
Bobby Fischer dead at 64 - terpua
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/18/fischer.dies.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
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augustus
Sacrifices are great. Its visually appealing and I loved it too when I first
started.

But on looking back I think what makes the greatest chess players is their
intelligence and ability to calculate quickly and accurately.

Here is an example of one of Fischers greatest games. It really shows his
great insight.

It is a game from 1971 against Petrosian. Here is the link
<http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044351>

After the 21st move Fischer has a great knight and there is no way an amateur
would give it for the useless bishop. But that's exactly what he did.

Fischer's insight was that in this particular position getting rid of the
bishop allows his rooks to invade into the enemy's position quickly (which is
exactly how the game ended).

At that time this move was criticized by top gradmasters as a blunder.

I just brought this up to show that chess is really a game of intelligence.

Regards.

------
jgrahamc
Dude died at a power of 2 which is also the number of squares on a chess
board. Poetic.

~~~
eposts
The number of 1x1 squares on a chessboard. The number of squares on a
chessboard is 204

1, 8x8 square 4, 7x7 squares 9, 6x6 squares 16, 5x5 squares 25, 4x4 squares
36, 3x3 squares 49, 2x2 squares 64, 1x1 squares

~~~
jgrahamc
Yes, and of course you should really generalize that so that the number of
squares on a board with nxn single squares is sum(i=1..n) i*i

~~~
eru
This thread is pedantic.

By thy way:

    
    
      sum(i=1..n) i*i = n/6 + n^2/2 + n^3/3

~~~
jgrahamc
Proof?

~~~
hhm
This proof helps:
[http://pirate.shu.edu/~wachsmut/ira/infinity/answers/sm_sq_c...](http://pirate.shu.edu/~wachsmut/ira/infinity/answers/sm_sq_cb.html)

From that: sum bla= n(n+1)(2n+1)/6, then you go distribute

~~~
eru
Nice. How did I get the result in the first place?

I know that this sum can be expressed as a cubic polynomial. So I just
evaluated the sum at four data-points (n=0,1,2,3) and used those to determine
the four coefficents by solving a linear equation system.

~~~
jgrahamc
Turns out that drawing a picture really helps:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=101532>

~~~
eru
You can usually come up with a clever picture only after you understood the
problem - not before.

------
kirubakaran
:-(

Fischer is my hero. If you are even mildly interested in chess, you should
analyze his games. His games can only be called 'outrageous'. He would
sacrifice a queen and couple of steps later he would win when no one else see
it coming!

I usually sit with an open mouth for a five minutes when I analyze his games.
They are masterpieces.

------
augustus
you must be referring to the game of the century against Bryne. Fischer played
that game when he was 13 years old.

In later years he rarely sacrificed much.

Fischer's style of chess is considered the most universal in that he has no
preferences he just plays the best moves for the position.

Kasparov considered Fischer to be 10 years ahead of the top grandmasters. In
1972 he had scores over the grandmasters (candidates matches) of 6-0.

Yes. He was incredible.

~~~
kirubakaran
"In later years he rarely sacrificed much."

IIRC, he did that against Tal too.

Either way, his games are a thing of beauty to see and wonder "how did he
think of _that_?"

------
antirez
It's somewhat funny that all the great hackers I know in person tend to suck
at chess. Did you noticed the same?

~~~
rms
My high point at chess was when I was 8 and beat some newb with the four move
checkmate. My chess career quickly went downhill from there.

------
henning
He's been an embarrassment to the game for the last 30 years. With respect to
that, good riddance.

~~~
gregwebs
he hasn't been playing for the last 30 years- he has only embarassed himself.

~~~
kirubakaran
He stood up to the government coz of what he believed in. Thats a big deal,
irrespective of what he believed in seems nice or embarassing in your eyes.

~~~
menloparkbum
> He stood up to the government coz of what he believed in.

Yeah, what he believed was that the Holocaust didn't happen, and that Jews are
filthy and evil and controlling the government and everything else. Glad he
stood up for what he believed in.

~~~
edw519
In the interest of full disclosure, one could reference

<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer>

All I kept thinking as I read through this was, "How could someone so
brilliant say things so hateful and illogical?"

I don't know. There are probably many theories (mental illness jumps out as
one possibility).

As far as Bobby Fischer is concerned, his downfall and later public
pronouncements were tragic, but not as tragic as the loss of a human life. May
he rest in peace.

~~~
yters
Brilliant people seem to go crazy kinda often.

