Garry Kasparov on Bobby Fischer

Garry Kasparov, world chess champion between 1985 and 2000, writes about his predecessor in the Daily Telegraph:

I dreamed of playing Fischer one day, and we eventually did become competitors after a fashion, though in the history books and not across the chessboard. He left competitive chess in 1975, walking away from the title he coveted so dearly his entire life.

Ten more years passed before I took the title from Fischer’s successor, Anatoly Karpov, but rarely did an interviewer miss a chance to bring up Fischer’s name to me. “Would you beat Fischer?” “Would you play Fischer if he came back?” “Do you know where Bobby Fischer is?”

Occasionally I felt as though I were playing a one-sided match against a phantasm. Nobody knew where Fischer was, or if he, still the most famous chess player in the world at the time, was plotting a comeback.

After all, at 42 in 1985 he was still much younger than two of the players I had just faced in the world championship qualification matches. But 13 years away from the board is a long time. As for playing him, I suppose I would have liked my chances and I said as much, but how can you play a myth?

I am now looking forward to seeing the film Bobby Fischer Against the World...