Chess experts: how did Bobby Fischer change the game?

[triguy46]

I know so little about it, but understand the concepts. How was his approach so different?

[DS1]

1. Don't have a good answer

but definitely looking forward to this thread.

He's generally recognized as someone who was always far ahead of the best players. Good players know all the approaches, and defense moves, and can see them. From what I understand, Fischer disregarded all the rules and played by his own methods, which made him very hard to beat.

[triguy46]

2. I want a good explaination too. This question was asked on NPR yesterday ...

and the response was unsatisfying: "He changed the openings and the midgame." Wow. French to me.

[DS1]

3. Well, there's the typical chess openings

e2 to e4 which brings the 5th pawn up two places. or f1 to e3 which brings a knight into play early. and so on. in every chess game there's an opening, like those two moves plus a few more that set the stage. I dunno, a book about him and his style of playing for the non-expert would be a good read.

[DemIdeals]

4. Jewish gambit opening

nt

[rug]

5. Transformational change, like Reagan he defeated the commies.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Moving your kingdom to Iceland and from there, using them to attack Jews

[edbermac]

7. He played every game to win.

Usually grandmasters of equal strength would rattle off 15-20 book moves and call it a draw; then go for the wins against the bottom-markers. Fischer would clinch first place in tourneys with 3-4 games left to play and still go all out for a win in his remaining games.

[MrScorpio]

8. He perfected the forward pass