The Gift of Chess

Notice to commercial publishers seeking use of images from this collection of chess-related archive blogs. For use of the many large color restorations, two conditions must be met: 1) It is YOUR responsibility to obtain written permissions for use from the current holders of rights over the original b/w photo. Then, 2) make a tax-deductible donation to The Gift of Chess in honor of Robert J. Fischer-Newspaper Archives. A donation in the amount of $250 USD or greater is requested for images above 2000 pixels and other special request items. For small images, such as for fair use on personal blogs, all credits must remain intact and a donation is still requested but negotiable. Please direct any photographs for restoration and special request (for best results, scanned and submitted at their highest possible resolution), including any additional questions to S. Mooney, at bobbynewspaperblogs•gmail. As highlighted in the ABC News feature, chess has numerous benefits for individuals, including enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, improving concentration and memory, and promoting social interaction and community building. Initiatives like The Gift of Chess have the potential to bring these benefits to a wider audience, particularly in areas where access to educational and recreational resources is limited.

Best of Chess Fischer Newspaper Archives
• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1961 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1962 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1963 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1964 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1969 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1972 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1973 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1974 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1975 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1976 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1977 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1978 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1979 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1984 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 bio + additional games
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 bio + additional games
Chess Columns Additional Archives/Social Media

FACT: The WCG/Armstrong Cult was NOT teaching “Anti-Semitic” Doctrines

Back to the Untold Story of Bobby Fischer Index

Here's a page from Bobby Fischer's experience in 1970... oh, the Pro-Jewish, Pro-Zionist fellow cult members back in the...

Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Friday, January 1, 2021

And what's SICKENING… IMMORAL, is that we're not talking about a run of the mill religion, we're talking about a manipulative cult — that takes everything from individuals, they would forbid us to discuss what happened behind closed doors — in some cases, locking the doors to keep observers out. We were forced to obey regulations and restrictive legalism that achieved near total isolation from people in the outside world. So how could Frank Brady and others who wrote their books know anything real, about the workings of the WCG cult which was holding half of Bobby's reasoning facilities, hostage? Frank Brady GUESSED… SPECULATED… and dolts keeping citing his gross ERRORS about Bobby — rehashing the “er, I guesses it was a mental illness Blasé” FACT CHECKING BRADY: WCG Cult expressly discouraged military service — that's WHY Fischer did not serve in the military, and that's just a starter. How they fill in the blanks with their nonsensical lack of knowledge or insight — their books are a waste of money!

Fake Reports of “Hate Crimes” Happen All The Time... Robert Fischer is a prime example of such a target

Fake Reports of Hate Crimes

Accusing a “communist” 'chessplayer walked around with Nazi symbols'. Where are their photographs to support these absurd claims to further abuse Bobby's reputation? Video. Photographs. None.
Imagine that, one of the most photographed celebrities in history but can not produce ONE PHOTO to substantiate their smear campaign. For a man, who had no illusions about the supposed “superiority of the white race” and was anti-racist, and emphatically denounced Hitler and the Third Reich (1979) and eventually married outside of his race? EVIDENCE? Beyond vapid exaggerated accusations, they have NO evidence that Bobby Fischer ever sympathized with fascists!
Here is a “Pro-Peace” anti-Fascist Robert J. Fischer (1958) and the same “Pro-Peace” anti-Fascist Robert J. Fischer as communicated to Pal Benko (1979) and up until 2005, Bobby was beating the same anti-Fascist drum, against racist, fascist American-Israeli invasion of Palestine (illegal occupation & theft of land such as the Native American Indian Genocide)... Bobby was never supportive of Nazis. Cheap defamatory smears.

It was devastating, being raised in the cult, and I know my own self as I knew fellow cult members - - and one thing I'm certain of, they were not “nationalists” but “Worldwide… Church of God” welcoming people from all races around the globe . . and certainly not “antisemitic” as the whole doctrine of Armstrong was built upon reverence for Jews & Judaism's Old Testament laws. Media has viciously alleged by some totally lacking in journalistic integrity, menacing little reporters without regard for human decency or the harm they do to innocent people.

The Armstrong Delusion

I have referred to what both myself and Bobby Fischer did, Exit-Cult, confronting the "Armstrong Delusion" by the collection of research material and investigating cult leader Herbert's wild claims. I'm not the first to think of calling our cult that. Recall the hurtful, defamatory stories circulated by media falsely portraying Armstrong cult victims (hence 1960s and early 1970s circa Bobby) as supposedly "antisemitic." Those reporters attempt to deceive their readers with the absurd claim Armstrong denied Jews as part of the inheritance with Israel. Here's a sketch of the genealogy . . the tribe of Judah (Judaism, Jews) most certainly play a substantial part of Herbert Armstrong's prophetic scheme. So much for the flimsy narrative Camille Coudari built in its refutable attempts to found an empty case against Bobby Fischer.

Lawsuit Against Church for Land

The Burlington Free Press Burlington, Vermont Thursday, June 20, 1985 - Page 2

Couple Sues Church for Land
St. Paul, Minn. (AP) — A couple who said they turned over their farmland to a church that told them they wouldn't need it because the world was coming to an end have filed a $6 million suit to get it back.
Gilman and Gladys Anderson of Lowry in western Minnesota filed the suit in U.S. District Court against the Worldwide Church of God.
They are asking $1 million for the lost farmland, its income and economic opportunity and contributions made to the church, $1 million in actual damages, and $4 million in punitive damages. "The Worldwide Church of God, through its agents, made numerous fraudulent misrepresentations to (the Andersons) that (they) were living in the end of times and that (the Andersons) would soon have to leave their property and flee for their lives to a place of safety in Petra, Jordan," the suit says.

Bobby Fischer, and the Worldwide Church of God

Threaten intelligent people with that kind of “history repeating itself” long enough, sooner or later, they will rise above the fears that paralyze the mind, and they will search out literature to learn about the perceived threat… and it was there, that Bobby, myself and many others got tipped off to first questioning things like the origins of the USSR, the Zionist movement… albeit, some of it was misleading literature, but nonetheless, the door was opened to begin asking some serious questions and digging deeper and deeper into complex politics and history. Critics who call Bobby Fischer “insane” have shouted to the whole world, they're “ignorant”.

Bobby Fischer and the Worldwide Church of God Cult Terror Doctrines

Worldwide Church of God Testimonies

1975 In Prophecy

In contrast with Bobby who saw the failure of prophecy unfolding in 1972 and thought to search out Nazi literature to investigate for himself whether Armstrong was a charlatan or not… for me it was 1989. Armstrong was already dead, but when the radio news announced the Berlin Wall had fallen, I remembered Armstrong's warnings, to 'see the Berlin Wall fall will be a sign of the end time approaching'. (That is because East Germany and West Germany would reunite and form the beast power of the Biblical book of Revelations). So like Bobby Fischer I began scouting out literature — out of terror to discover what the Nazis were plotting.

Bobby Fischer was operating within the climate of 1962 USSR-Cold War / Post Nazi Germany WWII … both Communist-USSR and Nazi Germany were still very much perceived as serious threats to world peace, and Herbert W. Armstrong constructed his "prophecies" within the framework of the news headlines.

LEN ZOLA: Was it in 1962 or around then that you said you first became involved with the Worldwide Church of God

FISCHER: I had some personal problems, and I started listening to a lot of radio ministers. I listened every Sunday all day, flipping the dial up and back. So, I heard just about every guy on Sunday. And then I heard Mr. Armstrong, and I said, "Ah, God has finally shown me the one, I guess. This guy really has power. authority. He doesn't talk like the other guys. He really knows his stuff!”
https://hwarmstrong.com/ar/Fischer.html

That's very true. Armstrong knew his stuff and didn't talk like others. He knew how to convincingly twist the Bible, to fit the latest headlines in TV and Newspaper and paralyze his followers with fear.

Tennessean Nashville, October 04, 1961
Average Russian Wants Peace

The belief in a Reunited Fascist Europe was a real fear even suggested in national headlines.

The belief in a Reunited Fascist Europe was a real fear even suggested in national headlines.

What kind of Armstrongism literature Bobby Fischer was reading from 1962-1973…

An excerpt from “1975 in Prophecy (1956 Version, PDF)” by Herbert W. Armstrong, (Worldwide Church of God).

Herbert W. Armstrong's Doomsday prophecies Herbert W. Armstrong's Doomsday prophecies

If anyone judges and vilifies Bobby Fischer, falsely alleging the cult was somehow anti-Jewish, they are waging a very personal defamatory attack on me, and 10,000's of innocent Worldwide Church of God cult victims who were not at all like the vicious, untrue things accused against Bobby Fischer. The myths about Bobby have spiraled out of control and some have even went so far as to allege in mainstream press the cult was “Pro-Nationalist”.

Worldwide Church of God was not Anti-Semitic, it was Anti-Germany

Worldwide Church of God was not Anti-Semitic, it was Anti-Germany.

The Worldwide Church of God had no tolerance for racist bigotry in the fold, and by the 1990's when Bobby Fischer became vocal with his anti-“Jewish” views (and the world is awaking that he really meant, Zionism). Nonetheless, the Pasadena headquarters were quick to disavow Fischer in the press.

New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, September 09, 1992 - Page 20 ()

Church Disowns Fischer

Unless a person was a member in Worldwide Church of God cult & studied its terror doctrine people should refrain passing judgment on its tens… hundreds of thousands of victims.

Bobby Fischer and the Worldwide Church of God Cult Terror Doctrines

We acknowledged Jews as “The tribe of Judah” and were ourselves part of the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel” namely, “The tribe of Manasseh and Ephraim” the modern United States and Britain — we feared Armstrong, to suffer the terrible fate of what the Nazi Germany did to the tribe of Judah, or the Jews.

Resurrect Holy Roman Empire as the United Fascist Europe

Just for posterity... recall the sordid false tales about Bobby Fischer, accusing things that were NOT true, accusing Bobby Fischer, myself and 10,000s of others of Worldwide Church of God victims supposedly following 'antisemitic' doctrines by Armstrong. Check out the fine print from page 42 ... Herbert Armstrong's Plain Truth (which is in the hand of Bobby) is filled with sorrowful tales of the Holocaust. Herbert Armstrong was strongly sympathetic about Israeli interests, enough to give them money, and once again, the sorrowful stories of the suffering of the Jewish people. We got a regular unceasing diet of stories about the torments inflicted upon the Jewish people and (top left corner) how the "Resurrected Holy Roman Empire" would once again rise to persecute not only the Jews, but we of the "ten lost tribes of Israel". Our minds were brutalized with the repetitive warnings of doomsday... the resurrected Fascists and how another Holocaust would be our fate unless we strictly obeyed Armstrong and the letter of the law ... a barrage of brainwashing... for unceasing days... weeks... months... years on end. It cracked the minds of many of the believers. Those constant recycled horror stories and threats that we were next.... the Nazis were coming for us too.

Reading disrespectful, insensitive chess articles accusing Armstrong's victims of "antisemitism" when we had "Holocaust" brainwashed into our mind, every week, in publications, in sermons, in newsletters, in the headquarters magazines -- we were taught to revere the sufferings of the Jewish people as our own, and taught they would happen again and be our fate ... this traumatizing doctrine of the Holocaust happening to us, again, again and again and again like a sickness - -till children were having nightmares and incapable of concentrating in school - - FEAR as the cornerstone of doctrine is Armstrongism.

Yet, some very sick, insensitive people in the chess establishment accused us, cult victims, Bobby included of being 'antisemitic'. In the past I suggested former cult victims should get together, and form a class action suit, and sue those organizations for millions in damages, to address the distress caused by their libelous accusations & to compensate the mental suffering.

The people I knew in the Worldwide Church of God were from ALL racial backgrounds, and I knew none that had any prejudice against any person of the Jewish religion. To make such accusations was absurd because the WCG followers themselves worshiped Jewish holidays!!!

When I read their slanderous accusations about the cult victims, including Bobby during his cult days . . . I burned with rage for all I suffered. They deserve to be sued for every dime they have. People who believed Herbert Armstrong's rubbish sometimes committed suicide due to the hopelessness of the end time prophecies. Bobby Fischer warned during his interview in 1976-1977, about that isolation, brainwashing and hopelessness and destroyed lives. Why didn't the chess world know these things years ago, but instead chose to lie about it?!

Bobby Fischer and the Worldwide Church of God Cult Terror Doctrines

See for yourself from a scholarly source:

Today, with few exceptions (the Worldwide Church of God being one), most adherents of Anglo-Israelism are in the Identity movement.
Christian Identity: A “Christian” Religion for White Racists

Got Question”'s author is certainly attempting to mislead the public with their misplaced criticism about supposed false teachings, “…God has not replaced Israel…”

Armstrong never taught that God had “replaced Israel”. Here's Herbert W. Armstrong's pen, again, clarifying the above author doesn't actually understand Armstrongism, nor qualified to write on the subject.

Herbert Armstrong's Definition of Israelites

Simply Google “Jews are Israelites” + Armstrong. The media has tried to slander Bobby Fischer, claiming Herbert Armstrong taught Bobby something anti-semitic. On the contrary! Those dishonest journalists should be sued in a court of law for years of slander and defamation of 100,000's of Herbert's cult victims.

There were 12 tribes. The Jews were merely 1 tribe. The followers of Armstrong did not see themselves as “Jews”, but instead, of the “tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim.” —a distant relation with Jews, but were not Jews ourselves. Jews are “the tribe of Judah” only.

Bobby Fischer was Not Jewish and Not Seventh Day Adventist

Bobby Fischer was not Seventh Day Adventist and was not Jewish. All accounts I know of it, the founder Herbert was excommunicated from a Seventh Day Adventist styled “Church of God” religion and branched out with his own cult. A good description of the WCG religion, (Bobby Fischer's religion) appears in The Tampa Tribune Tampa, Florida Saturday, September 06, 1980: “Armstrong's 'Plain Truth' Controversial” …and the truth is, Soviet chess players, over many decades, were extremely discriminatory against both Fischer and Reshevsky for keeping the seventh day Saturday sabbath because the Soviets were opposed to ALL religion, and renown for their antisemitism.

