Before he was a teenager, people were calling Bobby Fischer a genius. His talent at chess was legend. Bobby Fisher was a Grand Master of chess at the age of fifteen and he was building a formidable reputation which grew even more in his adult years. Then, he turned away from chess:

“…Fischer told reporters that year that he was finished with a chess world he regarded as corrupt, and he sparred with U.S. journalists who asked about his anti-American tirades.

“The United States is evil. There’s this axis of evil. What about the allies of evil — the United States, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers,” Fischer said.”

link: Cold War icon Fischer passes away

For Bobby Fischer, the remarkable genius may have been a double edged sword. It was a stellar gift but it seems that it was a brilliance with which he was never truly comfortable.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

Tags: bobby fischer, chess, reputation, genius