>>I wonder why Americans are not interested in chess? In my time in Russia chess champions were well known. Even some checkers champions (I used to play checkers professionally) were known. May be because there were no American champions except Bobby Fisher?
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>I wouldn't say uninterested. There are regular chess columns in many American newspapers. I played myself, not badly, through high school. (Then I ran into players who were better, LOTS better). It just doesn't make very riveting television.
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>If you are an admirer of Bobby Fischer -- and it isn't clear whether you are or not -- you might want to check out some of his anti-Semitic quotes. He is a loony toon of the first order. A genius, by some measures anyway, but still a loony toon.I remember seeing (live, right there) the matches for the world championship between Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian in Buenos Aires in 1971 (back when I was a chess player, as I gave it up in 1976 when I learned to play GO and never looked back :)