Customer Reviews

Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition) (Dover Chess)

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I bought the first edition of this book by mail order when I was about 16, and devoured it eagerly. In those days world-class chess was relentlessly dominated by the USSR, challenged mainly by other Eastern Europeans and the occasional American like Reshevsky, Evans and the Byrne brothers. Boris Spassky was soon to play "iron Tigran" Petrosian for the world title, and the only wild card seemed to be a crazy teenage genius from New York who could beat anyone at all on his day. Frank Brady's writing captured the sheer excitement of it all. For instance, in a great tournament with most of the best players in the world, Mikhail Tal expected Petrosian to crush the upstart Fischer, "but when Bobby beat the USSR champion the crowd roared".

Brady's style is journalistic, but it fits his subject quite well. This much expanded edition takes Fischer's story all the way to winning the world championship, which is probably a logical place to stop. (Fischer stopped playing chess at that point, so the rest of his life has been lived in a very different world). The book is full of interesting facts that you could not read about anywhere else, and until a professional biographer turns his attention to Fischer - which may never happen, because he is about the least cooperative subject imaginable - it will remain the last word.

The games section is a different story. Only a narrow cross section are given, with notes by Brady that reveal his lack of expertise. They are only there for completeness' sake, and should be read as an extension of the biography. If you want to understand Fischer's chess, read his Collected Games, his own "My 60 Memorable Games" (which is itself very limited in scope, though superb in depth), or Elie Agur's brilliant "Bobby Fischer: His Approach to Chess".

Eminently readable, but strangely unrevealing. Full of details about all sorts of Fischer tantrums, negotiations, etc., but somehow the real Fischer is absent. Noteworthy is Brady's refusal to write a single word about Fischer's sex life or lack thereof. Brady outlines his career from age six to the end of the World Championship match with Spassky in 1972. One gets the sense that Fischer was unconsciously a master of the psychology of intimidation, but gradually became more of a paranoid schizophrenic. As the book ends and Fischer has secured the world title, the reader can see he is about to leave the world of the sane. Also absent was any explanation, or quotes from Fischer on why he embraced the fundamentalist World Wide Church of God faith and dumped his nominal Jewish identity. I mean, does Fischer pray to a personal God? Does he actually believe in hell fire, etc.? Brady gives no hint. The details about Fischer's incredible work ethic and maniacal devotion to the game, however, help us to see how he became at the time the greatest chess player in the history of the game. Also good were the many glimpses of the chess players and personalities of the times, including Evans, Cramer, Edmunson, Reschevsky, Petrosian, Tal, Spassky, and others.

The other thing that Brady is mum on is Fischer's famous prejudices. Brady spares us Fischer's anti-Semitism, etc. There are almost no quotes of Fischer's famous stupidities. When Brady talks about the article in Harper's Magazine by Ralph Ginzburg in 1961 he says that "Bobby is depicted as a monster of egotism, scornful of everything outside himself and the game" who has a "hopeless vulgarity." But Brady quotes nary a word to show us what Fischer supposedly said. I guess the real problem with Brady's biography of Fischer ("profile") is that he was tiptoeing around Fischer's prejudices as though afraid to offend him, as though it was essential to stay in his good graces. Brady writes that when Fischer was displeased with anyone, he just cut them out of his life completely and ruthlessly. I think Brady was trying to write a true biography while staying within Fischer's good graces, an impossible task.

The guy who should write a Fischer biography is Grandmaster Larry Evans who knew him very well, who played at Fischer's level, and a man who was instrumental in helping Fischer achieve the success he did. Without the patience, understanding and guidance of Larry Evans it is likely that Fischer would have gone off the deep end long before he began, let alone finished, the historical match with Boris Spassky.

As one of the reviews says, this can be a good book for some interested in the life of one of the most famous players of all the time. Although, even in that aspect, it is not entirely satisfying. My interest in Fisher is more in his games. And for his games, I would strongly advise the reader to look elsewhere. The notes and annotations are superficial and not at all helpful. The aim of the book may not be to improve your chess, but Fischer games deserve far better treatment than this one does. I was very disappointed.

