I think it was generally understood that he was mentally unstable. He went on and on about the Jews, but he was 1/2 or even 100 percent Jewish himself, and he was aware of the fact. You can go to any insane asylum and tell the people that they are "embarassing themselves" but it's a little disingenuous.

He stood up to the government coz of what he believed in. Thats a big deal, irrespective of what he believed in seems nice or embarassing in your eyes.

> He stood up to the government coz of what he believed in.

Yeah, what he believed was that the Holocaust didn't happen, and that Jews are filthy and evil and controlling the government and everything else. Glad he stood up for what he believed in.

In the interest of full disclosure, one could reference

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

All I kept thinking as I read through this was, "How could someone so brilliant say things so hateful and illogical?"

I don't know. There are probably many theories (mental illness jumps out as one possibility).

As far as Bobby Fischer is concerned, his downfall and later public pronouncements were tragic, but not as tragic as the loss of a human life. May he rest in peace.

Brilliant people seem to go crazy kinda often.

No, he had to be in exile in the first place because the played "The Soviets" when the bearucrats prohibited it.

No. He played A soviet in a Serbia in violation of an embargo.

If you're going to argue that embargos are wrong, please start with the one against South Africa under apartheid.

I am not saying that embargoes are bad in all situations. Trade embargoes against certain countries make sense.

But I hope you will agree with me that branding someone a traitor just because he played with another dude is kinda extreme.

It's not a question of "branding someone a traitor". There was an embargo against Serbia at the time, and the 1992 Fischer-Spassky chess match constituted a major commercial transaction (considering the press coverage and the $5 million prize money at stake). The State Department told Fischer about the consequences of playing the game well before it happened -- not only did he play the game anyway, he spat upon the letter from the State Department. IMHO he got pretty much what he deserved for that sort of behavior -- why not just play the match somewhere else, anyway?

Did anyone die when he spat on the letter? I don't care for his political views either. But I don't think anyone should be chased around the world like that because of the views they hold.

He wasn't chased around the world for spitting, or for the views he held -- he was accused of violating the trade embargo, which is a serious allegation.

I would have violated the trade embargo for prize money that big.

I respect that you disagree with me but rational argument would be better than downmods.