Why Did the World’s Best Chess Player Go Insane?

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Thoughty2 (Arran) is a British YouTuber and gatekeeper of useless facts. Thoughty2 creates mind-blowing factual videos about science, tech, history, opinion and just about everything else.
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Writing: Steven Rix
Editing: Jack Stevens

%1$ Comments863

    "Dominance that hasn't been seen since"
    ~Magnus has joined the chat

    As an aside, when I was 13 years old I was incredibly full of myself, always thought I was the most intelligent person in any room, and I was a grade-A asshole. Looking back, I must've been an insufferable person to spend any time around. And yet, I was just a regular delusional middle-school art nerd. Imagine being that age and beating all the best chess players in your country, all of whom have been practicing the game for much longer than you've been alive. The way my ego would've absolutely eclipsed the sun. I shudder to think.

    he is not the best I Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen are the best players

    Chess can really be stressful from time to time. Thats why im chosing to not apply for tournaments, you need alot of mental strenght.

    Boris Spassky was probably a better person than Fisher and he was definitely a better sportsman, but Fisher was the winner. So what matters more?

    Didn’t go insane, went after about the wrong group and he was pushed into isolation.

    Balance of all things will always prevail. I am no philosopher or an intellect by any means and I also believe in doing whatever you want as long as to not impede on anothers rights. Simply put, to be something you have to give up something. You can equate that ANYTHING. Stray one way or another will upset a balance.

    Btw just so u know genes dont give you intelegence

    ya but at 3:23 how is king moving that much squares …!!!!!???

    Okay is spaskey not the greatest guy ever

    Just imagine how good he would have been using modern equipment

    All have their opinions. Fischer did just what he said he was going to do. Become World Champion of Chess. Fischer learned: People aren't honest. Sign few contracts.
    The ethics in chess are worse than boxing and horse racing. From 1970 to 1972, Fischer was another level above all the other elite grandmasters. Consider World Championship 1972. Game One, Fischer missed a win or sure draw by one tempo miscalculation. No show Game two. The following 19 games, Fischer lost but ONE. Against Spassky?
    In the preceding candidates matches Fischer blew Taimanov and Larsen away 12 wins to 0 losses and 0 draws. Facing Petrosian, Fischer lost one game. Why? He had a cold! Beats Petrosian 5 times, with 4 draws, Think, chess players, think. Add it up, friends, add it up. Facing the top 4 GMs in the world, two were previous world champions: Fischer scores, in 43 games, 24 wins, 3 losses and the rest draws! At the Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca, 1970, 23 rounds, Fischer wins15, loses 1, the rest drawn. Let's add again. In 66 games, Fischer wins 39, loses 4. One GM said "After meeting Fischer, I had to forget everything I heard about Fischer. He was a nice man."
    Believe or not, Ken Smith of Dallas, TX. had a chess bookstore. A big one, by mail order mostly. Ken was one of the few that signed a contract with Fischer as "Master in Charge of Preparation." Ken Smith obtained all printed materials Fischer wanted. More than once, in the early 1970s, while playing and studying chess in Ken Smith's home kitchen, with SM John Hall, the phone rang. Asking me to answer a wall phone, the caller asked for Ken. I said "May I ask who is calling?" Bobby Fischer." Wow oh wow I thought. Bobby had no arrogance. No meanness. No pretentions. Just plain Bobby.
    So, Fischer WAS NOT CRAZY. He did what he wanted. He suffered bad press. He was crapped on by USA and spent unnecessary time in jail in Japan. He can be as pissed off as he wanted. I don't blame him. Read Three days with Bobby Fischer. Read of Fischer's driver and bodyguard in Iceland. The media is the enemy. Every fucking time.

    I'm really mad at the inaccurate chess animations

    einstein was an idiot compared to Bobby Fischer. einstein was also nowhere near as smart as Chris Langan. Jessica Simpson literally has an IQ in the range of einstein. And Fischer didnt go insane.

    Yeah, the American government had also a lot to do with stirring up the crap out of nothing, brainwashing people, and generally turning people like Fischer against the government.

    All that wasted intellect on chest. If only his mother had loved him and nurtured him we could have had any number of revelations in science or medicine. It's a damn shame.

    He's classical Aspergers case. After learning more, I think that he was a psychopath and wouldn't be surprised if he killed people when no one knew about him.

    Poor Max Pavey…gets no credit for beating Fischer

    He wasn’t insane… he spoke pure truth and got abandoned by everyone for a critique more valid today than it was then.

    Bobby Fischer is not insane he just exposed the jewish question then everyone in the world just labeled him as insane so they can shut him up

    I think a nice tweed sweater would suite you quite well.

    bobby s crime was speaking about the third rail

    Did this video answer the question posed in the title?

    There’s always some kind of madness for being a genius… they go hand in hand. Yet they make history while rest of us humble 🥧’s don’t & that my friends is the price of admission. Someone should create super program only studying Bobby Fischer’s chess moves/game play (while it will never replicate the real person) and have it play against today’s #1 that would be very interesting match & chances are Bobby would put away the current Grandmaster.

    Makes me think that the queen’s gambit was based off of this boy.

    The Ronnie o Sullivan of chess, a troubled genius

    To me, Tal is the greatest player ever, his games with Fischer are magnificent

    He was a bit of a baby, but I get it. I'd have a hard time thinking in a room full of cameras too. Imagine thinking several moves ahead and the camera guy sneezes.. farts.. burps.. scratches his head.. all.of that is amplified.

    You know — Werner von Braun was a genuine card carrying Nazi. But he made Nasa what it is today. Less well known but closer to my own world of programming: Terry A Davis was schizophrenic who spoke terrible things. But he was also genuine, and an extraordinarily gifted and insightful technologist. So some times, I think we just have to take the good with the bad. When the crazy is so obvious, it's easy to put it to the side, if it's not actively creating so much harm. For me, the real hero in this story — at least, from what I saw in this video here, which is the limits of my knowledge — is Spassky. He seemed genuinely like someone who was, or could have been, a friend to Bobby Fischer. That he intervened to say, "Hey, I just want to play Bobby Fischer, can we get the cameras out of here?", and that he offered to serve jail time with Bobby Fischer in Japan, — that's genuine behavior. I bet that they were both lonely, but found meaningful company in one another.

    STOP HAVING SUCH ADDICTING CONTENT IM TRYING TO SLEEEEP!!😭😭😖

    I just came to say that I couldn't tell from the thumbnail which "face" was his "insane face". They both look rather unhinged. That's all. I'm not watching the video.

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