Here is the CNN video of Bobby arriving to Iceland a few years ago.
Special thanks to the countless people who wrote me this morning to inform me about Bobby’s death. I have been busy on the phone with the media (most notable were CBS, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Chess Life Online, Philadelphia Inquirer, etc.) about this. Everyone I spoke to so far wanted to know about his chess, his career and my memory of him.
Two things that stand out in my mind:
1. Bobby Fischer passed away at the age of 64, the number of squares on a chess board.
2. He passed away in Reykjavik, Iceland, the place that made him a household name, even more than 3 decades later.
There are discussions about Bobby in the www.ChessDiscussion.com forum. Feel free to join in.
Thanks for letting us know. RIP Bobby Fischer, the greatest ever!
So long Champ. You will always live in my heart and mind and every time I play chess I will remember you Bobby Fischer, the Greatest.
It is a strange coincidence that he was “64”
Thanks for everything Bobby. I enjoyed Iceland.
64? strange or something else? Plot? conspiracy? Quest for total anonymity? Let the legend grow!!!!
Hmmm…I wonder if Fischer is now going to become the “Elvis of Chess”. Remember all those “Elvis sightings” that happened after he died?
Now that Fischer has been found, perhaps he wants to go into hiding again. He’s the kind of guy that has both the brains and the motive to pull something like that, though probably not.
In either case, I’ll bet the entire farm plus two cows that we’re going to be having some “Bobby sightings” over the next few years…hmmm?
Commodore64? 64 Squares? Age 64? 64 brain cells to share among 4 USCF EB board members?
Coincidence? I think not!
64 is the answer to the question:
Prime Factors of 64=2x2x2x2x2x2.
64 can be Partitioned 33 times with each term no larger than 2.
1) The 32th even number = 64
2) The 8th square number = 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64 [8×8 =64]
3) The 4th cube number = 1, 8, 27, 64 [4x4x4 = 64]
4) The 6th power of 2 = 26 = 2x2x2x2x2x2 = 64
5) Product of the 2nd and 4th square numbers = 4 x 16 = 64
6) Product of the 1st and 16th even numbers = 2 x 32 = 64
7) Sum of the 1st 8 odd numbers = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 15 = 64
8) Difference of the 10th and 6th square numbers = 100 – 36 = 64
9) Difference of the 1st pair of amicable numbers = 284 – 220 = 64
10) Difference of the 10th pair of amicable numbers = 66992 – 66928 = 64
11) The 22nd & 23rd digits of pi = 64
12) The 299th & 300th digits of phi = 64
13) Atomic Number of Gadolinium (Gd) = 64 (64 protons & 64 electrons)
14) Atomic Weight of Copper (Cu) = 64 (63.546)
15) The 64th day of a non-leap year = March 5
( Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer, was born on this day 3-5-1512 & died on 12-2-1594)
( Howard Pyle, American illustrator & writer, was born on this day 3-5-1853 & died on 11/9/1911)
16) Number of codons in the DNA-RNA triplet genetic code = 64
17) Number of I Ching hexagrams = 64
18) The 64th hexagram of the I Ching: Wei Chi / Before Completion THE IMAGE
Fire over water:
The image of the condition before transition.
Thus the superior man is careful
In the differentiation of things,
So that each finds its place.
19) Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 64:
A tree as wide as a man’s embrace grew from a tiny seed.
A tower nine stories high rose from a small heap of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step.
20) Hymn 64 in Book 6 of the Rig Veda is an invocation to Dawn:
The radiant Dawns have risen up for glory, in their white splendour like the waves of waters… So lofty Goddess with thine ample pathway, Daughter of Heaven, bring wealth to give us comfort.
21) The Lord Shiva has 64 forms or manifestations
22) 64th word of the King James Version of the Bible’s Old Testament Genesis = light
1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
— Genesis I.1-4 (1611)
23) King David prays for deliverance from his enemies in the 64th Psalm
1: To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
10: The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him;
and all the upright in heart shall glory. — Psalms 64.1, 64.10 (1611)
24) Dante follows Beatrice’s eyes to heaven in Paradiso Canto I, Line 64: Beatrice tutta ne l’etterne rote fissa con li occhi stava; e io in lei le luci fissi, di là sù rimote Beatrice stared at the eternal spheres entranced, unmoving; and I looked away from the sun’s height to fix my eyes on her.
Paradiso I.64-66 (John Ciardi translation, 1970)
25) Number of teams participating in the NCAA Basketball Tournament = 64
26) Number of 1×1 squares on a chess board = 64 (Total of squares = 204)
27) Knight’s Tour of a chessboard is a sequence of moves by a knight so that each of the 64 squares is visited only once. The numbers of the knight’s moves form a magic square where each row and column adds up to 260. (History of Knight’s Tour)
28) When I’m 64 is a song by John Lennon & Paul McCartney from
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album (1967).
29) Numerology: words whose letters add up to 64
SPIRIT BREATH:
(1 + 7 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 2) + (2 + 9 + 5 + 1 + 2 + 8)
= 37 + 27 = 64
I AM INFINITE:
9 + (1 + 4) + (9 + 5 + 6 + 9 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 5)
= 9 + 5 + 50 = 64
SINCERITY SAGE:
(1 + 9 + 5 + 3 + 5 + 9 + 9 + 2 + 7) + (1 + 1 + 7 + 5)
= 50 + 14 = 64
NUMBER POETRY:
(5 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 5 + 9) + (7 + 6 + 5 + 2 + 9 + 7)
= 28 + 36 = 64
RIP Bobby.
I wouldn’t be surprised, if it comes out that it was suicide. I am not saying it was, I am just saying that I wouldn’t be surprised.
Gabor
Increible casualidad que la edad de la muerte coincida con el numero de casillas del tablero, tremendo destino para “El Elegido del ajedrez”,siendo el rey del ajedrez y coincidiendo su muerte con el tablero me dio cuenta que se nos ha ido “la mismisima personificacion del ajedrez”, el ajedrez hecho hombre. Lo más me entristece fue su vida ajena al tablero llena de carencias sin conocer a su padre y que le tratasen tan mal en su pais hasta el punto de que no pudo ir a los entierros de su madre y su hermana.
Descanse en paz,espero que te encuentres con tu verdadero padre y tu madre y tu hermana en el cielo.
Incredible chance that the age of the death agrees with I number of squares of the board, tremendous destiny for “the Chosen one of ajedrez”, being the king of the chess and agreeing its death with the board it gave account me which us mismisima has gone away “personification of the chess”, the chess made man. It saddens to me more was its life other people’s to the full board of deficiencies without knowing its father and who so badly treated in his pais to him until the point of which he could not go to the burials of its mother and her sister. Rest peacefully, you hope that you are with your true father and your mother and your sister in the sky.
I think it is terribly indicative that when you heard Bobby Fischer had died at the age of 64, you thought “64 – the number of squares on a chessboard”.
Robert Fischer, we will always remember you. Thank you for your life and the wonderful contribution you made to Chess.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, if it comes out that it was suicide. I am not saying it was, I am just saying that I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Yes you would.