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| Nov-29-23 | | Petrosianic: Anyway, there's some new business that hopefully somebody here already knows about. I was surprised to find out recently that Bobby Fischer is a trademark. I was in a game store recently, and saw a "Bobby Fischer" chess set. My first thought, of course, was how annoyed Fischer himself would be by it, since he hated anyone making money off him, even legitimately. If he wrote a book, he'd be annoyed that people who printed the book, and people who sold the book, and people who promoted the book made something for their efforts too. But when I looked closer at the box, I was surprised to see that "Bobby Fischer is a registered trademark and used under authority of Wood Expressions, Inc. Los Angeles, California." How is that possible to trademark the name of a public figure like that? Could I trademark the name "George Washington", and then charge the Washington Monument a royalty for using it? Maybe all they mean is that their special logo, wherein a pawn forms both the "o" in Bobby and the "i" in Fischer is their property. Maybe, but it clearly says that "Bobby Fischer" is a trademark. Good thing Fischer isn't alive, or he might be served with a cease and desist for using his own name. I was tempted to buy one, but knowing how (justifiably) incensed Fischer himself would be by the whole thing, I declined. |
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Nov-29-23
 | | Sally Simpson: Hi Petrosianic,
The pieces are here:
https://www.chesshouse.com/products... £50.00. "A classic for decades, the recreated Bobby Fischer Ultimate Tournament Chess Pieces give the chess player the ultimate chess-playing experience. The low center of gravity makes this an excellent set for blitz or speed chess. The unmistakable feel of these heavily weighted pieces provides an extra level of confidence for your game. The "Infinity Weighting System" means the weights are molded into the plastic for a permanent solution against loose weighting." I was thinking about buying a set but I was worried that the pieces would not come out of the box if the light in my study was not good enough or the radio was too loud. |
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| Nov-29-23 | | Petrosianic: Yeah, I've seen their website, I just don't know how you can trademark a public figure's name. Or maybe you can't, and their claim is just bluff and bluster. |
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| Nov-29-23 | | Petrosianic: They don't seem to know much about Fischer or chess or both. Their box explains that Fischer was "the great American chess grandmaster", implying that there's one... And it didn't seem to think his having been world champion to have been worth mentioning... And the fact that they felt the need to specify that Fischer was a chess grandmaster rather than whatever other kind of grandmaster might have his name on a box of chess pieces... Actually, those three things left me with the impression that the makers of this set know almost nothing about chess. |
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Nov-29-23
| | Sally Simpson: Maybe the family agreed that his name can be used. I seem to recall after the '72 match he was approached and offered silly money to add his name to a chess set but turned it down. I've no idea about the trademark laws regarding using a name. I know you and me could write a book 'Carlsen's Best Games' without Carlsen's permission or the need to pay him a penny which to me seems wrong. (though we need a better title; 'Magnificent Magic Magnus the Terror from Tønsberg.' ) |
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| Nov-29-23 | | Petrosianic: Well, there are lots of "So-and-So's 100 Best Games" books, mostly written by other people. This is possible because chess games can't be copyrighted. And there's usually nothing wrong wiith using a public's figure's name to talk about them, but claiming to own that name seems like another kettle of fish entirely. |
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Nov-29-23
| | Sally Simpson: Hi Petro,
I found another set with Bobby's name attached. I cannot see the family being allowed to sell his name to two different companies so I guess manufacturers are chancing their arm. Fischer Black & Boxwood Chess Pieces:
The Bobby J Fischer Black and Boxwood Chessmen
A stylish and unique chess set made from Boxwood These beautiful chess pieces are a stylish set that have been hand made using genuine boxwood. These chessmen are perfectly detailed and are almost identical to the chess set that Bobby Fischer himself used. These chessmen include 34 chess pieces with two extra queens as standard for pawn promotion. https://www.chessmaze.co.uk/product... <...as standard for pawn promotion.> what we want is Carlsen to play a famous game where he under promotes and wins with three Knights. The they will have to included extra Knights, Bishops and Rook. I have not yet seen a Beth Harmon chess set but Etsy have loads of chess related Beth Harmon stuff up for sale. Mugs, stickers, coasters... https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/beth... |
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Nov-29-23
 | | offramp: I said, What about Don Bradman?? |
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Nov-29-23
 | | keypusher: <offramp: I said, What about Don Bradman??> Two leg slips, leg gully, deep fine leg, long leg, short square leg and a very silly mid on – that’s how the English captain greeted Sir Don Bradman to the crease. “I’ve got him…he’s yellow” – That was it! https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket... |
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| Nov-29-23 | | Petrosianic: <Sally Simpson> I found that "Bobby Fischer" is, in fact a registered trademark of Wood Expressions. They didn't make that up. But this may clear it up somewhat. The page says: "The name(s), portrait(s), and/or signature(s) shown in the mark does not identify a particular living individual." While the game box claims unequivocally that "Bobby Fischer is a registered trademark." Given how badly the box is written (examples mentioned earlier), I put more credence in the page's claim that it's talking about a specific mark, rather than the name itself. https://trademarks.justia.com/873/4... |
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Dec-02-23
 | | PawnSac: < perfidious: The break you cite was the second during Fischer's career, and following both he emerged stronger than previously. > yes. As I recall, he was friends with Ken Smith, who would help him get chess books, analysis, informats, whatever he could get his hands on, Bobby would gobble it up. He studied the whole time he was inactive. Incredibly driven. |
