| On March 24, 2005, a small plane with Bobby Fischer on board landed at Reykjavik Airport. The arrival in Iceland of the former World Chess Champion was front-page news all over the world. In a ploy to free him from prison in Japan the Icelandic Parliament had granted the American Icelandic citizenship. Fischer had been arrested in Tokyo when the US warrant caught up with him that was issued after he had violated American sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a controversial match against Boris Spassky. Icelandic chess grandmaster Helgi Olafsson was 15 year old in 1972, when in a sensational match in his home country Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky for the world title. Breathlessly, Helgi had followed the match and attended a number of games in the playing hall in Reykjavik. When thirty-three years later his childhood hero was arrested in Tokyo, Olafsson became one of the members of the Committee to Free Bobby Fischer. Now Fischer returned to Iceland, a country he was never to leave again till his death on January 17, 2008. Olafsson and Fischer developed a unique friendship. Countless hours they spent together, they talked about chess, about life, made trips, played games, had fun, and quarrelled. Bobby Fischer Comes Home tells the story of their complicated friendship and paints an intimate portrait of the last years of the man who many see as the greatest chess player that ever lived. |
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Review
Olafasson's poignant book delivers the fullest account yet of Bobby Fischer's triumphal and tragic years in Iceland with a thoughtful, thorough, and balanced presentation, including topics that transport us beyond the limits of its place and theme. A personal and heartbreaking account.
--John D. Warth, ChessCafe
Bobby Fisher Comes Home describes the end of the life of a brilliant chess player with dignity.
--Richard Vedder, Schakers.info
Olafsson doesn't apologize for Fisher in the way some of his other biographers have. A charming aspect of the book is how Olafsson weaves his own biographical details into the narrative.
--Cecil Rosner, Winnipeg Free Press
A fascinating read, in turns poignant and perplexing, and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the second Pride and Sorrow of American Chess.
--Ken Surratt, ChessVille
--John D. Warth, ChessCafe
Bobby Fisher Comes Home describes the end of the life of a brilliant chess player with dignity.
--Richard Vedder, Schakers.info
Olafsson doesn't apologize for Fisher in the way some of his other biographers have. A charming aspect of the book is how Olafsson weaves his own biographical details into the narrative.
--Cecil Rosner, Winnipeg Free Press
A fascinating read, in turns poignant and perplexing, and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone interested in the second Pride and Sorrow of American Chess.
--Ken Surratt, ChessVille
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
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This is an interesting account of one man's relationship and experiences with Bobby Fischer in Iceland. There are interesting insights into Bobby but some of the writing is awkward, the time shifts can be confusing, and some passages are difficult to understand. In my opinion there's also far too much focus on the author in some chapters. I wanted to read about Bobby Fischer, not the author. This book clearly shows that Bobby Fischer was not the mad man as he was made out to be by the media. Yes, he had a temper and he spoke his mind, but he wasn't mentally ill. It left me feeling sorry for the life he had to endure due to political manipulations, specifically at the hands of the US government. A short book, but a fairly good read, although the price seems a bit steep considering that there's not a lot of really new information in it.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Chess fans know about Fischer's fall from grace after winning the world title--his refusal to negotiate the terms of the hoped-for 1975 title match, his 1992 rematch with Spassky, his hostile rants against America, Jews, Communists, and pretty much everyone who had tried to befriend him, his flight from American arrest warrants.... But I had never known about everything the Icelandic chess community had done for him. They had treated him as an honored guest in 1972, and the small island nation where everyone knows everyone basically adopted him as a member of the extended Icelandic family even before they broke the impasse over his Japanese incarceration by granting him full citizenship in March 2005.
By recounting the story of how he became a Fischer fan even before the great 1972 match, and how he became engrossed with Fischer during the match, Icelandic GM Helgi Olafsson helps us understand how the whole island came to regard him as a member of their tight-knit community. But the relationship was just getting started in 1972. Olafsson recounts the dismay he and the Icelandic chess community felt as Fischer broke down psychologically over the ensuing decades, and how they decided they must help him even as the US government made his life difficult by seeking to extradite him for violating US economic sanctions. For example, they formed an "RJF Committee" that pulled in Icelandic government officials to send diplomatic cables pleading for mercy on Fischer, but they got little response from the US State Department.
