The Herald-Palladium Saint Joseph, Michigan Wednesday, August 01, 1984 - Page 2
The U.S. Chess World Misses Bobby Fischer
A decade ago Bobby Fischer went into seclusion and America's standing in world chess competition plummeted to its former obscurity. The U.S. Chess Federation's championship tournament is being concluded at Berkeley, Calif., and the U.S. Open — also under federation auspices — is due to be determined at Fort Worth, Texas, Aug. 4-12. But the world title is back in Russian hands, as it has been since 1975. That year the world federation, exasperated by Fischer's refusal to defend the title he had won in 1972, took it away from him.
“Fischer has left a chess wasteland,” Fred Waitzkin wrote recently in New York magazine. “The new chess clubs of the '70's have disappeared along with him, and many of the old clubs have withered…” Nevertheless, his “legend and mystique have deepened with the years,” Waitzkin added, recounting Fischer's fame came not just at the chess board. He spurned million-dollar commercial offers and “retired into the protective fold of the Worldwide Church of God” in Pasadena, Calif. Only rarely has he been seen in public.
Psychology Today magazine suggests in its current issue that Fischer's seclusion is not so unusual for a chess champion. Authors Ralph J. Olmo and George L. Stephens report that several world champions “went into hiding” after winning the title and that “introversion is a common personality trait” found among top chess players. “You don't have to be a recluse to be a great chess player,” they add, “but our study suggests that it helps, at least, to be a very private person.”
The followers of American tournament chess appear perpetually hopeful that “another Bobby” will turn up. The U.S. Junior Championship matches are often a source of such inspiration. This year's matches were conducted in June at Ojai, Calif., and the winner, Patrick Wolff, becomes eligible to play next year in the U.S. Chess Championship. So will the victor in the Fort Worth tournament. Sometime later next year the top three American players will meet foreign competitors in “inter-zonal” play to determine who challenges the Russian champ.