How to Beat Bobby Fischer (Dover Chess) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Everyone wants 5 minutes of fame at least once in his/her life. To be able to beat the champion in any category is a dream come true. Until the time Fischer forfeited his chess title, he had been considered the most fearsome player since Tal. With win/draw ratio of 2/1, he is the most dangerous player (as Mednis mentioned in the book, the ratio 1/1 is already very awesome.) Mednis took the 61 Fischer's losses since Fischer becoming the U.S. champion at fourteen, and grouped into four significant periods during Fischer's career. Then he created 8 tables to show the statistics on:

1) How mush Fischer lost with White/Black pieces

2) Who had better records on Fischer

3) (Where) which countries had plus scores against Fischer

4) Why Fischer lost

5) What openings Fischer had problem with

And on the last table, Mednis listed the games in chronological order (when) Fischer lost them.

The stories begun of each part were insightful. The explanation begun and analysis during each game were good. The author now is a GM; he wrote the first edition (when he was an IM) after Fischer announced his retirement from chess (1974). Mednis is qualified to write the book and got fame when he beat Fischer one (1) game in 1962. This second edition from Dover, Mednis included an addition of the 1992 rematch between Fischer and Spassky. Fischer is still the better player, however comparing to the present tough competition Fischer would have to work really hard to maintain the expectation. Even so, he is still better than 95% of us (the chess mortals). (I guess, our chance to win is to wait until Fischer is 90 years old and he gives a 128 table simultaneous exhibition, and we remember to bring a portable Deep Jr. along.)

Both Mednis and Fischer are now deceased, but that should by no means discourage anyone from getting this book. Mednis was a good writer and was well-known for years as an endgame columnist for "Chess Life and Review" in the 1970's. He was a also a regular participant in the U.S.
Championship, where he actually beat Fischer once back in the early 1960's. Perhaps that's what helped inspire this book...

At any rate, Mednis does a reasonably good job analyzing all of Fischer's losses in tournament and match play. Part of his analysis is where he picks one particular move of Fischer's in each game and calls it "The Losing Moment" and explains why this move arguably cost Fischer the game. Naturally, it is sometimes difficult to pick just ONE move and call it a "losing moment" in a game, but there are many games where Mednis concedes this obvious point but nonetheless explains why the move he picked in that game was the "losing" one in his view. Incidentally, each "losing moment" move is accompanied by a diagram, which certainly helps make the book interesting to at least browse through. And by no means are these the only diagrams given--each game has at least a few diagrams provided.

The analysis could be a bit more thorough, but it is good enough. Mednis does not bog the reader down in overlengthy variations, but rather he concentrates on explaining general principles.

The book also contains plenty of background information regarding many of
Fischer's opponents, plus some interesting antecodes. For example, Mednis explains how a certain display of sportsmanship by Fischer when he lost a 1962 game to Donner at the Varna Olympiad, helped make Mednis' morning a bit easier that same day.

Also, the beginning of the book has several tables that enable you to tell at a glance who was fortunate enough to score a Fischer scalp (and how many times), what openings were played in Fischer's losses, and what the root causes were of these losses (i.e. outplayed, carelessness, or
trying to hard to win).

On a final note, it should be pointed out that Kasparov's My Great Predecessors series (Volumes 2 and 3) contain several of Fischer's losses (hardly a surprise!) and Kasparov quotes Mednis' book often in discussing these losses. It must be conceded, therefore, that Kasparov (or his computers) point out many things that Mednis overlooked in his own analysis. Is that a detraction from Mednis' book?! Given the fact that Mednis didn't have superstrong chess playing computer programs back in 1975--when this book came out--the answer should be rather obvious.

In conclusion, any Fischer buff such as myself will definitely want this book. It's very reasonably priced, like most Dover books are, and you can't go wrong getting it.

Sorry DanJJ, but you need to read your chess history before posting such a review. Fischer wasn't the defending champion, Spassky was. And Fischer won the title off Spassky.