Checkmate: Bobby Fischer's Boys' Life Columns

by Bobby Fischer

A Look into Bobby’s Mind From December 1966 until January 1970, Bobby Fischer wrote a chess column for Boys’ Life, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts of America. Now, for the first time, all of these columns have been collected in one volume. It is an eclectic mix, a fascinating look at Fischer’s writing and thinking as he reached his prime, maturing into the strongest player in the world. In these columns, he answers many readers’ questions – from basic to sophisticated. His answers provide a unique glimpse into Fischer’s thinking at the chessboard. The time period covered in these columns was one of the most critical in Fischer’s career. It was during this time period that his opus magnum, My Sixty Memorable Games, was released. And as player, he grew from one of a few super-grandmasters to the best player in the world. The only thing missing was an actual title match. That of course would soon come. These columns are a diverse collection of tips for players, comments on playing, annotated games and casual observations. The games and annotations are presented in modern English algebraic notation. As Andy Soltis notes in his foreword, “You read [Fischer’s Boys’ Life columns] to see what was going on in that remarkable mind. As quirky as Checkmate was, these columns tell us a lot.”

Genres: Chess

159 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2016

Reviews

[Alec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very nice collection of Bobby Fischer's Boy's life columns from 1966-1970 he answers readers questions on chess and the rules of the game (even some really basic ones) he reviews interesting chess games people sent in to him gives helpful hints and tips on how to play better like learning from ones losses, the importance of concentration and focus, studying. By the way the book also includes the original puzzlers from the columns.

I liked his think along with me columns like the one from Oct 1967 (page 39) where he analyzes his game against Gligoric from Havana and challenges the reader to cover up try and second guess him.

A casual beginner can definitely pick up some useful tips on how to play better and even a more serious club player guessing here roughly 1600-1800 can get into Fischer's mind and get some glimpses of how he approached the game if you want to go deep down the rabbit hole and learn about his playing style the book you want is Elie Agur's Bobby Fischer his approach to Chess this is a good read but involves some hard work (take out a real chess board with pieces) worth it if improving your Chess is your goal.

[Jovany Agathe]

This book is OK as far as it goes, but it does not seem to include all of Fischer's columns. I was a Boy Scout during this period and remember more games being included in this column (I remember in particular his notes on Game 1 of his candidates match with Petrosian-but no such column shows up here.

Good buy if you are a Fischer fan, or if you are one of us who picked up chess during the Fischer Boom. Otherwise...