We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,749,867.60 | Books Available: 730,936 | Members Online: 161

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness

Endgame Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness
Author: Frank Brady

Endgame is acclaimed biographer Frank Brady?s decades-in-the-making tracing of the meteoric ascent?and confounding descent?of enigmatic genius Bobby Fischer. Only Brady, who met Fischer when the prodigy was only 10 and shared with him some of his most dramatic triumphs, could have written this book, which has much to say about the nature of Ame... more »rican celebrity and the distorting effects of fame. Drawing from Fischer family archives, recently released FBI files, and Bobby?s own emails, this account is unique in that it limns Fischer?s entire life?an odyssey that took the Brooklyn-raised chess champion from an impoverished childhood to the covers of Time, Life and Newsweek to recognition as ?the most famous man in the world? to notorious recluse.

At first all one noticed was how gifted Fischer was. Possessing a 181 I.Q. and remarkable powers of concentration, Bobby memorized hundreds of chess books in several languages, and he was only 13 when he became the youngest chess master in U.S. history. But his strange behavior started early. In 1972, at the historic Cold War showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he faced Soviet champion Boris Spassky, Fischer made headlines with hundreds of petty demands that nearly ended the competition.

It was merely a prelude to what was to come.

Arriving back in the United States to a hero?s welcome, Bobby was mobbed wherever he went?a figure as exotic and improbable as any American pop culture had yet produced. No player of a mere ?board game? had ever ascended to such heights. Commercial sponsorship offers poured in, ultimately topping $10 million?but Bobby demurred. Instead, he began tithing his limited money to an apocalyptic religion and devouring anti-Semitic literature.

After years of poverty and a stint living on Los Angeles? Skid Row, Bobby remerged in 1992 to play Spassky in a multi-million dollar rematch?but the experience only deepened a paranoia that had formed years earlier when he came to believe that the Soviets wanted him dead for taking away ?their? title. When the dust settled, Bobby was a wanted man?transformed into an international fugitive because of his decision to play in Montenegro despite U.S. sanctions. Fearing for his life, traveling with bodyguards, and wearing a long leather coat to ward off knife attacks, Bobby lived the life of a celebrity fugitive ? one drawn increasingly to the bizarre. Mafiosi, Nazis, odd attempts to breed an heir who could perpetuate his chess-genius DNA?all are woven into his late-life tapestry.

And yet, as Brady shows, the most notable irony of Bobby Fischer?s strange descent ? which had reached full plummet by 2005 when he turned down yet another multi-million dollar payday?is that despite his incomprehensible behavior, there were many who remained fiercely loyal to him. Why that was so is at least partly the subject of this book?one that at last answers the question: ?Who was Bobby Fischer??

From the Hardcover edition.

ISBN-13: 9780307463913
ISBN-10: 0307463915
Publication Date: 1/17/2012
Pages: 416
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Broadway
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 4
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness

Loading...