ABack to the Untold Story of Bobby Fischer Index
It's an affront to those of us who had to suffer through the years of indoctrinated terrors (the childhood nightmares of Hitler ordering my death, the hiding in ghettos and attics, or thinking of fleeing to the deep forest to escape the boogey man of Herbert Armstrong's personal profit paved with his spreading doubts, and preying on fears, remain with me every day) — POOR OLE BOBBY ! HE CONFESSED HE BELIEVED SO MUCH, that he gave all his money — why, because Nazis were coming for us — to force Catholicism down our throats, so he was trying to buy God, to deserve the right for safe passage when the church escaped to the place of safety — “willing” tithing, and wasted lives, separated & isolated from loved ones. I have only a 40 year void to look back on, to identify who & what I am, and when I came to a point I felt I could fully reclaim my life from a nightmare.
Bobby Fischer carried the same burdens and weight as I describe, to his grave… but they don't care to know the truth! when they peddle their “books” and fictional news stories.
Again and again, I encounter false tall tales about the reasons 'why' Bobby Fischer supposedly 'throws a tantrum' and 'stomps out' . . . the authors of such articles, spoken like genuine antisemites! for when we return to the original news reports from 1967, we get the real scoop FIDE - International Chess Federation . . . True Torah Jews . . . Neturei Karta International . . . Samuel Reshevsky faced the same discrimination by the Atheistic Soviet Union players, and others like them which had no tolerance for Judaism.
Chess by Isaac Kashdan, The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California 12 Nov 1967, Sunday, Page 122
…
Antisemites provided Revisionist history by 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010... swept their antisemitism under the rug... rewrote Bobby Fischer's history and hoped nobody would remember *why* they were originally attacking Robert J. Fischer. It wasn't because he was "crazy." Rather, they were prejudiced against religious customs associated with Judaism. Contemporary newspapers tell us exactly what the "controversy" was . . . how are we certain this long ignored blatant antisemitism doesn't continue today? Should a man be subject to harassment over his religious convictions?
What has been done, to prevent Chess Organizers like the antisemites who've over-ran uschess.org from perpetrating further acts of abusive antisemitic discrimination as was perpetrated against Bobby Fischer 1960s-1970s?
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, May 07, 1971 ★
What Bobby was subjected to in his personal life was far more than simply “bad memories.” It was a PTSD nightmare of Biblical proportions, terrorized weekly with the Doomsday prophecies “Nazis are coming for you!” for 1.5 decades… for the crime of keeping the Saturday sabbath and obeying God's commandments.
While working to archive an article on Mikhails Tal vs. Botvinnik, I came across this in the Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Friday, March 25, 1960 “Are the Nazis Back in Power?”
Are the Nazis Back in Power? 25 Mar 1960, Fri Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) Newspapers.com
In 1960 newspapers, and the Herbert W. Armstrong cult, the threat of Nazis rising again to power, was perceived to be VERY REAL, not imagined, and Herbert PREYED on popular fears such as this, threatening that very thing was prophesied in the Bible. Bobby Fischer, like the rest of us, got swept up in the illusion, and gave all of his money to the charlatan prophets for profits Garner Ted and Herbert. Children grew up, like Bobby Fischer, with the real fear of another Holocaust arriving on the shores of United States and Britain, in Prophecy.
Taught by Armstrong, faithful devotees could purchase their escape from the Great Tribulation, and Jesus was suppose to return in 1975. Armstrong was a false prophet.
This brief, simplistic account, lacks the media flamboyancy. The Bobby Fischer I (as a former WCG cult follower) expects from one of our devoted Armstrong Cult followers, spending a lot of time studying the Bible, and Armstrong's literature:
FISCHER: “I never gave any money to a work or any church. I didn't believe in that stuff. But I got a whole bunch of literature from Armstrong. I felt guilty after awhile about getting so much. I was getting The Plain Truth for a couple of years. I had written for every last piece of literature I had ever heard him offering. Finally, I sent him five bucks or something. Then I got a co-worker letter. And then later on I sent them maybe $20. And then I remember in late 1963 I was in some tournament, and I said, “I'll send the whole tenth.” It was a really big decision.
“…you have to listen to the radio program every day, you have to study the correspondence course… and then you're supposed to pray… I can remember times coming home from a chess club at four in the morning when I was half asleep and half dead and forcing myself to pray an hour and study [the Bible] an hour. You know, I was half out of my head-stoned almost…”
1977, “Bobby Fischer Speaks Out!”
“And here I was in the sixties reading this stuff sincerely and believing it. And I should have known that it was all just a pack of lies. He was just playing with me. Lie after lie, letter after letter.”
— Bobby Fischer Interview, Ambassador Report
A rare glimpse of Bobby Fischer expressing our cult beliefs to outsiders:
“Well, I guess the world's coming to an end anyway,” he sighed. “Maybe I'll let 'em publish the book.” [1968{?}1969]
South Florida Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Sunday, March 15, 1998 - Page 100 (★)
The WCG was a Doomsday Cult, and we LITERALLY believed, the world was coming to an end… any day now.
Bobby Fischer gave an interview in 1977, discussing the damage he endured, detailing the sense of “Hopelessness”.
https://hwarmstrong.com/ar/Fischer.html
There is no “tomorrow”
Who ended up with most all the money according to Bobby in 1977?
“"Yeah! Well, I told them that I wanted to give them a double tithe. Whatever it was, I wanted to do it the very right way, whatever that was. I did it on the gross amount. They cleaned my pockets out frankly. I have some money left, but not that much. I've got some assets. It's amazing they didn't get everything. Now my only income is a few royalty checks from my books. I was really very foolish, but I thought I was doing what I had to do. When I sent those checks off, I really didn't have the slightest qualms, no regrets, not the slightest. I don't really regret it that much, to tell you the truth, even now.”
- Bobby Fischer, 1977
Bobby was quoted as saying in 1977, “I was trying to buy God.” Contribution receipts from Ambassador College/WCG in Pasadena, CA. WCG administration, including Stanley Rader, a church lawyer, got most of the prize from Spassky match.
Did Bobby sign contracts, and cash in on the millions in advertising, promotions, and offers after the match? No, he drifted into obscurity with shot nerves.
“When I sent those checks off, I really didn't have the slightest qualms, no regrets, not the slightest. I don't really regret it that much, to tell you the truth, even now.”
However, some thing extremely beneficial came out of Bobby's strike for more money, for chess players abroad. He personally, gained nothing, but he improved the benefits of the sport for others:
The Capital Annapolis, Maryland Thursday, April 27, 1972 - Page 4
“Last year, this marvel of the chess world, this champion of the highest cerebral arts, pulled in about $15,000. When you reflect how some biological freak cashes in on his 7-foot body for a $100,000 contract, or men become millionaires by knocking little white balls across the sward, it does seem shameful that Fischer should be so greedy.
The point is that chess masters have always been poorly rewarded. The Russians would prefer it this way. Their best players are on civil service, and if the poor remuneration discourages the rest of the world, so much the better.
Hopefully, Fischer will change this, too.”
“…he screws up your mind. That's how he hangs on to people. I have to discuss some of the things Herbert has done to me-how he screwed up my mind-just to let people know that this is for real, because
-->…if anybody tried to live by the letter of the law… it was me. I truly tried to be obedient… <--
The more I tried, the more crazy I became. The pressure he puts on you! You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't tell your friends this, you can't see unconverted people, you can't eat this, you can't eat that, on the sabbath you have to rest, you have to listen to the radio program every day, you have to study the correspondence course… and then you're supposed to pray…”
- Bobby Fischer, 1977
Bobby was IN DEEP, and allowed his life to be controlled in every aspect by this religion.
Naturally, Pasadena headquarters didn't keep tabs on each and every member. That was the responsibility of local congregations…
The San Bernardino County Sun San Bernardino, California Sunday, August 20, 1972 - Page 15 (★)
1962 is the year Bobby Fischer claims in his 1977 interview with “Ambassador Report,” to have joined the Worldwide Church of God, although he reports he had been receiving their literature for several years.
1972 “60 Minutes” Interview with Bobby Fischer.
QUESTION: Hey I'm curious about all of this… Can you tell me much more about Fisher's work ethic? They say that he used to study extraordinary long hours every single day…
MY REPLY: Very much on the Autism Spectrum. Like me, he was more of a night owl and that's the best hours to be alone, when its quiet, ambient music perhaps, and do what you love doing. People on the High Functioning end of the Autism spectrum tend to have one area of strong interest and will work themselves obsessively over it, hours, days, weeks, months, years —possibly. As the world observed in Bobby. He was a perfectionist in his game. A devotion, an obsession, a passion that most people can not relate to. You can see his need for perfectionism, when he was yet a child, he would sometimes cry or be despondent after losing a game. (Again, Autism Spectrum). The driving need to challenge the self, for better, for greater, for the best.
Actually, I did not at first believe the media reports that he cried in his youth over loss of a game… till I found a personal interview in the NY Times, after the accusation was made in a prior interview, so the NYTimes sent its own reporter to question Fischer. Fischer confirmed he did, when he was little. But, he had stopped doing so… part of his maturity.
His desire for the perfect game was strong.
Do the gods play chess?
Petrosian or Botvinnik stated in 1972 that Bobby's skill was from the gods… but it was HARD WORK, Study, and natural ability all rolled up into one Robert J Fischer
QUESTION: Thanks great reply I think you knew him personally…
MY REPLY: Not “personally,” any more than most of the people who have written about him, making things up from thin air, making claims about Bobby's years in the Worldwide Church of God which I was in for 18 years, and blatantly contradicting known facts about the cult… when you are part of a cult, the “individuality” of the persons is stripped away and lost, and everyone is taught to behave, act, think the same. So in that way, there's tens or hundreds of thousands of us, former-Armstrong cult members who pretty much “thought like,” Bobby, so yes, “we know him,” and know what motivated Bobby's behavior on many things., i.e., snubbing the birthday cake offered by 60 Minutes…
Baked with lard… “forbidden in O.T. dietary laws”.
Birthday celebrations… “idolatrous tradition of pagans.” expressly forbidden.
And there poor Bobby sits, in spotlight on national television, with the eyes of tens of thousands of Worldwide Church of God cult members upon him, watching his EVERY move, word, action, — scrutinizing — and by God, if he didn't snub that “wicked birthday cake” they'd report him to Pasadena with a vengeance… get him excommunicated for his “sins against God.” I saw many good people “Excommunicated.” Intimidation was one method used to keep people obedient, and thinking, behaving, saying the same.
Religions are a choice.
Cults are different, in that they deprive you of the ability to make your own choices.
Bobby Fischer, 1977: “…I have to discuss some of the things Herbert has done to me-how he screwed up my mind-just to let people know that this is for real, because if anybody tried to live by the letter of the law… it was me. I truly tried to be obedient. The more I tried, the more crazy I became. The pressure he puts on you! You can't do this, you can't do that, you can't tell your friends this, you can't see unconverted people, you can't eat this, you can't eat that, on the sabbath you have to rest…”
WCG was a CULT.
Thank you Cicada3301. If Brady did not know Bobby Fischer joined up with Armstrong's cult in the early 1960's, he didn't know much personally about Bobby. Brady wasn't as close to Bobby Fischer as he (and many others) put on airs, or he'd known Bobby got involved in 1962 or earlier. During the 1960s several reporters were aware, mentioning Bobby Fischer's involvement with a religion which keeps the sabbath, leading to Bobby Fischer dropping out of the Tunisia tournament and although some attempted to generalize with vapid claims it was a 'temper tantrum' -- others confirm it was discrimination against Bobby's adherence to observing the Saturday sabbath.
It was out of their antisemitic discrimination against the Jewish sabbath they refused to budge or compromise. Bobby walked. They perpetrated the same antisemitic discrimination and harassment toward Sam Reshevsky. The mainstream media articles don't want people to know chess organizers were antisemites. Bobby was secretive especially about his religious life.
And if Bobby hadn't been involved with the Armstrong cult, no, he probably would have never had a reason to research the question the cult raised about Nazis posing a threat of invading U.S./Britain? Hence, in the mid to late 1970s Bobby Fischer searched out Nazi literature and became deceived by their “Judeo Bolshevik Conspiracy Myth” propaganda. After Fischer embarked on reading Nazi literature, in the middle to late 1970s, in conjunction with the U.S. Court throwing out his defamation suit against Time-Life, that is when Mr. Fischer's political views took a downward spiral. He said so:
He traced the origins of his troubled relationship with his homeland to his failed lawsuit in the 1970s against Time Inc., now Time-Warner, for defamation of character, breach of contract and other issues; a U.S. District Court threw it out as groundless.
"I got laughed out of court," he said. "This is when I began to realize what kind of a country America was then ... it's just a sham democracy. ... That's when I started to part company with the U.S." - China Daily
Without the cult, probably so, Bobby would've never had a reason to seek out that deceptive literature and likely went on with a reasonably normal life and never became radicalized, just as I am certain I wouldn't have, either.
