The Gift of Chess

Notice to commercial publishers seeking use of images from this collection of chess-related archive blogs. For use of the many large color restorations, two conditions must be met: 1) It is YOUR responsibility to obtain written permissions for use from the current holders of rights over the original b/w photo. Then, 2) make a tax-deductible donation to The Gift of Chess in honor of Robert J. Fischer-Newspaper Archives. A donation in the amount of $250 USD or greater is requested for images above 2000 pixels and other special request items. For small images, such as for fair use on personal blogs, all credits must remain intact and a donation is still requested but negotiable. Please direct any photographs for restoration and special request (for best results, scanned and submitted at their highest possible resolution), including any additional questions to S. Mooney, at bobbynewspaperblogs•gmail. As highlighted in the ABC News feature, chess has numerous benefits for individuals, including enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improving concentration and memory, and promoting social interaction and community building. Initiatives like The Gift of Chess have the potential to bring these benefits to a wider audience, particularly in areas where access to educational and recreational resources is limited.

Best of Chess Fischer Newspaper Archives
• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1961 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1962 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1963 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1964 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1969 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1972 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1973 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1974 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1975 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1976 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1977 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1978 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1979 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1984 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 bio + additional games
Chess Columns Additional Archives/Social Media

Master Meets Master

The Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, March 17, 1961 - Page 8

Master Meets Master

“TAL's obvious nervous energy and youth make him better equipped to stand up to the strain of a long match. (Botvinnik has faded badly over the last third of the match in his last four title contests.) But Tal's persistent hacking cough and his absence from the opening rounds of the Leipzig tournament set rumors flying. I was confidently assured by informants in the American team that Tal (a) had suffered concussion in a car accident, or (b) had tuberculosis, but he duly turned up, announced that his wife had just given birth to their first son, and made a better score on top board than all his leading rivals.
If the world champion does have something of the air of the genius liable to burn himself out, at the present time his chess stamina is practically inexhaustible. After the final round at Leipzig, in which he lost to Penrose, Tal went to the American players' rooms in the hotel and offered to play five-minute games with Fischer. The world champion had been celebrating the Russian team's victory with wine, and this made his play fuller than ever of daring attacks and speculative sacrifices of material. He was so light-hearted that Fischer, who was usually beaten by Tal during their Leipzig blitz sessions, defeated him in most of the games.
About five in the morning, the Americans were exhausted and wanted to sleep. Tal, however, was still full of energy and insisted on playing for a while longer. By this time, too, the effect of the win had worn off and it was Fischer's turn to lose several games in succession. Hardly had Tal stopped playing with Fischer than he returned to the tournament room to take part in a great five-minute contest open to all the competitors in the team event. Some spectators considered that he was not in his best form: but nevertheless he reached the final and won it.
Tal's year as world champion has clearly increased his general confidence and maturity. He has taken on new responsibilities, as a father, as editor of the Latvian chess magazine, and as a deputy in the Riga Soviet. At Leipzig I asked this youngest champion in the history of the game what he would do if he successfully defended his title both against Botvinnik and against the next challenger in 1963. He had considered, he replied, returning to his research work on an obscure Russian novelist. (He was a brilliant student and was given a special dispensation to enter Riga University at 15, a year younger than the customary minimum.) But he was sure that some new young and powerful challenger would appear in the meantime. In an age when chess prodigies are becoming younger, this is an apposite comment: for even 17-year-old Bobby Fischer, who has just retained the United States championship for the fourth year running is a graybeard compared with a child called Ernest Kim. Kim has already beaten many of the best players of his native town of Tashkent in Central Asia at the ripe old age of 6.
At 21, Tal was already in receipt of a State pension for life of around £3 a week. This was a reward for winning the grandmaster title which he earned after his first success in the Soviet championship. Incidentally, the rewards for the highest success in chess are, as you might think, chickenfeed by the standards of that other contest in Miami. The prizes for the world championship eliminating contests are fixed by the International Chess Federation at a level well below those of other big international tournaments; resentment by masters and grandmasters at what they consider exploitation of the fact that they are virtually obliged to enter the prestige world title contests led, in Leipzig, to the formation of an “International Association of Chessmasters.”.

It might happen that one day we shall hear talk of a chessmasters' strike. If so, it won't be the first time, for in the darkest days of the Russian Revolution, the participants in the 1919 Leningrad championship successfully threatened to stop their tournament unless their butter ration was doubled.
If he retains his title, Tal will earn about £2,000 directly, but much more indirectly. It is normal for international chess tournament organizers to give appearance money to leading masters, and in the Soviet Union simultaneous exhibitions and technical articles for chess magazines are highly rewarding.
Tal's obvious genius for chess is matched by his love for the game. In spite of his other interests, he is probably, along with his American rival Bobby Fischer, the most fanatical chess enthusiast in the world. When he was preparing for the series of eliminating tournaments which made him the official challenger to Botvinnik, he and his trainer would often study around one hundred master games a day. Now he does not train so strenuously. But on the day he arrived in Leipzig I was in the hotel barber's waiting for a haircut when Tal came in, bringing with him the bulletins containing all the games played so far in the tournament. As the scissors and razor went to work on his hair, the champion's eyes ranged along column after column of chess moves—he was playing through every game in the tournament blindfold.

Bobby Fischer - Chess: 1961

'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:

Bobby Fischer, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws --
https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.

This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.

Robert J. Fischer, Kid Chess Wizard 1956March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008

The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.

Special Thanks