When the Icelandic parliament finally declared Fischer a full citizen, Olafsson felt like they were bringing him home. Indeed, Olafsson portrays a Fischer who seemed much more content during the few years he spent in Iceland than he had felt for many decades, or perhaps ever. Olafsson describes his frequent meals with Fischer, the unexpected blitz match of "Fischer Random" chess, and his role as agent for Fischer as he tried to negotiate a match with Vishy Anand, who comes off as a diplomatic and gracious man who nevertheless recognized that negotiations with the erratic Fischer could not possibly yield a favorable outcome. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Fischer could still act like a brat and a sociopath at times, which certainly strained the patience of his Icelandic friends.
Last Wednesday I stayed up past midnight to finish this book. How would Fischer's relationship with the Filipina Marilyn Young and her daughter Jinky, born while Fischer resided in Baguio City, turn out? What was his relationship with Japanese chess federation president Miyoko Watai, perhaps his wife but perhaps just a friend, really like? Would Fischer's Jekyll and Hyde personality succeed in driving off a friend so devoted as Olafsson, as it had so many others before?
In this gripping read, Olafsson sprinkles a few chess nuggets for serious chess players, such as in-depth analysis of the position that prompted Fischer to call an Icelandic TV station to correct their commentary on a local match. As a chess fan, I was completely engrossed by Olafsson's narrative. The book mainly deals with Fischer's life and relationships in Iceland, though, so I would also recommend it (highly!) for those don't really understand the battle on 64 squares but just want to understand Fischer, the tragic hero.
Note: The publisher provided a copy of this book to me in exchange for my honest review. My ratings of the publisher's books have ranged from 3 stars to 5 stars.
By recounting the story of how he became a Fischer fan even before the great 1972 match, and how he became engrossed with Fischer during the match, Icelandic GM Helgi Olafsson helps us understand how the whole island came to regard him as a member of their tight-knit community. But the relationship was just getting started in 1972. Olafsson recounts the dismay he and the Icelandic chess community felt as Fischer broke down psychologically over the ensuing decades, and how they decided they must help him even as the US government made his life difficult by seeking to extradite him for violating US economic sanctions. For example, they formed an "RJF Committee" that pulled in Icelandic government officials to send diplomatic cables pleading for mercy on Fischer, but they got little response from the US State Department.
When the Icelandic parliament finally declared Fischer a full citizen, Olafsson felt like they were bringing him home. Indeed, Olafsson portrays a Fischer who seemed much more content during the few years he spent in Iceland than he had felt for many decades, or perhaps ever. Olafsson describes his frequent meals with Fischer, the unexpected blitz match of "Fischer Random" chess, and his role as agent for Fischer as he tried to negotiate a match with Vishy Anand, who comes off as a diplomatic and gracious man who nevertheless recognized that negotiations with the erratic Fischer could not possibly yield a favorable outcome. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Fischer could still act like a brat and a sociopath at times, which certainly strained the patience of his Icelandic friends.
Last Wednesday I stayed up past midnight to finish this book. How would Fischer's relationship with the Filipina Marilyn Young and her daughter Jinky, born while Fischer resided in Baguio City, turn out? What was his relationship with Japanese chess federation president Miyoko Watai, perhaps his wife but perhaps just a friend, really like? Would Fischer's Jekyll and Hyde personality succeed in driving off a friend so devoted as Olafsson, as it had so many others before?
In this gripping read, Olafsson sprinkles a few chess nuggets for serious chess players, such as in-depth analysis of the position that prompted Fischer to call an Icelandic TV station to correct their commentary on a local match. As a chess fan, I was completely engrossed by Olafsson's narrative. The book mainly deals with Fischer's life and relationships in Iceland, though, so I would also recommend it (highly!) for those don't really understand the battle on 64 squares but just want to understand Fischer, the tragic hero.
Note: The publisher provided a copy of this book to me in exchange for my honest review. My ratings of the publisher's books have ranged from 3 stars to 5 stars.
By B. W. Thew
Another book on Fischer. Its different however from most of the others. Devoted mainly to his time in Iceland towards the end of his life, with flashbacks to earlier times. Its fairly well written, particularly by a non native English speaker. No games just the story of events leading up to his incarceration in Japan, and the efforts to have him sent to Iceland. Most of the content is reasonably well known but the author was there and puts his slant on events. I received my copy from New In Chess as a gift for a magazine subscription but had thought about purchasing the book. It is well worth your money and time, even if only to remind you what a shifty lot the US government can be from time to time.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not much new
Hardly as advertise, most of the information I've read elsewhere. I thought this was to be a day to day diary of sorts. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Kendall Ashley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the best...
Fischer that is but the book is good too! I thought I had seen the last of real reading material on the man.
Published 11 months ago by James F. Rendek
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