8 ms·

Do you have a source for that Bobby Fischer anecdote? I’ve read several biographies, and I’ve never heard it mentioned that he had trouble memorizing openings.

Do you have a source for that Bobby Fischer anecdote? I’ve read several biographies, and I’ve never heard it mentioned that he had trouble memorizing openings. There were, however, quite a few stories that suggest he had perfect recall.

wallace_f 9y ago
Maybe my characterization of his memory should be revised to instead say he had particular disdain for the necessity of memorizing opening game theory to play at a high level. In the case of your background, you are aware of him complaining about this through many interviews in his later life, and that he was known to struggle with this. He even invented a new variant of chess for specifically this specific reason. Here is one such interview: https://youtu.be/7EuxVOgrEig https://youtu.be/7EuxVOgrEig
- gowld 9y ago
  That interview is after his mental illness caught up with him. When he was a champion, he was so much better than everyone that it's silly to say he struggled with openings. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Opening_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Opening_theory > "He employs a limited range of openings. Of course, this is not a sign of Fischer's limited creativity, since he compensates for this by a very profound and sound knowledge of the variations he favours [sic]." Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 270. > Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory He promoted (not invented) Fischerrandom / Chess960 because he felt that memorizing ever-long opening sequences was boring and ruined the game, and that would be soon dominated by computers with their far-superior memory.
  - wallace_f 9y ago
    I'm not sure what your source is, but perhaps update the Chess960 Wikipedia page with this information because what you're saying here contradicts what's there. Fischer was, despite being, at one point, the greatest chess player in the world, and on people's all-time greatest lists, predictable in his use of openings, as you know since this is widely documented and you're well-read on him. Your quote even admits this. So I'm not sure what you are exactly disagreeing with that I said. Maybe the source of disagreement is that I unintentionally gave the impression that he has a bad memory, or a bad opening game. As he was one of the greatest chess players, this was clearly not true. Rather, the idea was that he had a notable disdain and discouragement from memorizing learning opening game theory. He was never able to master a very large number of openings... This was a notable feature of him as a player. Perhaps he could have, but that would be speculation. I think he just wasn't as good at it as the other top players.

wallace_f 9y ago

Maybe my characterization of his memory should be revised to instead say he had particular disdain for the necessity of memorizing opening game theory to play at a high level. In the case of your background, you are aware of him complaining about this through many interviews in his later life, and that he was known to struggle with this. He even invented a new variant of chess for specifically this specific reason. Here is one such interview: https://youtu.be/7EuxVOgrEig https://youtu.be/7EuxVOgrEig

gowld 9y ago
That interview is after his mental illness caught up with him. When he was a champion, he was so much better than everyone that it's silly to say he struggled with openings. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Opening_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Opening_theory > "He employs a limited range of openings. Of course, this is not a sign of Fischer's limited creativity, since he compensates for this by a very profound and sound knowledge of the variations he favours [sic]." Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 270. > Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory He promoted (not invented) Fischerrandom / Chess960 because he felt that memorizing ever-long opening sequences was boring and ruined the game, and that would be soon dominated by computers with their far-superior memory.
- wallace_f 9y ago
  I'm not sure what your source is, but perhaps update the Chess960 Wikipedia page with this information because what you're saying here contradicts what's there. Fischer was, despite being, at one point, the greatest chess player in the world, and on people's all-time greatest lists, predictable in his use of openings, as you know since this is widely documented and you're well-read on him. Your quote even admits this. So I'm not sure what you are exactly disagreeing with that I said. Maybe the source of disagreement is that I unintentionally gave the impression that he has a bad memory, or a bad opening game. As he was one of the greatest chess players, this was clearly not true. Rather, the idea was that he had a notable disdain and discouragement from memorizing learning opening game theory. He was never able to master a very large number of openings... This was a notable feature of him as a player. Perhaps he could have, but that would be speculation. I think he just wasn't as good at it as the other top players.