| |
Main
Date: 04 Jun 2008 16:15:35
From: samsloan
Subject: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
Freysteinn Thorbergsson of Iceland self-published a book on the
Fischer-Spassky Match. Basically what the book said was that the
entire match was the idea of Freysteinn Thorbergsson. Freysteinn
Thorbergsson convinced the Icelanders to hold the match, Freysteinn
Thorbergsson came to America to convince Bobby to play, Freysteinn
Thorbergsson accompanied Fischer on the flight to Iceland and in short
every good thing that happened was entirely due to the efforts of
Freysteinn Thorbergsson.
However, the book =93Bobby Fischer vs. The Rest of the World=94 by Brad
Darrach tells a slightly different story. Indeed, it states on pages
97 and 103 that Freysteinn Thorbergsson did show up at Saidy's home to
convince Bobby to plan but apparently was not allowed to see Bobby,
and Freysteinn Thorbergsson indeed was on the airplane that took Bobby
to Iceland but according to page 112 when Bobby saw him smiling at
him, Bobby shouted =93I want that man removed=94.
Freysteinn Thorbergsson played in the World Open in New York in either
1973 or 1974. I think he played in the Under-2200 section and did
poorly but chessmetrics.com rates him as a 2300 player.
http://db.chessmetrics.com/PL/PL40515.htm
Freysteinn Thorbergsson showed me the book (although perhaps it was
just a long article) during the 1973 World Open and I read it but did
not buy it. I would like to obtain a copy of the book Freysteinn
Thorbergsson wrote as a curiosity. I cannot find it listed on Amazon
or anywhere else. Does anybody know where I can find it? Has anybody
ever even heard of this book? Surely, someone in Iceland must know
about it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Sam Sloan
|
|
| |
Date: 06 Jun 2008 09:12:56
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 6, 10:48 am, David Richerby <[email protected] >
wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > That's the sort of thing our Solipsistic Sam is always doing,
> > claiming to be a witness to and/or participant in every major
> > historic event since Moses came down from Sinai.
>
> *Since*? Don't you know that it was Sam who tapped his pal Moses on
> the shoulder and said, ``Hey, I know this cool mountain. Fancy going
> for a bit of a hike?''
>
> Dave.
>
> --
> David Richerby Electronic Happy Beer (TM): it'swww.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ like a refreshing lager that makes
> your troubles melt away but it uses
> electricity!
I was going to make a joke about that too, but I will leave that to
the rest of you.
|
| |
Date: 06 Jun 2008 07:59:56
From:
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 5, 9:15=A0pm, Frisco Del Rosario <[email protected] > wrote:
> In article
> <0ae72903-b068-41b8-bbf1-d51668554...@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
>
> =A0SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > [Freysteinn Thorbergsson] won the championship of Iceland once, no small=
feat.
>
> That was a much smaller feat *before* Fischer changed the landscape,
> wasn't it?
>
> After Bobby put Iceland on the world chess map, didn't Iceland go on to
> grow the largest number of grandmasters per capita than any other
> country in the world for a while?
>
> But before that, winning the Icelandic championship couldn't've been a
> big deal.
Oh, I don't know about that. A guy named Fridrik Olafsson won the
Icelandic title in 1952, 1953, 1957, 1961, 1962,and 1968. He was a
high-ranking GM, played in the 1959 FIDE Candidates Tournament, was
close to Elo 2600 at his peak. So there must have been at least one
good Icelandic player before 1972.
Thorbergsson won the Icelandic Championship in 1960, when Olafsson
was in his prime. I don't know if Olafsson competed that year; if he
did, it speaks well of Thorbergsson's skill.
What I meant by Thorbergsson being the Icelandic Sloan referred to
T's book, where Sam says T claims to have played a major role, perhaps
the most important role, in bringing the Fischer-Spassky match about.
That's the sort of thing our Solipsistic Sam is always doing, claiming
to be a witness to and/or participant in every major historic event
since Moses came down from Sinai.
|
| | |
Date: 06 Jun 2008 16:48:21
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
<[email protected] > wrote:
> That's the sort of thing our Solipsistic Sam is always doing,
> claiming to be a witness to and/or participant in every major
> historic event since Moses came down from Sinai.
*Since*? Don't you know that it was Sam who tapped his pal Moses on
the shoulder and said, ``Hey, I know this cool mountain. Fancy going
for a bit of a hike?''
Dave.
--
David Richerby Electronic Happy Beer (TM): it's
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ like a refreshing lager that makes
your troubles melt away but it uses
electricity!
|
| |
Date: 06 Jun 2008 02:30:57
From: SBD
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 5, 8:15 pm, Frisco Del Rosario <[email protected] > wrote:
> After Bobby put Iceland on the world chess map, didn't Iceland go on to
> grow the largest number of grandmasters per capita than any other
> country in the world for a while?
>
> But before that, winning the Icelandic championship couldn't've been a
> big deal.
Iceland has always been strong in chess.
|
| |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 19:51:27
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 5, 9:15 pm, Frisco Del Rosario <[email protected] > wrote:
> In article
> <0ae72903-b068-41b8-bbf1-d51668554...@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
>
> SBD <[email protected]> wrote:
> > [Freysteinn Thorbergsson] won the championship of Iceland once, no small feat.
>
> That was a much smaller feat *before* Fischer changed the landscape,
> wasn't it?
>
> After Bobby put Iceland on the world chess map, didn't Iceland go on to
> grow the largest number of grandmasters per capita than any other
> country in the world for a while?
>
> But before that, winning the Icelandic championship couldn't've been a
> big deal.
Not true. Iceland has always had the strongest players per capita of
any country in the world, going back to at least the 1930s. Every
adult male in Iceland knows how to play chess and probably the average
strength of the entire male population is 1700.
