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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dave Sill<br><b><span style='color:#1F497D'>…</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><p class=MsoNormal>Bobby Fischer was probably the greatest human chess player who ever lived and he was a total ignoramus and a thoroughly inferior creature in every other aspect of existence. <o:p></o:p></p></div></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Nonetheless, I'm confident that he could have learned checkers and did learn many things besides chess<span style='color:#1F497D'>.</span>-Dave<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This was an extremely interesting debate back in the day. There were those who claimed Fischer was extremely intelligent, as evidenced by his ability to speak Russian, German, French and Spanish, in addition to his native English. Others pointed out that he didn’t really speak these languages, but rather had mastered the specific chess terms in those languages. The game does have its own specialized language. Speakers of those languages in the chess world may not have even realized Fischer had no idea how to converse on other topics outside the door of that club, even in his native language.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>My theory is that Fischer was very intelligent and super focused on the game, to the total exclusion of everything else, to the point of complete dysfunctional obsessive compulsive. He came up with ideas over the board that amaze fans to this day, made what looked like crazy sacrifices that were perfectly sound, and resulted in his smashing his opponent off the board 12 or 15 moves down the road. Fischer focused everything he had on the 8x8 board. That was his whole world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Smart and super focused: a winning combination. Or losing, depending on how one defines win and loss.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>