Fischer’s physicality enhanced his aura
Saturday, June 13, 2009 2:50 AM
By SHELBY LYMAN
With the passage of years, the name Bobby Fischer has come to signify a bitter expatriate, a pariah known for anti-Semitic views and anti-American rants.
But an early incarnation of him was not only magnificent in his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky but also strikingly impressive personally, according to Dick Cavett. The talk-show host was interviewed after Fischer’s premature death in January 2008.
Cavett — who expected Fischer to be a nerdish, unprepossessing physical specimen — was delighted to find before the camera a somewhat disconcerted, tall and handsome lad, impeccably dressed, with football-player shoulders.
And then there were the eyes. Cameras fail to convey the effect of his eyes when they looked at you. A bit of Svengali, perhaps, but vulnerable. And only the slightest hint of theatrical menace — the menace that so dismayed his opponents.
Describing his audience, Cavett fancifully recalled: “I could clearly see entranced women gazing at him as if willing to offer their hearts and perhaps more to the hunky chess master.”
Harry Sneider, Fischer’s trainer at the time, said his charge lifted weights, swam 45 minutes a day, played tennis and was a world-champion walker.
Source: Columbus Dispatch
Isn’t he like 6’5″?
6’2 as I recall
How many chess players lift weights today?
I don’t lift weight but I go to the gym or jog daily. This is a very important part to my chess preparation.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
Weight lifting? Yes, he was fantastic with the heavy pieces too.
Hi Susan, thanks for replying. It would be interesting to write something about nutrition and gym habits of chessplayers. I remember seeing such an article once (about nutrition for chessplayers I think). I believe that at the highest level, optimizing properly nutrition and exercise is something interesting to think about. Are there many chessplayers who would devote time into optimizing this?
Yes, a tall handsome Jewish man, to his own regret.
One wonders if he was like a salami or like vienna sausage.