Sam Sloan
|
| |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 17:04:11
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
According to the December 1974 Chess Life, page 848, Freysteinn
Thorbergsson was rated 2176.
I am surprised he is rated so high because, as I recall, he bombed out
of the World Open and dropped out.
Perhaps this rating reflects in part his FIDE rating, which was 2335.
I think he died not long thereafter.
Sam Sloan
|
| |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 13:59:53
From: SBD
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 5, 11:34 am, [email protected] wrote:
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson sounds like the Icelandic version of Sam
> Sloan.
He won the championship of Iceland once, no small feat.
|
| | |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 18:15:22
From: Frisco Del Rosario
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
In article
<0ae72903-b068-41b8-bbf1-d51668554ae2@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com >,
SBD <[email protected] > wrote:
> [Freysteinn Thorbergsson] won the championship of Iceland once, no small feat.
That was a much smaller feat *before* Fischer changed the landscape,
wasn't it?
After Bobby put Iceland on the world chess map, didn't Iceland go on to
grow the largest number of grandmasters per capita than any other
country in the world for a while?
But before that, winning the Icelandic championship couldn't've been a
big deal.
|
| | | |
Date: 06 Jun 2008 12:09:57
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
Frisco Del Rosario <[email protected] > wrote:
> After Bobby put Iceland on the world chess map, didn't Iceland go on
> to grow the largest number of grandmasters per capita than any other
> country in the world for a while?
According to Wikipedia, Iceland's population in 1980 was only about
230,000 so it would hardly be surprising if Iceland had the highest
per-capita proportion of GMs in the world. After all, if Iceland had
just one GM in 1980, the USSR would have needed about 1,200, the USA
about 990 or the UK about 250 to acheive an equivalent `GM density'.
Dave.
Sources for populations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union (1985)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-111.pdf
--
David Richerby Salted T-Shirt (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ fashion statement but it's covered
in salt!
|
| | |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 23:10:59
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?J=FCrgen_R.?=
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
"SBD" <[email protected] > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:0ae72903-b068-41b8-bbf1-d51668554ae2@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Jun 5, 11:34 am, [email protected] wrote:
>
>> Freysteinn Thorbergsson sounds like the Icelandic version of Sam
>> Sloan.
>
> He won the championship of Iceland once, no small feat.
That's nothing. Iceland has a population of 300'000.
Sloan is Chinese Chess World Champion (non-Chinese,
Foreign White Devil section) and there are at least
3 Billion FWD's.
|
| | | |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 15:13:33
From: J.D. Walker
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
J�rgen R. wrote:
>
> "SBD" <[email protected]> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:0ae72903-b068-41b8-bbf1-d51668554ae2@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>> On Jun 5, 11:34 am, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>>> Freysteinn Thorbergsson sounds like the Icelandic version of Sam
>>> Sloan.
>>
>> He won the championship of Iceland once, no small feat.
>
> That's nothing. Iceland has a population of 300'000.
> Sloan is Chinese Chess World Champion (non-Chinese,
> Foreign White Devil section) and there are at least
> 3 Billion FWD's.
Help me out here. I am trying to learn a bit of German. How does one
translate "foreign white devils?" Perhaps: die Fremdwei�teufelsbrut?
[anyone? Bueller?]
How do you come up with 3 billion anyways. That seems too high.
--
"Do that which is right..."
Rev. J.D. Walker
|
| |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 09:34:11
From:
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
On Jun 4, 7:15=A0pm, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
>
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson of Iceland self-published a book on the
> Fischer-Spassky Match. Basically what the book said was that the
> entire match was the idea of Freysteinn Thorbergsson. Freysteinn
> Thorbergsson convinced the Icelanders to hold the match, Freysteinn
> Thorbergsson came to America to convince Bobby to play, Freysteinn
> Thorbergsson accompanied Fischer on the flight to Iceland and in short
> every good thing that happened was entirely due to the efforts of
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson.
>
> However, the book =93Bobby Fischer vs. The Rest of the World=94 by Brad
> Darrach =A0tells a slightly different story. Indeed, it states on pages
> 97 and 103 that Freysteinn Thorbergsson did show up at Saidy's home to
> convince Bobby to plan but apparently was =A0not allowed to see Bobby,
> and Freysteinn Thorbergsson indeed was on the airplane that took Bobby
> to Iceland but according to page 112 when Bobby saw him smiling at
> him, Bobby shouted =93I want that man removed=94.
>
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson played in the World Open in New York in either
> 1973 or 1974. I think he played in the Under-2200 section and did
> poorly but chessmetrics.com rates him as a 2300 player.
>
> http://db.chessmetrics.com/PL/PL40515.htm
>
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson showed me the book (although perhaps it was
> just a long article) during the 1973 World Open and I read it but did
> not buy it. I would like to obtain a copy of the book Freysteinn
> Thorbergsson wrote as a curiosity. I cannot find it listed on Amazon
> or anywhere else. Does anybody know where I can find it? Has anybody
> ever even heard of this book? Surely, someone in Iceland must know
> about it.
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Sam Sloan
Freysteinn Thorbergsson sounds like the Icelandic version of Sam
Sloan.
|
| | |
Date: 05 Jun 2008 18:17:07
From: Frisco Del Rosario
Subject: Re: Freysteinn Thorbergsson book on the 1972 Fischer-Spassky Match
|
In article
<da2ec625-ad87-488e-b05a-f94d2e0d758b@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com >,
[email protected] wrote:
> Freysteinn Thorbergsson sounds like the Icelandic version of Sam Sloan.
My favorite picture of Sam Sloan is the one where he's seated at a table
with two Icelandic women, and I imagine one saying to the other in
Icelandic, "I think that guy is wanking under the table".
|
|
