An article by Martin Gardner on Bobby Fischer has appeared on the weekend edition of Arts and Letters Daily ( aldaily.com ). Mr Gardner writes: “Aside from chess, Fischer came close to being a moron.”
This proves that when so-called ‘brilliant’ people write on things of which they know so little, they become moronic.
The full article can be read at: csicop.org/si/show/bobby_fis … and_idiot/
Wow, I didn’t know that Fischer had a sizeable fortune that his wife could inherit. Certainly anyone who heard him interviewed after he won the WC knows he was no idiot. Or let’s put it this way: if Newton was a moron, perhaps Fischer was too.
Gardner has a middling understanding of things, having dropped out of grad school and produced, as far as I know, no original mathematical work. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_gardner
It seems he’s the sort of guy who doesn’t do the hard things, and he probably does not understand the world of those who do. He is more or less a sports-writer, about science and math and, now, chess. I used to like his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American though.
I saw a Fischer memo to a TD at the White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library. There were several grade-school spelling errors. Good spelling requires a good memory; I suspect RJF’s memory was OK.
Agreed that it’s a ridiculous overstatement to claim that Fischer was an idiot savant; the D ick Cavett interviews at the NY Times blog offer compelling evidence to the contrary.
cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02 … ly-a-game/
cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02 … y-and-you/
However, Fischer was arguably less intellectually well-rounded than any other chess world champion.
I think most everybody agrees that Fischer had an I.Q well over 150 ( and probably over 160), but he had serious psychological problems.
Gardner had a kind of a chess puzzle in Aha! Insight! in that on a 4 x 3 board three white knights were placed on the 1st rank and three black knights were on the 4th rank. Any knight could move at any time to put the white knights on the 4th and black ones on the 1st. The book claimed it took 18 moves but a later Scientific American column (late 1970’s) said three people found a solution in 16.
It is easier to solve using an isomorph. Think of the two sets of six square knight tours connected at two points.
The whole idea of Bobby Fischer being a shade of red is offensive to his memory. He hated the Soviets.
Sorry guys just doing a bad Bugs Bunny joke. When BB got his IQ test back from the Army BB said “Hey look I am maroon”.
It seems to me this reporter is a moron. Bobby had a genius IQ as did his mother and sister and both of his alleged fathers. Personality disorder true. Moron not.
Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was the eleventh World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. -Wikipedia
Bobby Fischer is dead. Too bad. 
On January 17, 2008, Fischer died from degenerative renal failure in a Reykjavik hospital.
Please stop arguing about Fischer. I think everyone agrees that he is not a moron.
There once was a time long long ago(1972) that most famous of americans took the world stage. The “cold war” would be decided on the chess board! The russian “machine was invincible” they said! In the world campionship match of the “century,” [ FISHERS CHESS WAS THE CHESS OF THE GODS!!!] he made us all “PROUD” TO BE AMERICANS!" NEVER FORGET THAT! 
Do to GM Fischer’s playing of the Game, Chess for a short while became known as something other than just a game. Thousands of members, who are still playing, and became members of the USCF, are still around. Not bad for a poor boy from a B"rook"lyn. Just a thought.
Well, Fischer might have been an eccentric, even a crazy, but i don’t think “moron” could be attached to him. Oh yeah, i left out, best chess player of all-time. Nobody will ever come close to his 19 (or is it 20) wins in a row against GM’s. And I answered some smart-aleck who claimed “times are different in chess”. What I said to him was, what happened, a day after 1972, times were different? Suddenly GMs couldn’t put together even 3 wins in a row the very next year because “times were different”? Preposterous. Fischer was so far above the players of his time when he quit, probably more so than anybody in history, to judge by the record.
Having praised Fischer, I have to say that, answering a post below, I wasn't exactly proud to have someone like Fischer representing my country. It wasn't he who would make me proud to be an American. His ungentlemanly antics left much to be desired, no matter how many Fischer apologists there were, and still are. While Indians can be proud of Vishy Anand in a total way, i think we can be proud of Fischer, but in a stricter, more limited way.
I am proud to say that I hail from his great borough of Brooklyn, where i have spoken to many people who knew him way back when.
I learned to play chess when I was very young because Bobby Fischer inspired everyone in my household to learn to play this wonderful game. Fischer made us proud to be Americans. But then, I have just repeated what many others has already said. So I will say this additionally: someone, who had to get noticed, decided to write a contrversial article. He got what he wanted, to be recognized. By the way, if you write an article trying to convince millions of people that someone is a moron and they aren’t buying your argument, chances are you are the moron.
The whole idea of Bobby Fischer being a shade of red is offensive to his memory. He hated the Soviets.
Sorry guys just doing a bad Bugs Bunny joke. When BB got his IQ test back from the Army BB said “Hey look I am maroon”.[/quote
Fischer hated a lot of people, quite often for racial reasons, and he hated the reds quite often
for very good reasons as well. The thing about hate, though, is that most often the people
hated could care less about the feelings of the hater, whose negative energy kills himself.
Rob Jones
I personally feel anyone calling Bobby a “moron”, most likely is more the candidate of choice. Either they have an an ax to grind over his comments, or just plain envious. Its like driving your car, most are ready to react only to the distance of there headlights. Where as Bobby would be thinking a mile ahead like which lane to be in, where the dangerous part of the road up ahead is , sharp curve, the deer like to jump out. Any comments he made, he had a good reason, and just maybe it made good sense to him, and is the truth, but should not be publicly exploited?
I never did take any interest in his private life, same goes for Tiger woods, Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson. They were all great at what they did, and I only look at there sport/game and what they accomplished. The only thing I get very envious about, is how quick some can learn and others like myself have to spend hours getting it to register!
To be fair, Martin Gardner himself cannot be called a “moron” either, i’ve read many of his entertaining mathematical books. My guess (and it’s a guess), judging from the name, is that Gardner is Jewish, and is understandably upset at Fischer’s past ravings against Jews.
Was he a maroon? (with apologies to Bugs Bunny)
He was either Black or White…it usually alternates from round to round 
.
Our family physician, whose first name is Martin, is of Jewish background. He told me when I asked, based on his family name, if he was of Dutch background. I have no idea why Gardner might be considered Jewish (gardener being an occupation in English), but there was a St. Martin and a Caribbean island (French and Dutch) is na,ed after him.