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| Dec-03-23 | | Petrosianic: <As I recall, he was friends with Ken Smith, who would help him get chess books, analysis, informats, whatever he could get his hands on, Bobby would gobble it up. He studied the whole time he was inactive.> That was true of his first two layoffs, but not his third. See the 6/4/1973 New York Times article "Fischer's Friends Wonder If He'll Play Chess Again": <"Any person in occasional touch with Fischer says that for the first time in his life Bobby is not keeping abreast of the chess literature. He used to play over every major tournament. Now he is unfamiliar with the latest theoretical innovations. "That," said the friend, "is a bad sign."> Apparently Fischer took a genuine break from chess after winning the title, and found it impossible to get back into. Anderssen made the same observation, that you can't just put your excellence into a glass case to be pulled out again whenever you want. After 1972, Fischer was unable to play to his own satisfaction, and was not willing to return to the grind. |
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| Dec-03-23 | | Cassandro: <After 1972, Fischer was unable to play to his own satisfaction, and was not willing to return to the grind.> Baseless speculation. |
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Dec-03-23
| | keypusher: <Cassandro: <After 1972, Fischer was unable to play to his own satisfaction, and was not willing to return to the grind.>
Baseless speculation. >>
Petrosianic’s post contains the exact quote his statement is based on, sock puppet. |
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| Dec-04-23 | | Cassandro: <keypusher> Sock puppet? Not you too my friend, you're better than that. My viewpoint is that the 1973 New York Times article <Petrosianic> quoted seems like baseless speculation. Who were these so-called "friends"? Unnamed in the article, right? How can we know that these sources were reliable? Now, the NYT were probably a little more trustworthy back then than it is nowadays, but I remain skeptical. Then, and now, most of the time mainstream media writes about chess, the information should be taken with a grain of salt. |
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| Dec-04-23 | | Petrosianic: <Cassandro>: <How can we know that these sources were reliable?> If the article were new, I might agree with you that we should wait and see. But it's 50 years old, we've seen, and it turned out to be apparently correct. Fischer only played public chess once more, 20 years later. He didn't just avoid one specific person, he even walked out of playing people like Gligoric and Quinteros who he couldn't possibly have been afraid of losing to. If he wasn't avoiding them specifically, then he was avoiding chess itself, take your pick. Given that he later professed to hate chess, that option does seem pretty likely. So, far from being baseless, it's quite a reasonable series of inferences. The friends are not named, to answer that question. In fact, the entire article is online now. I had to pay to get a copy a couple of years ago. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/04/... |
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| Dec-07-23 | | avenant69: Garðar Sverrisson has come out with a revised edition of his 2015 book, Bobby Fischer the Final years.
This new edition (2023) is a big improvement on the previous one, many pertinent details which were previously omitted or skated upon, are revealed, their long discussions on political, philosophical, current events and even religious matters are treated in turn, and generally one gets a much fuller picture of his views and outlook on life than were previously available.
Most surprising of all: He n-e-v-e-r intended to make a comeback to ordinary chess, (the 1992 match was only to replenish his bank account) but only seriously contemplated to play again if it was a Fischer-Random competition.
Must be translated into English a.s.a.p. |
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| Dec-12-23 | | Petrosianic: In the end he never played Fischer Random publicly either. Probably because he knew he wouldn't be the world champion at it. Susan Polgar has mentioned many times how she played Fischer Random privately with Fischer (and there's at least one photo showing her doing it), and she always says how she promised not to divulge how she did, but drops hints that she did really well (which is kind of tacky on her part. If you promised to keep quiet, then keep quiet). |
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| Dec-12-23 | | Petrosianic: Looks like she's stopped dropping hints, and has come right out and said that she scored about 50%. Polgar was probably about 2500 at that time, so it's no mystery why Bobby didn't want to play publicly. He'd have been the Roland Garros of chess. https://www.facebook.com/susanpolga... |
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| Dec-12-23 | | stone free or die: <Petrosian> as an aside, did you see the recent Aronian interview where he thinks the future of chess is Fischer Random (aka chess360)? |
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Dec-12-23
 | | HeMateMe: < did you see the recent Aronian interview where he thinks the future of chess is Fischer Random (aka chess360)?> I'd rather play underwater, nude, Scrabble. |
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| Dec-12-23 | | Petrosianic: <HeMateMe: <I'd rather play underwater, nude, Scrabble.> We'll be sorry to lose you, but that's life, I guess. |
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| Dec-13-23 | | stone free or die: <<HMM> 'd rather play underwater, nude, Scrabble.> We need to take up a GoFundMe page for the funds necessary to prevent this! |
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Dec-13-23
| | HeMateMe: I need to start a Go Fun Me page, where people send me money so I can have more fun. |
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| Dec-28-23 | | kingfu: I also notice The Fischer Monster was ABSENT for the first 6 or 7 months of 1966. In all of these time off deals, I suspect he was doing SIMULS FOR CASH as his skill set was not conducive to a steady paycheck type situation. Some years in the 1960s seem to be ALL SIMULS, 1964 for example. This makes it even more amazing that at the same time Fischer was playing all these SIMULS, he was able to extend his CHESS beyond ALL. As a Scientist, I have a question: How in The Hell did HE DO THAT? I remember Fischer being fit. When he prepped for The World Championship, I saw a picture of Fischer with Larry Evans in a swimming pool with a floating Chess Set. So, What did Bobby Fischer eat for Breakfast? Perhaps a nutritious breakfast profile was responsible for Bobby being a couple of hundred rating points better than THE MOSCOW CENTRAL CHESS CLUB. Perhaps not. Truth is WE will never know how Fischer did it. Only Fischer knows. WE will have to observe The Fischer Monster as a unique data point in Time. |
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