Mark R. Cheathem Andrew Jackson, Bobby Fischer, Chess

Bobby Fischer and Andrew Jackson: Two Peas in a Pod?

I finished reading Frank Brady's Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall-From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness last week. It's a very readable biography of the American world chess champion who captured the nation's attention in the early 1970s with his victory over Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. Many chess experts believe … Continue reading Bobby Fischer and Andrew Jackson: Two Peas in a Pod?

Mark R. Cheathem Bobby Fischer, Chess, Early Republic, Paul Morphy

Paul Morphy: Antebellum Chess Champion

One day, when I have the time and the money to do the research, I would like to write a biography of Paul Morphy (1837-1884), the greatest American chess player of the nineteenth century. He was the Bobby Fischer of his era, a natural talent without the extreme paranoia and anti-Semitic rants. Born in New … Continue reading Paul Morphy: Antebellum Chess Champion