Bobby Fischer Quotes

“Neményi was fifty-six years old. He had aged and become eccentric. He washed his hands obsessively and carried soap in his pocket. Regina noticed that he avoided touching door handles. When he couldn’t open a door with his elbow, he would grab the handle through the sleeve of his sweater or wipe it with a disinfectant-soaked tissue. He did the same with the telephone receiver.
“Microbes. You’re a nurse, you should know that there are more bacteria in those places than on a toilet seat.”
Then suddenly, everything ended. Paul stopped coming. Bobby was nine years old.
“Why doesn’t Paul visit us anymore?” he asked.
“Paul is dead,” his mother replied. “He was your father. Didn’t you know?”
― Dariusz Radziejewski, Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity

“During the third consultation, Dr. Kline talked about the research of Dr. Hans Asperger from a clinic in Vienna, which was not well-known yet but intriguing. Some personality traits of Bobby aligned with certain symptoms described in his papers, and the fact that the child’s father was almost fifty when he was conceived...
“Are you suggesting that Bobby is mentally retarded?”
“Oh, no. He’s a normally developed boy intellectually. Quite sharp in some aspects. He has a good visual memory and spatial perception. It’s the emotional intelligence where we encounter a problem.”
― Dariusz Radziejewski, Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity

“Something’s off with Bobby,” Edmondson said.
Benson didn’t think that Edmondson was referring to Fischer’s legendary eccentricities. Edmondson had once mentioned with a laugh that Bobby was afraid of Soviet agents tracking him, but this probably wasn’t it either.
“In what sense?”
Something was off with the majority of people Benson dealt with, so he needed further clarification.
“Psychiatric.”
Evidently, Edmondson was serious, but for now, Benson approached it with skepticism.
“Is it a problem? Since he’s winning grandmaster tournaments.”
“Imagine he wins the Candidates Matches, and then something happens to him before the World Championship match. Or during it. There is big money and the future of chess in America at stake. Not to mention settling scores with the Soviets. You know that the chess championship is the apple of their eye. We’re going to pluck it out from them. I just need to know where I stand and what to expect. After all, I can’t send Bobby for an examination.”
― Dariusz Radziejewski, Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity