>>>>>Speaking about having mixed emotions about results of the Germany-Italy game <g>
>>>>
>>>>Are you a fan of any Ukraine's team in any sport?
>>>>
>>>>I'm only fan of Irina Sluzkaja (? spell) in figure skating and Garry Kasparov in chess, but I haven't seen chess results on TV while living here in US...
>>>
>>>The English spelling is Slutskaya, which IMO is one of the great sports names of all time.
>>>
>>>You're right, the U.S. airways are not overrun with chess matches. They must think we couldn't stand the excitement ;-)
>>
>>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?
>
>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.

I used to play a little Shogi (Japanese Chess) - not very well. A game of Shogi can take a very long time, and I think they do televise games in Japan. Anyway, I had a subscription to a Shogi Newsletter, and I remember one day seen an add for the Shogi Annual. The hook to the ad was that the book contained... this is a direct quote... "Pictures of the players in action", and I stress the word 'action'. I bit the bullet and didn't buy it.

>
>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.

A nutcase if there ever was one. And probably the finest intuitive chess player ever.