What got Schroeder’s dander up was a New In Chess article in which Nigel Short wrote about sexual activity among chess players and included the “f” word. Schroeder also added that “Short didn’t publish that putrid crap; the editor, Jan Timman did.” Schroeder also claimed Timman “(degenerated) into being depraved” and is “long known to be sleazy.”
I recently ran across and article in Christianity Today from a couple of years ago (2018) in which Short ridiculed Wesley So, at the time the US champion, who has made a habit of praying before every game.
After So had lost a game, Short mocked him saying, “So the Lord deserted Wesley So today. Apparently, he didn't pray fervently enough.” Short added, “It may well be a dearly held belief, but that does not mean it is either sensible or worthy of respect, does it?” and “The problem with praying to the Lord on Sunday is that it is his day off. Paradoxically this is the very day that he is inundated with requests. No wonder he couldn't be bothered with the scores in the Berlin Candidates.”
Prior to that, in an article an article also appearing in Christianity Today in 2017, So stated that he follows Jesus publicly, even though people warn that his career will suffer.
So stated that if anyone discovers that you’re one of those “superstitious,” “narrow-minded idiots,” you’re likely to see nasty comments accumulate on your Facebook fan page. He stated that on a regular basis he receives emails on his Facebook page lecturing him about the dangers of following Jesus. They wonder how one of the world’s best players can be so weak-minded. People have told him that spending time reading his Bible, praying, and going to church will inevitably weaken his performance. People plead with him to at least keep quiet about his beliefs because thanking God publicly makes him look ridiculous.
Atheist Nigel Short’s fulminating against Christianity reminded me of Bobby Fischer’s rants against Jews. In a live interview on Hungarian radio, before launching into a Holocaust-denying rant, Fischer stated, "As Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, the Jews are not the victims, they are the victimisers!" It seemed to escape Fischer that he was born a Jew and if Hitler had had anything to do with it, Bobby would have been gassed, too.
It’s well known that after winning the World Championship in 1972 that Fischer belonged to and donated a large percentage of his winnings to the Worldwide Church of God. But by 1975 he had abandoned the sect, believing it to be part of "a satanical secret world government.”
He then turned his attention to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated anti-semitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. It was shown to be plagiarized from several earlier sources, some not antisemitic at all. It was first published in Russia in 1903 and translated into many languages.
According to the claims, the Protocols are the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting where Jewish leaders discussed their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the morals of Gentiles, and by controlling the press and the world's economies.
Henry Ford funded the printing of a half million copies that were distributed throughout the United States in the 1920s. Ford did a lot of admirable things, but he became convinced that bankers and the Jews were responsible for a whole range of things he didn’t like ranging from the world war to short skirts to jazz music.
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| Henry Ford |
He used his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, to carry on an active anti-Semitic campaign. Between 1920 and 1922 a series of articles denounced all things Jewish. Ford Motor Company pressured their car dealers to buy multiple subscriptions and hand out copies to customers. The newspaper was popular and circulation reached 900,000 in 1926.
Nigel Short wrote that in time pressure a player’s heart rate can double and when that happens you should be physically moving, but chessplayers can’t. Short thought that resulted in players “getting some sort of mental injuries that are not necessarily detected” and “you can develop neurotic ideas in chess and they're just never treated."
Fischer didn't believe in doctors and certainly not psychiatrists. When Fischer was about 19-years old it was suggested to him by Robert Byrne that he see a psychiatrist, to which Fischer replied that "a psychiatrist ought to pay [me] for the privilege of working on [my] brain." And, Pal Benko commented, "I am not a psychiatrist, but it was obvious he was not normal.” Benko’s suggestion that Fischer get help also fell on deaf ears.
In his book, Searching for Bobby Fischer, author Fred Waitzkin interviewed National Master Ronald Gross, who told him Fischer had stated to Gross that he'd had a dentist take all the fillings out of his teeth and didn't have anything put in their place because he didn’t want anything artificial in his head. Fischer had read about a guy wounded in World War II who had a metal plate in his head and was always picking up vibrations, maybe even radio transmissions and the same thing could happen from metal in your teeth. In the early 1950s National Master Dr. Harold Sussman was Fischer’s dentist. Dr. Sussman said, “He had a great set of teeth.” Like many other things about Fischer, that changed.
To me, the attitude of Short towards Christians and Fischer towards Jews is appalling, but as Samuel Reshevsky once said of a discussion on religion he had with Fischer, “He has his views. I have mine.” Other that that, there’s no real point to this post. Thanks for reading!
Further reading:
Mecking's Fight for Life - HERE
Gutmayer and Diemer-Loathsome Men - HERE
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