A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

AFTER A LIFETIME OF ZWISCHENZUGS, A ZUGZWANG: Bobby Fischer, grandmaster, prodigy, iconoclast, cipher, recluse, self-loathing anti-semite, misanthrope, muse (Searching for Bobby Fischer, and probably Yiddish Policemen's Union in some ways as well), titan of 1970s popular geek culture, barbaphile, the Ivan Drago of cold-war Russian nightmares, the Stu Ungar of the Royal Game, died yesterday in Iceland. Iceland is, obviously, the Valhalla of chess legend. When Kasparov joins Fischer there, legend has it that Fischer will unleash "chess ragnarok," where knights will travel in straight lines, pawns will lay down with bishops, and the black queen will shed a single tear.