Bobby Fischer: The Maradona of Chess?

Beginning:

Many people may have frowned at the title by now. Pure chess lovers can also get nervous. Maybe you can say why Fischer will become the Maradona of chess! Rather, Maradona is a football fisherman. However, the author has no particular objection. But one can find a lot of similarities between these two men who are on the list of chess and football all-time greats. Where? Let's hear that now!

Diego Maradona; Image Credit: Getty Images

Let's start with the two.

Both rose at a very young age. However, this is not a significant similarity. The greatest of all time start young. Pele-Maradona-Messi, one of the three greatest football players of all time, and Fischer-Kasparov-Carlsen, the three greatest chess players of all time — all caught everyone's attention before turning twenty. Yet they stand out, as Argentina's youngest footballer is Maradona who donned the blue and white jersey at the age of 16 years and 3 months. And when Bobby Fischer became Grandmaster at the age of fifteen, he was the youngest Grandmaster, a record that stood for the next thirty-three years!

Both started their careers as professional players at the age of fifteen or sixteen. When the sixteen-year-old Maradona started playing for Argentinos Juniors, there was an uproar at the start. In the '76-'81 season, he scored 115 goals in 167 matches but did not win the title. What happens when you play in a small club? For that reason or not, he moved to Boca Juniors in 1981, scoring two goals on his debut. And Boca became the champion that season. After that he moved to Spain. Many years later, he returned to Argentina and played in the Argentine League, but that 1981 title was Maradona's only Argentine League title.

Since chess is a single skill game, there are no small clubs or big clubs. So he became a champion at the age of fifteen playing the US Championship. A total of eight times he participated in the US championship with service, tell me how many times he won? The answer is correct, he is the champion eight times. In 1963-64, he won all 11 games, a 100% US Championship winning record that still stands today.

Both of them have some achievements of centuries. Almost everyone knows Diego Maradona's 'goal of the century' against England. Chess is not as popular as football, or everyone knew about Fischer's 'Game of the Century' against Donald Burn. At the age of only thirteen, the game that first abandoned his minister and then attacked Bern to beat the match is a part of the chess fairy tale, just as Maradona's goal of defeating one defender after another is a part of the football fairy tale!

Bobby Fisher's paper-cutting of that match thrown away in a frenzy; Image Credit: Sydney Academy of Chess

Both are world champions in their respective fields. And the story of the two becoming world champions also has the heat of politics. The Argentina-England match in 1986 was not just a football match, it was also the heat of the Falklands War.

The story of Fisher becoming world champion was more politically charged. When Bobby Fischer faced defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in 1972, the Cold War was at its height. The World Chess Championship is like a 'proxy' war between the capitalist USA and the socialist Soviet Union. At that time, the absolute dominance of the Soviet Union in chess, for twenty-four years in a row, the world champion was one or the other Soviet. Just then American youngster Bobby Fisher arrived on the stage. The excitement was so high that Seba's first World Chess Championship was televised.

Interestingly, Fisher's antics nearly cost him that championship. But later the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger did the job of explaining him back. It is said that Kissinger played the usual 'Soviet card' to trick Fischer. However, in the end Fischer agreed to play and after all the speculation wrested chess supremacy from the Soviet Union.

Maradona and Fischer – both did not shy away from expressing political opinions, and neither was afraid to speak out against the powerful. Maradona was close to Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro, always against American imperialism. FIFA has always spoken out against irregularities, now we know FIFA was actually involved in corruption in some cases. was in favor of Palestine, saying:

"In my heart, I am Palestinian"

Fisher was also against imperialism. He also did not refrain from criticizing America or Israel. said:

"The U.S. And Israel has been massacring the Palestinians, just massacring them, for years. Stop stealing and killing them"

Played a rematch against Boris Spassky in 1992 in Yugoslavia, then embargoed. The US sent a warning letter to Fisher. At the press conference, he openly spat on the letter and tore it up. The United States subsequently revoked Fisher's American passport. Fisher went to Japan with that invalid passport and was in danger, he was in jail for a few days.

Photo: Schirner/ullstein bild/Getty

The problem is, in some respects, Fisher's criticism was overblown. Criticism of American foreign policy is one thing, but when he cheered on the radio after the attack on the Twin Towers, it went too far. Likewise, criticism of Israel is one thing, but Fisher was a downright anti-Semitic. He has created controversy by making offensive comments many times.

Fisher and Maradona also have similarities in creating controversy. Although not as extreme as Fisher, he also said the opposite. He also has cases like being banned for consuming cocaine or shooting at journalists.

But perhaps the biggest similarity is in wasting one's potential. After his first ban in 1991, we never saw the old Maradona again. However, he made it back into the national team in the 1994 World Cup and was banned again. After rising to the heights of success at Napoli, he fell from there, then moved on to Sevilla in Spain, New Wales Old Boys Club in Argentina and finally back to Boca Juniors. Retired from there in 1997. His achievements in the last seven years of his career paled in comparison to his immense talent.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Bobby Fischer's case is even stranger. After defeating Boris Spassky in 1972, he did not play chess seriously again. Fide refused to agree to a number of conditions he made before entering a title defense fight against Anatoly Karpov. He therefore did not take part, resulting in the title once again going to Karpov of the Soviet Union. 'Unannounced retirement' can be called 'unannounced retirement' at the peak of form. About twenty years later, he played against Boris Spassky again, but it was no longer competitive chess. We can only imagine what he could have achieved had he played properly.

The biggest similarity between Diego Maradona and Robert James Fisher is their regrettable ending. Think about it now, Fisher can be compared with Diego Maradona!