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He came so tantalizingly close to being world champion. Besides the two World Championship matches with Karpov, one of which he lost by a single game, the 1974
by komaromy 10y ago
He came so tantalizingly close to being world champion. Besides the two World Championship matches with Karpov, one of which he lost by a single game, the 1974 Candidates final also decided the championship following Fischer's abdication.
- noir_lord 10y agoGiven the soviet chess machine stacked the deck against him his whole life the chances are on a level playing field he'd have been a good world champion. They tried it with Fisher but his genius was such that he smashed through the barricades and won anyway with as close to a perfect performance as a human has ever achieved.
- Lordarminius 10y agoGenius sure; but I think Fischer just could not be needled by Soviet/KGB sheenanigans - there was just no personal connection; and being American the possibility of assassination was out of the question. Korchnoi from the time of his defection onwards suffered from this fear.