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Review
"One the year's best biographies." --"Washington Post"
"Mr. Brady's biography is well-written, studiously researched and filled with fascinating details. It imparts the love of chess and affection for 'Bobby' that the author clearly feels...Boris Spassky, after the losing the world championship title to Fischer, said: 'I think I understand him.' Perhaps one day the rest of us will too. Until then, we have "Endgame "to fill the void." --"Wall Street Journal"
"The freakishly talented, freakishly flawed Fischer played the game as if it were a blood sport...In ENDGAME Frank Brady tells the story of Fischer's life with a dramatic flair and a sense of judiciousness."
--The Boston Globe
"Brady's book is an impressive balancing act and a great accomplishment...What results is a chance for the reader to weigh up the evidence and come to his own conclusions -- or skip judgments completely and simply enjoy reading a rise-and-fall story that has more than a few affiniti
Book Description
The fascinating biography that for the first time captures the complete, remarkable arc of Bobby Fischer's life.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
As a keen amateur chess enthusiast and one similar in age to Fischer, I was already aware of most of the details of Fischer's life. I read this book in the hope of finding some explanations for his anti-Americanism, his anti-Semitism, his Holocaust denial, his ingratitude to friends, his hypochondria, and his failure to play competitive chess after 1972 except for the meaningless match against Spassky in 1992. This book describes those elements of Fischer's character but offers no insights, and is a somewhat superficial treatment. For example, we are told that as a young man Fischer suddenly started to make anti-Semitic comments to acquaintances. There is no attempt to explain why this might have been so. Fischer's mother was Jewish (as was his probable real father) but he was not brought up in a religious family so it is unlikely that he might have been rebelling against his Jewish heritage.
I suspect that in Britain the book will be read mainly by chess players but the author clearly aims the book primarily at Americans, including non chess players interested in their fallen hero, which means he has to regularly explain features of the game that are basic knowledge for players. More importantly, the author avoids being too critical of Fischer, aware that many American readers will be passionate Fischer fans. For example, Brady explains Fischer's failure to play Karpov for the world championship in 1975 primarily as Fischer's desire for a change from the pattern of a 24 game match established by FIDE for all world championships after 1948 to a first to 10 wins with the holder keeping the title if the score was 9-9. This meant that if the score reached 8-8 then the challenger would have to win 10-8 to become champion. Brady does not criticise Fischer for this but quotes a match in 1910 with the same rule. He does not say that the rule was considered controversial and unfair even in 1910 and that the situation was very different in 1910, when the champion treated the title as his personal possession and accepted challenges on his own terms. From 1948 the title was owned by FIDE, which established the rules, and FIDE went to enormous lengths to change the rules to the first to ten wins to accommodate Fischer but was unwilling to accept Fischer's 10-8 demand. Neither does Brady offer fear of failure as a possible reason for Fischer's unwillingness to play Karpov except on his own terms. Karpov had played powerfully in matches to quality to meet Fischer, and was the only leading player younger than Fischer and the only one Fischer had never played. It is odd that Brady does not mention this as at least a possibility because he does suggest that fear of failure was a factor inhibiting Fischer's participation in chess after 1975.
After 1975 Fischer spent much of his time as a semi-recluse and this is reflected in the book's sketchy details of the final 33 years of his life. Fischer's paranoia is recounted but not explained. One of the strangest of Fischer's theories was that the five matches between Kasparov and Karpov between 1984 and 1990 were rigged, with the players making pre-determined moves. As a conspiracy theory that has even less credibility than the theories that the moon landings were faked or that the CIA organised 9/11.
Fischer was one of the greatest of all chess players. He was also a fine writer on chess. However, as a human being he sadly had many deficiencies that cut short his chess career and led to his eventual exile in Iceland. These are outlined in "Endgame" but it is a character sketch of Fischer rather than a finished portrait.
