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A great chess player. An unfortunate ending.
Indeed.
Paul Cherles Morphy, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, and Robert James Fischer had lots in common. Born and raised in America, 3 of the greatest chess geniuses of all time from any country, loners, mavericks, they all self-destructed. So while most folks emphasize Fischer’s oddness and abnormality, let’s see how typical Fischer was. Fischer is typical of an American genius who excels in a competitive, intellectual field. America, the most individualistic country in the world, and in many respects anti-intellectual, has not historically supported its intellectual mavericks. American geniuses like Fischer, Morphy, and Pillsbury grew up isolated from their peers, received little or no institutional support. This is in strong contrast to the historical support given to European chess geniuses, and during Fischer’s rise, to Soviet chess stars in particular. They had a giant state apparatus to support them, and
Fischer had none of that. But Fischer did conquer the Soviets and won the world championship; Morphy went to Europe and conquered the world’s best (Staunton chickened out); Pillsbury in his early 20s beat all of the world’s greatest chess players at the 1895 Hastings Tournament, including Lasker and Steinitz. He had an even record against Lasker. He self-destructed, getting syphilis, and tried to commit suicide in his mid-30s shortly before his death in a mental institution. Morphy retired to his native New Orleans, suffered severe depression, never reentered the world of chess.
America does not suffer mavericks very well in ANY field, even in one where the government is dependent on them. Take astronauts. The early flyboy astronauts who came from the various military services were all mavericks, some more so than others. Even John Glenn. But did the most talented flyboy of all, who dearly wanted to become an astronaut, get a chance in America to become an astronaut? Nope. Chuck Yeager never got the chance: the bureacrats gave him the thumbs-down sign. If a young American excels in a competitive intellectual pursuit, it has always been DESPITE the institutions, although there have been isolated individuals who did support them. Is it any wonder that after all the enormous energy that these 3 great loners expended, without hardly any support from domestic institutions, and in the anti-intellectual environment of America, triumphing, after years of effort, against the greatest odds, that once they reach their goal, that they then self-destruct? It would be surprising if they didn’t. If you grew up in 1950s America, you will probably understand all of this. Lucymarie
Thanks for sharing Lucy, very enlightening but i can’t think of any chess geniuses from Europe, maybe Papa Polgar, Alehkhine,Petrosian or Leko comes close, or am i missing somebody? Thanks so much for this blog Susan, Fischer left some info that i just saw for the first time,and i thought i knew Errthing bout Bobby, life in funny, just goes to show ya , never too old to learn! ya know its interesting that Ultramodernism been there all the time and people are too restricted to see it, but the true genises always leave clues! hahaha. Amazing!!!