AReno Gazette-Journal, Reno, Nevada, Saturday, May 04, 1991 - Page 34
Bobby Fischer Quit Rather Than Play Unfairly
In 1975 the world chess body (FIDE) stripped America's Bobby Fischer of his crown and awarded it by default to Russia's Anatoly Karpov. A decade later, in an attempt to redress this outrage, Rep. Charles Pashayan of California stated:
“My bill is in recognition of a brilliant American citizen who is the best human being in history ever to play the game of chess. By beating Russia's Boris Spassky in Iceland in 1972, Bobby Fischer became the first American world chess champion since Paul Morphy.
“In accomplishing this, Fischer brought America to the forefront of the world's most universal game and at the same time dealt a blow to the Soviet propagandists who touted superiority in chess as an example of a superior Soviet society.
“It is a great shortcoming indeed that our Government has failed in any way whatsoever to recognize this American hero. The reason that the world has not heard from Bobby Fischer since 1972 is not that he has not played anybody in chess but that nobody has played him. What do I mean by this? In 1973 he offered to defend his title under a set of rules that actually gave the challenger a greater chance to win than the rules gave him when he was the challenger to Spassky. This enormously fair offer was all but unheard of in the modern history of chess, and yet FIDE refused to adopt these rules. The Soviets influenced FIDE to deny Fischer's proposed rules in the hope he would not play.
“Indeed, rather than play under rules that he thought were unfair, Bobby Fischer as a matter of high principle refused to defend the FIDE title. He informed FIDE by telegram in 1974 that he resigned the title rather than to play under unfair rules, and signed it ‘Bobby Fischer World Chess Champion.’ In short, he retained the true title and remains the world champion today.
“Our recognition is long overdue. Americans everywhere should take national pride that in the game in which Soviets claim superiority, America's Bobby Fischer is better than them all.”
On March 14, 1986 Congress passed HJR 545 “recognizing Bobby Fischer as the Official World Chess Champion.” Today it seems absurd to imagine that Gary Kasparov is not a worthy champion. But back then many people were still disgusted at the way Karpov got the crown.
But to set the record straight, President Nixon did invite Fischer to the White House in 1972. A Life magazine photographer passed the word to Bobby who ignored it and, alas, apparently abandoned chess.
Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Sunday, November 03, 1991 - Page 82
Learning the game by the book
The best-selling chess book “Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess” continues to achieve record numbers. The paperback edition published in 1972 has sold over 900,000 copies, estimates Stuart Margulies, who co-authored the book with Fischer and fellow chess expert Don Mosenfelder.
Margulies had little hope for a financial success when he became involved in the project. In fact, his modest royalty of less than 2 percent earned him only $1,500 from sales of the original 1966 hard-cover edition.
“I just wanted to do something with Bobby,” explains Margulies, a friend and admirer of the Brooklyn-born chess genius.
But the steady sales of the paperback edition and a lucrative sale of foreign rights have earned Margulies close to $100,000 in royalties since 1972. And the book continues to outpace all other chess books in the American market.
The book uses the techniques of programmed learning—a step-by-step approach introducing a small amount of information on each page — to pursue its goal of developing the reader's ability to look three moves ahead on the chessboard.
Margulies, a PhD in psychology and a chess master, is a pioneer in the use of such techniques.
Fischer was enthusiastic about the goal of the book. But his major concern was that the presentation be error-free. “Bobby was much more concerned about quality and accuracy than about money,” says Margulies.
The authors clearly succeeded in their goals. The book is simple to use. And judging from dozens of individuals I've spoken to over the years, reader satisfaction is high.
