Continued from last week
Fischer’s IQ was in the range of 180 – genius level. But this is not exceptional to Fischer alone. Brilliant chess players have been known to have high IQs. However, there is probably no topic that intrigues chess players as much as the inner workings of the mind of Bobby Fischer. Chess players universally feel they can improve their own game by understanding how Fischer’s mind worked.
But Fischer’s incredible retention was not restricted to chess alone. One day when he was in Iceland, Fischer called Frederick Olaffson, Iceland’s only Grandmaster. Olaffson’s Icelandic-speaking daughter answered the phone and explained her parents were out and would return at suppertime. Fischer understood nothing that was said because he did not know the language. But he listened, apologized and hung up. Later that day Fischer met with another Icelandic player who spoke English. He explained what had happened and repeated every Icelandic word he had heard on the phone, imitating the sounds with perfect inflection. The Icelandic player translated the message word for word for Fischer.
Following his match with Spassky, Fischer had achieved the highest rating of any player in history. Professor Arpad Elo’s International Rating System, a thoroughly reliable system that is used to this day, rated Fischer at 2805. He was the only player in the history of the game to have reached the magic 2800 mark. Rating points are given for wins against strong Grandmasters and are taken away for draws and losses. Fischer’s record remained unbroken for twenty years. And to this day only two players have succeeded in reaching 2800–Garry Kasparov and Veselin Topalov. Although he is the current world champion, Vladimir Kramnik is rated at 2750 and Viswanathan Anand the number two in the world, is rated at 2779. Kasparov has retired from chess and is not active, so he is not rated. And by the way, Professor Elo had correctly predicted that Fischer would beat Spassky by a 12