Armstrong's 'Plain Truth' ControversialArmstrong's 'Plain Truth' Controversial Sat, Sep 6, 1980 – 58 · The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) · Newspapers.com

Herbert W. Armstrong Came Up During a Time When Anti-German Was The “In” Thing

KKK InfiltratedKKK Infiltrated 06 Oct 1971, Wed The York Dispatch (York, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

“If you didn’t buy war bonds and you were German, you could go to jail for it. They were incredibly abusive,” he said. “It’s a part of history that Americans don’t know about, or choose to ignore.” While culling articles on Fischer-Petrosian, this caught my eye, and my mind goes back to the charlatan Herbert W. Armstrong and his toxic obsessions with Germany... to the point of rousing an almost Anti-German hysteria, claiming Germans were the descendants of the warlike 'Assyrian empire, enemies of Israel' and repeating history, the Nazis would rise again and invade Britain and America, as the tool of Satan's fulfillment of prophecy in the book of Revelations... Herbert Armstrong abhorred Protestant Christianity and Catholicism, amalgamated with a resurrected Mussolini/Hitler/Holy Roman Empire as the Antichrist beast power, "666 man" predicted to be the Pope -- to persecute those who keep the old testament commandments.
-- we were spoon fed dread of Nazism. The sordid stories of horror, of Germans invading to destroy us... this motivated Bobby (like myself) to study their literature and learn if Armstrong's prophecies were true, when, and if they'd invade. We simply were not taught the depth of deceptions Nazis stoop to -- mixing a nugget of truth, with layers and layers of lies. Herbert Armstrong did not care how many 10,000's of lives his cult brainwashing destroyed, to satiate his greed.
Story from The Good Life: A century ago, anti-German sentiment was pervasive in U.S. and Nebraska

The York Dispatch York, Pennsylvania Wednesday, October 06, 1971
KKK Infiltrated
“Jerome Lauinger, scarred by childhood memories of anti-Semitism and anti-German bigotry, made his “down payment on democracy” by infiltrating the local branch…”

Bobby Fischer was LEFTIST; anti-racist, pro-human-rights… (Nazis spread their lies and deceive people on left and right). They'll turn cartwheels to convince everyone, “Jews are to blame for every possible thing that goes wrong under the sun.”

Myths About Bobby Fischer

Bobby's intended meaning, is “The Zionists have no right to be there. The land belongs to the Palestinians.”

Quoting from “Bobby Fischer rails against U.S., Israel” (China Daily) March 2005, and a Letter to Pal Benko from Bobby Fischer, February 1979.

More of the chess swamp: Camille Coudari is on par with swamp creature Ron Gross in the depth of false stories they concoct based on ZERO evidence. I came across one of this dishonest creature's games from 1970. People may google the garbled collection of fiction by zionist Camille Coudari, who wants to make zionists yet "victims" where none exist-- fake reports of "antisemitism" -- I have a special distaste for this disreputable chess player "Camille Coudari" when they exploit cult victims -- some people drove to suicide and many others to financial and life ruin... taught reverence for the Jewish people! NOT the fabrications of this Israeli con artist "Camille Coudari".

Lying Troublesome Camille Coudari

I will post excerpts from Herbert Armstrong's own pen... "Jews are Israelites" says Armstrong. This troublemaker, Camille Coudari, tries to deceive readers to believe falsely that Armstrong was "Aryan Nations" material and denied Jews are Israelites! Camille Coudari! How much did Israel pay you for this parody to raise $$$$$$ympthy for your Apartheid Regime? The charlatan misled the world with their falsehoods, including naive Armstrong followers. But I know better because I grew up in the Armstrong cult during the same years Bobby Fischer was attending. I KNOW THE DOCTRINES. I am not deceived and refuse to have what remained of my wrecked life, used as a pawn, a mere “commodity” to raise 38 billion per decade for an evil Apartheid Regime to amputate limbs on little Palestinian children!

The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, June 03, 1971 - Page 5 — Food, Drink — and Chess Follow in Wake of Match

What We Should Expect To Have Came Out of the Mouth of the Highly Religious Bobby Fischer

The Armstrong Cult offshoots are still out there, fear-mongering for profit. Read for yourself, and you will see for yourself how the Armstrong worships the Holocaust as an idolatry to paralyze adherents with fear to empty their wallets. You will find no white supremacy, nor shall you find denial of the Holocaust, nor shall you find any suggestions the Jews are an inferior race which would be customary for actual anti-semites, on the contrary, the Worldwide Church of God and its offshoots place the Jews and The Holocaust upon a pedastal as the cornerstone to terrorize, and extort tithes from believers.

Spiritual Extortion

'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:

Bobby Fischer, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech
What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws --
https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.

This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.

Robert J. Fischer, Kid Chess Wizard 1956March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008

The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.

Special Thanks