Chess Explorations (91)
By Edward Winter
The mystery surrounding ‘My 61 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer’
is both intriguing and important. The back cover bills the book as ‘the
new classic that will last throughout the ages’, but is it a genuine work
by the late world champion or an attempt by one or more unidentified individuals
to dupe the chess world? Given that the volume, a paperback with many photographs,
comprises no fewer than 753 pages and purports to offer countless analytical
improvements to the original 1969 edition of Fischer’s book, My 60
Memorable Games, the quantity of evidence available for evaluation is enormous.
But what conclusions should be drawn on the issue of authenticity?
Any evaluation must, of course, be calm, objective and factual. Too many people
have already written about My 61 Memorable Games without having seen
it and, in some cases, without even knowing whether or not it existed. For our
part, we have steered clear of the subject until now, as it is only recently
that the book came into our possession. Since then, we have been scrutinizing it without
partis pris and without rushing to judgement.
Below are four sample pages:
The final page above concerns the extra, 61st, game in the book, Fischer v
Spassky, Sveti Stefan, 1992 (first match-game).
Examination of the book continues, as can be seen in our feature article
My 61 Memorable
Games (Bobby Fischer). It provides a detailed description of the book
and many further extracts.
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by Edward Winter
Edward Winter is the editor of Chess
Notes, which was founded in January 1982 as "a forum for aficionados
to discuss all matters relating to the Royal Pastime". Since then, 7,830
items have been published, and the series has resulted in four books by Winter:
Chess
Explorations (1996), Kings,
Commoners and Knaves (1999), A
Chess Omnibus (2003) and Chess
Facts and Fables (2006). He is also the author of a monograph on Capablanca
(1989). In 2011 a paperback
edition was issued.
Chess Notes is well known for its historical research, and anyone browsing
in its archives
will find a wealth of unknown games, accounts of historical mysteries, quotes
and quips, and other material of every kind imaginable. Correspondents from
around the world contribute items, and they include not only "ordinary readers"
but also some eminent historians – and, indeed, some eminent masters. Chess
Notes is located at the Chess
History Center. Signed copies of Edward Winter's publications are
currently available.
