Summary of David Edmonds & John Eidinow's Bobby Fischer Goes to War

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The World Chess Championship has existed since 1886. But with this final, it became a front-page story for the first time. The games made news on television and stars of commentators. The meaning of the confrontation seemed clear to Western commentators: a lone American star was challenging the long Soviet grip on the world title.

#2 The end of the cold war has allowed us to see the individuals behind the Soviet monolith. The match was played out on many levels, with chess itself being only one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669398769

IRB Media

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Insights on David Edmonds & John Eidinow's Bobby Fischer Goes to War

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 17

Insights from Chapter 18

Insights from Chapter 19

Insights from Chapter 20

Insights from Chapter 21

Insights from Chapter 22

Insights from Chapter 23

Insights from Chapter 24

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The World Chess Championship has existed since 1886. But with this final, it became a front-page story for the first time. The games made news on television and stars of commentators. The meaning of the confrontation seemed clear to Western commentators: a lone American star was challenging the long Soviet grip on the world title.

#2

The end of the cold war has allowed us to see the individuals behind the Soviet monolith. The match was played out on many levels, with chess itself being only one.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

When Bobby was six, his mother sent an ad to the local paper, the Brooklyn Eagle, appealing for chess playmates for her son. The ad was never published because the editorial staff couldn’t decide under what category to place it. They instead sent it to veteran chess journalist Hermann Helms.

#2

Bobby Fischer was a very talented chess player, but he was not an instant prodigy. He spent many hours at the Manhattan Chess Club, where he rose quickly through its divisions. In 1955, he joined the Hawthorne Chess Club, an informal gathering of chess masters who met at the home of Jack Collins.

#3

Rumors about the arrival of a new Wunderkind began to spread among the chess community. Fischer was already receiving invitations to give simultaneous displays, in which he would compete against many players at once. He won the U. S. Junior Chess Championship in 1956, at age 14.

#4

Fischer’s quest to become a world champion was a disaster. He went to the Moscow Central Chess Club in the morning, returned to the hotel for lunch, and was back in the club until evening, where his opponents included the young Russian masters Aleksandr Nikitin and Yevgeni Vasiukov.

#5

Fischer was a prodigy in international chess, but he was a poor student at school. He did not see how a high school diploma could advance his career or his real calling. He abandoned his formal education as soon as he could.

#6

During