Bobby Fischer, R.I.P

Bobby Fischer died today (read the obit here), and it brought back a lot of memories about how much I love the game of chess. Not that I'm very good at it, but I used to spend a lot of time playing chess and particularly reading about the lives of the grandmasters. They were always these strange characters with interesting backgrounds, and I found something heroic about chess players who used their wits to triumph over those who would destroy them.

My favorite was Paul Morphy (1837-1884), the champion from my home state of Louisiana. Chess was his hobby; he was a lawyer by profession. He was supposed to have a formidable intellect; I read once that he could recite significant portions of the Louisiana civil code from memory. Apparently he became very eccentric toward the end, not unlike Bobby Fischer and Fischer's lamentable anti-Semitism.

Two books I want to read about chess:

• Searching for Bobby Fischer: The contemporary memoir of a father who discovers his son is a chess prodigy. Contains funny bits about parents who seem to take the competition more seriously than the kids do. The movie was good, too.
• The Kings of New York, subtitled A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Genuises Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team: Sports reporter Michael Weinreb looks at the world of competitive scholastic chess. Apparently it's about to be released in paperback under the new title "Game of Kings."