@ qixel - I guess it could be no other way but tragic. At least for chess lovers he has left a legacy of beautiful games.

Ultimately, Endgame left me feeling very sad.

It is not the story, I think, of a man who found much happiness.

There is, however, Bobby's chess.  There is redemption in the game that we love.

Spassky, perhaps, summed it up for all of us in the end:  "My brother is dead," he said.

Brother, indeed.

According to Brady's research (including FBI files) the Justice Department suspected Regina Fischer, Bobby's mother, of being a Soviet agent.  The investigation lasted for almost half a century.  Interestingly, because the FBI found out that Regina had been expelled from the Communist Party, it considered approaching her to become a counteragent.

Endgame contains the fascinating story of Bobby's 1956 barnstorming chess roadtrip at the hands of millionaire neo-Nazi E. Forry Laucks and ex-con Norman Whitaker.

Interesting that Barbra Streisand admitted to finding Bobby "sexy" when they were together at Erasmus Hall High School.

Got Endgame.  Reading now.  Terrifically excited.  Palms sweating.  Book report soon.

@billwall

That's great, Bill.  Will you be writing a review?

I should have my paper-and-ink copy in an hour and a half...just as soon as Barnes & Noble opens.

Got my Kindle copy for $13 (I think the Nook ebook copy is $14.29), which was automatically downloaded about 3 am on Feb 1.  Starting to read it now.  Looks great so far.  At least a dozen new facts I never knew before or saw in print.  I got an email from Dr. Frank Brady today (I congratulated him earlier about the book) and after I told him about how fast I got the book on the Kindle, he emailed back and said that perhaps he should now get a Kindle, which he doesn't have yet.  I will review it for chess.com.  I have his other books, including the two versions of Profile of a Prodigy, and books on Hefner, Aristotle Onassis, Orson Welles and Barbra Streisand.  You can also catch him in interviews on YouTube.  And Al Lawrence did a great review and a profile of Brady in the Feb 2011 issue of Chess Life

Thanks so much qixel - should make for a good read then! :)

@vowles_23

You can find the complete article here.

It's one of my favorite chess stories, very elegiac in tone and redolent of the Los Angeles I know.

Oh cool, how can I get a hold of that article for the full read? (Or would it be too difficult to track down?)

@vowles_23

Yes, it was actually Bobby.

@ qixel:

The except that you posted - the man that Bill is following, was it actually Fischer?

@billwall, vulcanccit

I hope to receive my copy tomorrow.  I know I won't be able to put it down !

The hardback arrived at mt house tonight! Can't wait to read it! Ill get it on the kindle as well :)

Pre-ordered it for my Kindle.  I've known Dr. Brady for awhile (he helped with the Marshall Chess Club history that I wrote) and have his other books that he has done beside Fischer, such as Hugh Hefner, Orson Welles, and Aristotle Onassis. 

I am looking forward to reading this. Fischer captured my imagination and sparked my interest in the game when I was a 10 yo boy back in '72.  Thanks for the heads up Amy.

The book looks very interesting. I read "Prodigy" years ago.

There was a really good article from NIC written in 2008. In fact, I believe the entire issue was pretty much about Fischer. It was  published immediately  after Fischer's death and main article followed him around Iceland to different places.

Honestly, it was sad to read. The man was deeply troubled.

He was also , at one time, quite a good-looking guy. The photos in the article of an aged and disheveled Fisher were equally as sad.

Thanks Amy (and Ryan).  The reviews themselves were absorbing. I can only imagine what the book might be like.

Being from Southern California myself, I am most interested in Fischer's lost years in Pasadena and Los Angeles.  I was most struck by the fact that even after winning the purse for the World Chess Championship, he had to rely on his mother's Social Security checks to survive.

Here's an excerpt from a 1985 Sports Illustrated article by Bill Nack about his encounter with Bobby on the mean streets of L.A.:

After spending weeks of my life looking for this man, in a journey that had led me to countless homes, libraries, bookshops, chess tournaments, stakeouts, police stations, restaurants, bowling alleys and health spas, I finally had him in my sights, and I simply could not bring myself to reach out a hand to shake his. Fischer had chosen this life of privacy and seclusion, for whatever reason, and to breach it now seemed a pointless intrusion. I was certain enough in my own mind that the man was Bobby Fischer. I chased him for block after block through the streets of Los Angeles, thinking he might lead me to his home, for I was curious to know for myself just where he lived after hearing all the rumors.

In the end, even that didn't really matter. He stopped on one street corner for a while, waiting for a light to change, and then crossed the street and stopped at another. There were bums and winos all around, but he appeared to pay them no mind. I watched him for a long while from across the street. Fourteen years ago, he had stormed the chess world by winning those 20 straight games, and he was on his way to Iceland to do battle with Spassky. What seemed like only the beginning then was really the end.

Now here he was, momentarily sharing a street corner with winos in downtown Los Angeles. The last time I saw him, he was standing there under a large clock hung upon the corner of a building. Fittingly enough, the clock was broken, its hands motionless on the dial. Then he disappeared into a group of people climbing on Bus 483, bound for Pasadena.