An excellent and very detailed biography, complete with strong insight into the unique personality of the greatest American chess player of the 20th Century. I found this book to be a quite interesting pleasure to read. The chapters on the 1972 World Championship Match were satisfying indeed. This book gives you a good background to the present ongoing Russian/Soviet domination of the game at it's highest levels. It makes you think of the pity inherent in Fischer not defending his hard earned title.

Frank Brady's "Profile of a Prodigy" is a frustrating combination of good and bad. The good first: Brady gives fascinating behind-the-scenes information that I'd read nowhere else, giving you the sense that you are there. The bad: the book is riddled with mistakes, stuff you wouldn't find in a High School newspaper! Dates and misstatements of facts, too numerous to mention. And some chessic misjudgements too, like when Brady says, speaking of the 1972 Title Match, that Fischer varied his opening repertoire to an English Opening in Game 8 from the QGD of Game 6. But it wasn't Fischer who varied; he played 1.c4 in both games. It was Spassky's reply in game 8 that changed the opening. The book would've benefitted from a good editor, one who knows how to play chess. But despite all this, I'd still recommend the book. It's a fascinating read.
Bob Hunt, Hillsborough, N.J.

There is not one person in the chess world who has fascinated me more than Bobby Fischer. This book gives startlingly detailed insights on the strangest and arguably the best player to have ever graced the chessboard. From his young days as 15 year old grandmaster to the strongest competitor for the world championship. Delightful and inspiring events in the life of this eccentric chessplayer.

Author Frank Brady first met Bobby Fischer when Fischer was just 10 years old, and remained a personal friend until Fischer's death in 2008. Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (Revised Edition), was first published in 1965 and has been revised on several occasions. This book is actually the first of two Brady-penned biographies of Fischer, and it focuses largely on chess strategy, including dozens of detailed diagrams and minutia of move-by-move game logs.

Brady's second biography of Fischer, 2011's acclaimed Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness, leaves out the detailed chess strategy, and focuses on Fischer's contradictory and baffling life. Though universally acclaimed an unsurpassed master of chess, Fischer's peculiar personality stands as a veritable the definition of "mercurial genius." If your interest is largely focused on his chess strategies and career, this biography is recommended, but if you're seeking a more personal recounting of the man, "Endgame" is the one for you.

Frank Brady is the definitive Bobby Fischer biographer, and PROFILE OF A PRODIGY is a great place to start in learning about chess's greatest player/genius-brat/madman-lunatic. Fischer lived for chess. What got in the way was other people. Utterly fascinating and annoying at the same time, Fischer had the talent to exasperate every living being who crossed his path. The even-keel Brady is sympathetic to Fischer, and patient, a must given the outrageousness of Fischer's pursuit of the world championship.

I read this book years ago. At the time, there were almost no other books about Fischer, and I wasn't a very strong player. It was one of my favorite books. Now, re-reading the book, after 3 decades, after Fischer's death, and after becoming a chess expert, I can objectively criticize it. As a biography, it is a good, sanitized but accurate, record of Fischer's life from childhood to the young adult who against all odds won the world chess championship. After so many years, and so many revelations, I recognize now that the biography is somewhat superficial and reveals little about the true character of this enigmatic, paradoxical, possibly insane, genius. Nevertheless, if one knows nothing about Bobby Fischer, this is a good introduction, and an important book to have in your "chess history" library. It is a more balanced and honest portrayal that the comical (but nevertheless entertaining) hatchet job "Bobby Fischer vs. The Rest of The World" (by Brad Darrach, I think). So as a biography, it's mediocre, but not bad. The game selection is good, but one shouldn't take the notes very seriously. In fact the annotations are superficial and in many cases misleading or incorrect. To really understand Fischer's brilliance at the chessboard, his own book "My 60 Memorable Games" is one of the best chess books ever written, with analysis, which at the time (before the advent of strong chess-playing computer programs) was incredibly accurate and insightful. Also, Gary Kasparov's Volume 4 of his "On My Great Predecessors" covers Bobby Fischer, and has analysis by the highest rated chess-player in history (Ex-World Champion Gary Kasparov) aided by computer programs. I hope that someday someone will write an accurate and insightful biography of this tragic, reclusive competitor.

Fischer's response to the author's request for chess lessons is worth the price of the book: ...."sure, for the first lesson I want you to play through every column of MODERN CHESS OPENINGS, including footnotes. For the next lesson.... i want you to do it again!"