"Endgame "is acclaimed biographer Frank Brady's
decades-in-the-making tracing of the meteoric ascent--and
confounding "descent"--of enigmatic genius Bobby Fischer. Only
Brady, who met Fischer when the prodigy was only 10 and shared with
him some of his most dramatic triumphs, could have written this
book, which has much to say about the nature of American celebrity
and the distorting effects of fame. Drawing from Fischer family
archives, recently released FBI files, and Bobby's own emails, this
account is unique in that it limns Fischer's "entire" life--an
odyssey that took the Brooklyn-raised chess champion from an
impoverished childhood to the covers of "Time, Life "and "Newsweek
"to recognition as "the most famous man in the world" to notorious
recluse.
At first all one noticed was how gifted Fischer was. Possessing a
181 I.Q. and remarkable powers of concentration, Bobby
memorized""hundreds of chess books in several languages, and he was
only 13 when he became the youngest chess master in U.S. history.
But his strange behavior started early. In 1972, at the historic
Cold War showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he faced Soviet
champion Boris Spassky, Fischer made headlines with hundreds of
petty demands that nearly ended the competition.
It was merely a prelude to what was to come.
Arriving back in the United States to a hero's welcome, Bobby was
mobbed wherever he went--a figure as exotic and improbable as any
American pop culture had yet produced. No player of a mere "board
game" had ever ascended to such heights. Commercial sponsorship
offers poured in, ultimately topping $10 million--but Bobby
demurred. Instead, he began tithing his limited money to an
apocalyptic religion and devouring anti-Semitic literature.
After years of poverty and a stint living on Los Angeles' Skid Row,
Bobby remerged in 1992 to play Spassky in a multi-million dollar
rematch--but the experience only "deepened "a paranoia that had
formed years earlier when he came to believe that the Soviets
wanted him dead for taking away "their" title. When the dust
settled, Bobby was a wanted man--transformed into an international
fugitive because of his decision to play in Montenegro despite U.S.
sanctions. Fearing for his life, traveling with bodyguards, and
wearing a long leather coat to ward off knife attacks, Bobby lived
the life of a celebrity fugitive - one drawn increasingly to the
bizarre. Mafiosi, Nazis, odd attempts to breed an heir who could
perpetuate his chess-genius DNA--all are woven into his late-life
tapestry.
And yet, as Brady shows, the most notable irony of Bobby Fischer's
strange descent - which had reached full plummet by 2005 when he
turned down yet "another "multi-million dollar payday--is that
despite his incomprehensible behavior, there were many who remained
fiercely loyal to him. Why that was so is at least partly the
subject of this book--one that at last answers the question: "Who
"was "Bobby Fischer?"
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