I suspect that in Britain the book will be read mainly by chess players but the author clearly aims the book primarily at Americans, including non chess players interested in their fallen hero, which means he has to regularly explain features of the game that are basic knowledge for players. More importantly, the author avoids being too critical of Fischer, aware that many American readers will be passionate Fischer fans. For example, Brady explains Fischer's failure to play Karpov for the world championship in 1975 primarily as Fischer's desire for a change from the pattern of a 24 game match established by FIDE for all world championships after 1948 to a first to 10 wins with the holder keeping the title if the score was 9-9. This meant that if the score reached 8-8 then the challenger would have to win 10-8 to become champion. Brady does not criticise Fischer for this but quotes a match in 1910 with the same rule. He does not say that the rule was considered controversial and unfair even in 1910 and that the situation was very different in 1910, when the champion treated the title as his personal possession and accepted challenges on his own terms. From 1948 the title was owned by FIDE, which established the rules, and FIDE went to enormous lengths to change the rules to the first to ten wins to accommodate Fischer but was unwilling to accept Fischer's 10-8 demand. Neither does Brady offer fear of failure as a possible reason for Fischer's unwillingness to play Karpov except on his own terms. Karpov had played powerfully in matches to quality to meet Fischer, and was the only leading player younger than Fischer and the only one Fischer had never played. It is odd that Brady does not mention this as at least a possibility because he does suggest that fear of failure was a factor inhibiting Fischer's participation in chess after 1975.
After 1975 Fischer spent much of his time as a semi-recluse and this is reflected in the book's sketchy details of the final 33 years of his life. Fischer's paranoia is recounted but not explained. One of the strangest of Fischer's theories was that the five matches between Kasparov and Karpov between 1984 and 1990 were rigged, with the players making pre-determined moves. As a conspiracy theory that has even less credibility than the theories that the moon landings were faked or that the CIA organised 9/11.
Fischer was one of the greatest of all chess players. He was also a fine writer on chess. However, as a human being he sadly had many deficiencies that cut short his chess career and led to his eventual exile in Iceland. These are outlined in "Endgame" but it is a character sketch of Fischer rather than a finished portrait.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Overall, Brady's book is a well-written, pacy read, which affords the reader a good general overview of Fischer's career. As other reviewers have noted, however, certain sections of the book may feel a tad superficial, and Brady often says that this or that fact about Fischer is simply "not known" - which can be a little irritating. It's also debatable as to whether Brady solves the central mystery about Fischer: how could a man who displayed such powers of reasoning on the chessboard swallow whole the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', and go on to espouse a very distasteful kind of Julius Streicher-like anti-Semitism? How could it be that the charming and bashful young man who appeared on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971 (which, incidentally, Brady doesn't mention), could turn into a truculent anti-Semite? I didn't feel that this mystery was really dealt with in the book. Perhaps the answer is simply that human beings - even ones with intellects like Fischer's - are also capable of believing some spectacular nonsense, if it suits them. Was it to do with his mother, the absence of his father, or as a smokescreen for the real reason behind his refusal to defend his title against Karpov in 1975?
Whatever the answer is, Fischer's story is ultimately a desperately sad one.
Whatever the answer is, Fischer's story is ultimately a desperately sad one.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Bobby Fischer was a complex,fascinating person who also happened to be one of the best chess players in the world with a genius iq.However we are all aware of his descent into mental illness and his hatred of jews.I find these obsessive people so interesting and was very much looking forward to this biography.Well it was a good read but boy its like a thrown stone skimming water.It literally will jump years in paragraphs and for me this is not good enough.I would recommend the book but would advise waiting for the paperback version.It offers a a few interview snippets but nothing much.A subject like Fischer needs a lot more work and effort,i read the book in two days wanting to know far more.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
endgame: Bobby Fischer's rise and fall
I bought this book as a present for my husband who loves chess and Bobby Fischer is one of his inspirations. Read more
Published 3 months ago by soozy
Excellent page-turner of a biography
I knew nothing of Bobby Fischer other than his name - I knew that he was a chess player, I knew that he was unpopular in later life. That was it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by K Russell
EndGame by Frank Brady
I actually was in the thick of the pre-World preparations in the early 1970's, when I was living in Montreal. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mr. Ralph De Haaff
An Interesting Read
I first became aware of this book after seeing a review in a national newspaper. Suffice it to say that I was intrigued and,after reading the free excerpt available for Kindle... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. James E. Gardner
Bucko's review
I found the book fascinating, from Bobby's early days, right through to his demise, this book will leave you thinking of how easily genius is close to madness !!
Published 12 months ago by Bucko
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