Chess | Fischer And The False Prophet

No discussion on chess insanity would be complete without mention of Bobby Fischer (pictured left), the legend who descended into paranoia and darkness in his later years. His single-handed demolition of the Soviet chess colossus has recently been made into the movie Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire.

To many, Fischer’s obsession with chess was his undoing. The man once said, “All I want to do, ever, is just play chess.” In fact, his preoccupation worried his mother so much that she took him to psychiatrists. Legend has it that when Fischer lost his virginity at age 19, he remarked on the experience, “Chess is better.”

But Fischer was actually interested in one other thing—religion. In the mid-1960s, he got involved with a sect (many label it a cult) called the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). It was led by a huckster named Herbert W. Armstrong (pictured right) who based his radio ministry on end-time prophecies. The cornerstone of Armstrong’s bizarre apocalyptic scenario was that the US and Britain had actually descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. He taught that God would punish America and Britain via an invasion from a United States of Europe led by Germany. Normally rational and logical, Fischer bought all of this, hook, line, and sinker.

Fischer was driven nuts trying to keep all the cult’s teachings like Sabbath observance, dietary laws, and tithing. He was also forbidden from befriending “unconverted” people. He would force himself into Bible study and prayer, even after returning exhausted from the chess club at four in the morning. Fischer also began giving his hard-earned money to the cult. Upon winning the World Championship in 1972, he sent $61,200 of his prize money to the WCG.

Meanwhile, he never improved his own standard of living nor his mother’s, a woman who lived in a shabby apartment with no bathroom. By contrast, Armstrong was living a lavish lifestyle, touring the world in his private jet, and giving expensive gifts to world leaders.

Armstrong had been predicting an imminent Great Tribulation since the 1930s and had been proven wrong repeatedly. He was now prophesying 1972 as the apocalyptic year, but when the year passed, Fischer began to see Armstrong for what he was . . . a false prophet and master manipulator. He also learned of the sexual escapades of Herbert’s son, Garner Ted, and concluded they were both hypocrites. Fischer left the WCG. He could only lament in the end, “And I should have known that it was all just a pack of lies. He was just playing with me. Lie after lie . . . ”