It was nice to notice that someone had brought flowers to the grave not so long ago. Actually it seemed that there were flowers by more than one person. So he's really not forgotten by any means.

The text in the gravestone is in Russian and says simply: "Grandmaster, world champion of chess". See for example the image in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M...

As white against a weak opponent he would play for a win.

As white against a strong opponent he would see what happened on the board. His reputation and his title of ex-world-champion tended to insure him against defeat, especially as his rating grew: if his position looked bad he would offer a draw.

As black he would simply play a few moves and offer a draw.

Using this method he racked up huge non-losing streaks and his rating skyrocketed!

I am glad you found it quickly; graves can be very hard to locate, sometimes.

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<Check It Out: I've been pouring through The Life & Games of Mikhail Tal....>

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Landon:

<Interviewer: Mikhail Nekhemievich, one of the most mysterious World Champions is Robert Fischer. We don’t get much information about him, and when we get some information, it’s very contradictory. How do you remember him? Some people say that now he looks more like a “local idiot”.

Tal: It’s hard to call any famous chess player a perfectly rational man with impeccable logic. There are many different people among us. But concerning Fischer, I can’t agree that I’ve been always provoking Fischer, and he always resented me for that. When I fell ill at Curacao, he visited me in the hospital. We did chaff each other, of course. He’s a very interesting man. But there was one thing that made Fischer very difficult to understand – his peculiar sense of humour. At the Varna Olympics in 1962 after one round we went out of the tournament hall together. At the time, they said that Fischer asks for money for every autograph, let alone an interview. “A chess journal editor from Riga called me”, I told Fischer, “and asked me to interview you.” It wasn’t a complete lie – this editor was me! Bobby gladly agreed to talk, and we strolled along the seafront. My first question was, “Who do you think is the strongest chess player?” He stared at me, puzzled. I immediately corrected myself: “Except for yourself, of course.” He again stared at me and said, “Well, you’re also a good player.” I immediately understood that such an interview won’t ever be published. But still asked questions, just for myself. I learned that he never tasted champagne, neither French nor Soviet, but for some reason prefers French. I asked him various questions, and when we came to the hotel, I asked the last question: “You turn nineteen soon, have you thought of marriage?” He looked at me gullibly and said, “I’m thinking over this problem, I don’t know what to do. Should I get a used car, or should I marry?” I doubted my English knowledge and asked him again, and he confirmed his words. He’s going to marry, but not an American woman (they spend all their time at the hairdresser’s he said). Girls from Taiwan or Hong Kong attracted him more, he liked exotic things. A used car costed $700 or so then, and the costs to bring a girl from Taiwan to USA were almost the same, and if anything happens, it’s easy to send her back home! How could I publish something like that? And many newspapers did publish such materials. So I understand Fischer’s bitterness towards press. He has all the reasons for it.>