Frank Brady (1) (1934–)

From Fischer's limited world of connection, this somewhat privileged view of the chess talent's bizarre and extreme arc tempers claims of madness to a more functional paranoia. The detailed book covers Fischer's entire life, and beyond to exhumation, including a more real and positive relationship with his mother than is often stated and a view into his peripatetic and hermit-like life from a cramped Pasadena room to the end of an bookstore aisle in Iceland. There is some bizarre irony, not show more explicitly stated here, that as he turned craven and money-grubbing he became the worst stereotype from the anti-Semitic fever-dream of the neo-nazi thinkers whose books and pamphlets he sometimes promoted to intimates and strangers. show less

My father taught me to play chess, although I never was very good despite his best efforts. Around this same time, decades ago, I heard of Bobby Fischer, the American chess genius, who was almost a U. S. hero. Years later, I read of some of the controversy surrounding him but didn't pay much attention, only knew that he had fallen off his throne. This new biography about him seemed interesting, worth a try.

The author knew Bobby Fischer for years, from the time Bobby was still a child. Still, show more this is not his memoir, it is a biography of Bobby. He makes minimal mention of himself in the book. Actually, I would have liked to have read a little more of his firsthand experiences.

Bobby started playing chess at six, when his sister, Joan, bought for him a little plastic chess set to keep him occupied when she babysat him. Even as a child, he was different, didn't have many young friends, moved to new residences too much, marched to a different drummer.

And in the end, he was virulently anti-Semitic, a neo-Nazi who alienated most of his friends, someone who was happy to see the tragedy of 9/11. He even turned on the country that would accept him when no one else would. All his life he craved both attention and privacy, was incredibly self-absorbed, and made outrageous demands that he thought were reasonable and due.

“He won the Monte Carlo International and ungallantly refused to pose for a photograph with His Royal Highness Prince Rainier, the tournament's sponsor, and at a public ceremony when Princess Grace awarded him his cash prize, he rudely tore open the envelope and counted the money first before he thanked her....”

Although this book could have been boring, especially for someone not a chess fan, it was not. There were descriptions of lots of chess matches, perhaps a few more than I would have liked, but they were used to show Bobby's and the other participants' behavior. I am amazed that so many people befriended him for so long, especially his Jewish friends after he became anti-Semitic. There were some holes in the story, some events where all the facts are not available, but the author presents a thorough and engaging portrait of a very strange man. It is well worth the reading.

I was given an uncorrected proof of this book by the publisher. The quote may not reflect the published edition. show less

A fascinating memoir, even if you don't know much about Bobby Fischer or chess. (I've played the game a couple times, but my level of expertise ends at having watched Queen's Gambit on Netflix.)

I just kept thinking, as I read this book, that if Bobby Fischer were 40 years younger, he would have gotten into 4chan and become an MRA, enthusiastically voted for Trump, started a conspiracy theory channel on YouTube, and stormed the capitol on January 6th. Maybe he was just a man ahead of his time.

Frank Brady’s depiction of the hot mess that was Bobby Fischer’s life- from childhood prodigy to enfant terrible of the chess world to reclusive and paranoid anti-Semite—is an impressive high-wire act that somehow manages to simultaneously inspire disgust, sympathy, awe, and pity in its subject.

In clear, crisp, page-turning prose Brady shows us that Fischer was a crucial figure of his times while still keeping a firm eye on the man’s inner life. There are staggering reveals in every show more chapter and one need not be a chess enthusiast to find interest in the brief descriptions of individual games and tournaments.

This is my favorite commercial biography in years! show less