Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Anyone play it? I used to quite a bit, still do occasionally. Could see it making a comeback as people may have rediscovered it during COVID and as on line apps allow other opportunities to play the game.
In a perverse way I always had some admiration for Bobby Fischer, even as he spent a good deal of his life as a reclusive curmudgeon. He was a regular on the old Dick Cavett show where not only was he engaging he was also wicked smart. In one show he described the moment he had his opponent on the ropes-and showed on a chess board the exact positions of his remaining pieces and his opponent's down to the precise square.
You need some mental juice to do that. What I also found fascinating was how he said chess was the closest simulation to war that a human could experience. He also called it the world's most violent sport. With no teammates, no coaches, no officials, no field conditions,, and no ball to take a lucky bounce, you had one remaining available objective-to crush your opponent's mind. Hence the violent nature of the sport.
Fischer also described the arobic workout, and the calories you burned, just from the tension of a game. And how he lived for the point in the match where his opponent would start to squirm in his seat.
I bring all this up because I think we are due for a chess revival. COVID, the internet, the aging of the baby boomers population, and declining interest in youth sports are all factors in my prediction. Just my two cents on the topic.
In a perverse way I always had some admiration for Bobby Fischer, even as he spent a good deal of his life as a reclusive curmudgeon. He was a regular on the old Dick Cavett show where not only was he engaging he was also wicked smart. In one show he described the moment he had his opponent on the ropes-and showed on a chess board the exact positions of his remaining pieces and his opponent's down to the precise square.
You need some mental juice to do that. What I also found fascinating was how he said chess was the closest simulation to war that a human could experience. He also called it the world's most violent sport. With no teammates, no coaches, no officials, no field conditions,, and no ball to take a lucky bounce, you had one remaining available objective-to crush your opponent's mind. Hence the violent nature of the sport.
Fischer also described the arobic workout, and the calories you burned, just from the tension of a game. And how he lived for the point in the match where his opponent would start to squirm in his seat.
I bring all this up because I think we are due for a chess revival. COVID, the internet, the aging of the baby boomers population, and declining interest in youth sports are all factors in my prediction. Just my two cents on the topic.