The Gift of Chess

Notice to commercial publishers seeking use of images from this collection of chess-related archive blogs. For use of the many large color restorations, two conditions must be met: 1) It is YOUR responsibility to obtain written permissions for use from the current holders of rights over the original b/w photo. Then, 2) make a tax-deductible donation to The Gift of Chess in honor of Robert J. Fischer-Newspaper Archives. A donation in the amount of $250 USD or greater is requested for images above 2000 pixels and other special request items. For small images, such as for fair use on personal blogs, all credits must remain intact and a donation is still requested but negotiable. Please direct any photographs for restoration and special request (for best results, scanned and submitted at their highest possible resolution), including any additional questions to S. Mooney, at bobbynewspaperblogs•gmail. As highlighted in the ABC News feature, chess has numerous benefits for individuals, including enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improving concentration and memory, and promoting social interaction and community building. Initiatives like The Gift of Chess have the potential to bring these benefits to a wider audience, particularly in areas where access to educational and recreational resources is limited.

Best of Chess Fischer Newspaper Archives
• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1961 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1962 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1963 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1964 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1969 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1972 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1973 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1974 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1975 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1976 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1977 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1978 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1979 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1984 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 bio + additional games
Chess Columns Additional Archives/Social Media

Bobby Fischer is Chess Champ, But Still Just a Boy

Back to 1959 Index

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, Tuesday, January 27, 1959

He's Chess Champ, But Still Just a Boy
By Milt Freudenheim

NEW YORK, Jan. 27.
The Chicago Daily News-Post-Dispatch Special Dispatch. Copyright 1959.
INTERNATIONAL grandmaster of chess Robert J. Fischer asked that presentation of his second consecutive United States championship cup be delayed briefly.
The presentation would have conflicted with his preparations for midyear examinations at Erasmus High School, where 15-year-old Fischer is in his junior year.
Bobby Fischer, said to be the youngest international grandmaster in the history of chess, won't slight his school work.
“If I had a lot of money, I'd like to play in chess tournaments (and nothing else). But you can't make a living in chess,” he says.
His prize as American champ was $600. It took the combined efforts of a television show, wealthy chess patrons, the United States Department and the Soviet Government to get him to Europe for big matches last year.
And the fact that Bobby—away from the chess board—is just a typical, big, clumsy, shy, self-centered teen-aged kid from Brooklyn has cooled the ardor of would be patrons more than once.
But the champ playing chess is another story. He held his own with some of the world's best at the interzonal tourney last summer at Portoroz, Yugoslavia.
“Little Bobby,” as enthusiastic Yugoslav fans dubbed him, won the right to return in September 1959 for eight-man playoffs.
The 1959 winner takes on world champion Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia in 1960.
If by some combination of wizardry and good luck, a teenage American beats the Soviet world champion, the repercussions could be awesome.
In contrast to the United States which ignores chess, and kids its experts, the Soviets teach the game in school. Russian champs are pampered, given soft jobs and movie-star treatment.
But like competing with the Russians in sputniks and luniks, polishing up Bobby Fischer will not be easy.
The six-foot, Chicago-born chess genius wishes the public would please go away. He may be the first boy his age in history to deliberately repel the advances of would-be biographers from Reader's Digest and the Saturday Evening Post.
Bobby contends the press aims to use him in a conspiracy “to make chess players look like funny people.”
Actually, he looks like the boy down the block, favoring bright flannel shirts, never a tie corduroy slacks, unshined shoes, crewcut brown hair needing a trim—even on an evening trip to a chess club in Manhattan.
Bobby handles himself like a basketball player, long-limbed and loose jointed, dropping a chess piece into place in a fast game of “rapid transit” (10 seconds a move) or “blitz” (no pauses at all).
He likes sports. Some New York reporters have shined up to him by taking him to hockey games or hitting tennis balls with him. A ski pro traded ski lessons for chess lessons with Bobby.
At Erasmus High, he studied Russian to use in Moscow, “I'm pretty good at Spanish, and I like science, astronomy most of all,” he says.
Born March 12, 1943, Bobby loved puzzles as a baby, according to his mother, Mrs. Regina Fischer, a nurse. His parents were divorced when he was 2.
His sister taught him chess when he was 6. In fourth grade he won a scholarship to a Brooklyn school where his chess was encouraged.
At the Brooklyn Chess Club, president Carmine Nigro “helped me more than anybody,” Bobby recalls. By the time he was 12, he was taking on big-timers at the Manhattan and Marshall Chess Clubs.
He was 14 when he beat famed Samuel Reshevsky, then 46, for the United States championship the first time. Repeating the feat a second year sealed Bobby's achievement. It couldn't be “luck” twice.
Short on friends his own age, Bobby spends most of his after school hours studying books on chess (which he remembers practically totally) and playing the game with adults.
Winning chess demands athlete-type training, boning up on opponents' past games, planning strategy. That plus schoolwork puts a heavy strain on Bobby's time.
For those who dare hope to checkmate the young champion, or others just interested in how he does it, book publishers Simon & Schuster are bringing out “Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess.”
Nearing 16, surrounded by chess glory, Bobby is beginning to notice the world now and then. “The other night he even came up and shook hands with my wife,” said a pleased former champion old enough to be Bobby's grandfather.

Bobby Fischer is Chess Champ, But Still Just a Boy

'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:

Bobby Fischer, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws --
https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.

This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.

Robert J. Fischer, Kid Chess Wizard 1956March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008

The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.

Special Thanks