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Bobby Fischer

He was the invincible whiz kid of the chess world. The child prodigy from the heart of Brooklyn who grew up and became a Cold War icon, and in the process toppled an Empire.



But at the peak of his fame, he disappeared and self destructed. His reclusive behavior and his eccentric ideology made him as reviled as he was revered.



Once a symbol of the American free spirit, eventually he became an international fugitive.



How did a high school drop-out became a cultural touchstone, carrying the weight of a nation on his back and what price did he pay to get there?

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The Cold War Gladiator and his Soviet Nemesis

MIKHAIL TAL’S STARE was infamous, and to some ominous. With his deep brown, almost black eyes, he’d glare so intently at his opponents that some said he was attempting to hypnotize them into making a vapid move. The Hungarian-American player Pal Benko actually donned sunglasses once when he played Tal, just to avoid the penetrating stare. Tal's burning stare... Bobby had tolerated Tal’s stare when they first met over the board in Portorož, Yugoslavia. That game had ended in a draw. At his first game against Tal, in Bled, Bobby was already at the board when the twenty-three-year-old Mischa arrived just in time to commence play. Bobby stood and Tal offered his right hand to shake. Tal’s hand was severely deformed, with only three large fingers appended, and since his wrist was so thin, the malformation resembled a claw. Bobby, to his credit, didn’t seem to care. He returned the gesture with a two-stroke handshake, and play began. Within a ...
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Remembering the 1990 Manila Inter-Zonal Chess Championship...

F ew young players knew how strong GM Boris Gelfand was and still is. In 1989 he won the GMA Open in Palma de Mallorca which was participated by more than 160 grandmasters! An amazing record!! He left Ivanchuk, Anand, Shirov, Karpov, Leko, Adams, Short, Korchnoi, Timman, Kamsky, Svidler etc. behind him eating dust. He won with a clear half point edge. Untied and un-equaled. He won the 1990 Manila Inter-Zonal (Ivanchuk was the co-champion but he lost in the tie-break) ahead of 63 elite grandmasters. In the 13th and final round Ivanchuk (who was the solo leader with a half point advantage against Gelfand) quickly drew with Anand in only 12 moves of Petroff Defense. While Gelfand, relieved somewhat of the pressure, was in a win to order mode. Determined to crush his own compatriot GM Alexander Khalifman (Khalifman became World Champion in the late 90's when Fide decided to hold the WCC in a ridiculous KO format.), he fought with all his might and accompl...
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Remembering the 2001 Philippine Open Chess Championships

The 2001 Philippine Open (Semi-Finals) was one of the most interesting chess events of the early 21'st Century. And not only because of the excellent start and sensational collapse of NM Rodrigo Atutubo, it is also the very first high caliber tournament sanctioned by the newly formed National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP). NCFP was fresh from it's victory over the floundering chess organization Philippine Chess Federation (PCF). The media coverage of the tournament was huge. I remember that almost all the sports journalist/writer (not only chess journalist) was there to cover the event. And not only that, ABS-CBN also sent it's own representative to cover the event. The tournament was held at the 2nd floor of Greenhills Shopping Mall. The total prize fund of the tournament was huge, in the semi-final alone the total prize fund was close to P500,000. Atutubo started the tournament like a h...
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