From: Larry Kaufman COMCAST NET> Date: 14 nov 2002 Subject: Re: byoyomi, Bronstein, "Fischer" ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sam Sloan" ISHIPRESS COM> To: TECHUNIX TECHNION AC IL> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 1:40 PM Subject: Re: byoyomi, Bronstein, "Fischer" > At 12:23 PM 11/13/2002 -0500, Larry Kaufman wrote: > > > You're welcome, but I'm sure it was inevitable anyway once digital > >clocks became common. I just resent Fischer claiming the idea as his own., > >and everyone giving him credit, especially now that he has proven to be such > >a jerk with his post- 9/11 comments praising the killers. > > > > Larry > > I am going to hit Larry on this last remark. > > Bobby did not make his comments post 9/11. He made his comments on exactly > 9/11. Since he made his remarks in Japan, and Japan is 14 hours ahead of > the USA, and since the first airplane hit the WTC at 8:46 AM and that tower > did not collapse until 10:15 AM, Bobby could not have known about the > tremendous loss of life which was going to take place, plus in his remarks > Bobby made no mention of the World Trade Center at all. Instead, he talked > about the Palestinian issues. > Sam Sloan First of all, for the benefit of anyone who doesn't know, we are talking about former World Chess Champion Robert James Fischer (a.k.a. "Bobby"), who was the hero of my youth. I met him several times in the '60s. Fischer specifically cheered the report of the attack, calling it "wonderful news" on the radio. He may not have known all the details yet, but he apparently had heard that a terrorist plane or planes had hit the Trade Center, even if he did not name it as such. He surely knew that many innocent people had died. In other radio chats, he called for the extermination of Jews, is an open racist, and consistently uses extremely vulgar language on the air when children may be listening. He is also under indictment in the U.S. The only reason I mention all this in a Shogi list is that we are discussing the use of the time control which is widely but incorrectly attributed to Fischer. If Kasparov or almost anyone else were making the claim, I would be inclined to let the matter pass, but since Fischer has become such a despicable person having his name in any way associated with shogi can only be harmful. I respectfully request that shogi players refer to this time control either by the name I gave it, "accumulation", or by the currently popular term "increment". Even the version of shuffle-chess that Fischer did invent (specifically the castling rules), which he calls "Fischerrandom", is now widely called "Chess960", probably because many people want nothing to do with anything named after Fischer. How many would use a "Hitler" clock or play "Hitler" chess? I'm not much into politics, but it hurts to have my invention credited to such a despicable person. Larry Kaufman