years of his life Bobby died alone in a country he didn't belong, with no wife, no kids, no lifelong friends, and not even the proper respect from his own country about what he did, the only legacy he left and dedicated his entire life to it, just tell me how you don't go insane?
  • This is an incredibly smart human being and he is probably more sane than most would be able to realize.
  • @samehmikhail5039
    We all know, he was a great chess player who didn’t like politics but once you state your honest opinion, then you are insane. We all respect him regardless of the fake media.
  • @darkrooster89
    So the middle portion of the video goes on about how paranoid Bobby Fischer was and how he believed he was being targeted and spied on. Then the video casually goes on to admit that the FBI had secret files on his mother and himself.