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Forty Years Later – Vivid Memories of Training World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer
Arcadia Weekly Oct 04, 2012
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By Harry Sneider
It’s been forty years since the chess genius Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Much has been written and talked about the brilliance and the genius of the one a kind champion that was Bobby. I have accepted numerous interviews from around the world trying to find what went wrong with Bobby in his later years.
1. Bobby studied 16 hours a day in an isolated apartment in Brooklyn, NY. He was obsessed with becoming the greatest player ever. His skills in human relations deteriorated and he was not able to handle many of life’s pressures. He once told me it is a real challenge to be a genius. His IQ was near 200, up there with Einstein. Some even called him the Einstein of chess.
2. From very early on when I started to train him he exhibited qualities of mistrust in other people. This prevented him from making lucrative deals with many who came his way to try to help him to become the first millionaire in chess. I remember one phone call from Rolls Royce that was willing to offer him a free car that was worth tens thousands of dollars if he were to pose with a chess board on the hood. He told me, “Harry, I don’t have a license and I don’t drive.” I told him, “Bobby, you have a chauffeur. That’s me.”
3. After beating Spassky we went into highly intense training for the next world championship with Karpov. This included swimming, weight training, racquetball, long endurance walks and doing the Jack LaLanne program from his new Sony TV. Bobby loved electronics and he always had the latest TV or radio. Our training was very consistent and I was thrilled to be in his corner for the next world championship. Then suddenly he said, “I’m not going to play. The Russians are cheaters.” I sensed that this was the end of him being the world champion, a very sad period in my life.
4. Bobby became a celebrity amongst church members. For the first time in his life he was around families. He had dinner engagements most every week and people reached out to help him. This was good but he lost his edge as a great champion as he was used to being highly self disciplined in his playing days. A chess champion has to remain in shape physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually and continue to develop his unlimited potential in chess.
Recently there as been tremendous interest in Bobby and the games that he played. Many experts consider him like a Mozart playing these chess games with his brilliant moves as Mozart played with his brilliant music. Recently I appeared in a documentary called “Bobby Fischer Against the World”. A movie script has been written about his life that should be made into a movie sometime soon. There seems to be no end to the interest in this genius who I had a chance to train and have as a great friend. You can reach Harry Sneider at 626-355-8964 or harrysneider@earthlink.net.
