The Seer (Chapter 08) Poem by Kim Barney
The Seer (Chapter 08)
I won't be at the game on Saturday,
Charlie told me.
Why not? We need you!
I blurted out.
Because my dad is taking me up to
Ogden to play against Bobby Fischer.
Who's Bobby Fischer? What position
does he play? I asked, still thinking baseball.
Bobby Fischer is a chess grandmaster,
Charlie informed me. He won
the U. S. Championship when
he was only fourteen years old,
and still holds the title.
Wow! Just our age, I said.
How old is he now?
He's twenty-one, and he's
really good. He'll be World
Champion some day.
Charlie, I didn't even know
that you played chess.
My dad bought me a book last
week and I've been reading
all about it.
If this Bobby Fischer is so good,
why would he want to play
against some kid he's never met
and who's never played before?
It won't be just me. He's playing
a simultaneous exhibition,
as many as want to play.
So will you beat him?
(I asked with extreme doubt.)
One person will, said Charlie.
But will it be you?
I don't know. I can't see
everything, remember?
...
I thought about asking Charlie
if I could ride to Ogden with him
and play against Bobby Fischer, too,
but I knew even less about chess.
My family had a cheap chess set
but we didn't really even know
how to set up the board properly.
We thought the queen started the
game on the left of the king. We
didn't know that both queens start
on a square of their own color.
Another thing was, I really didn't
like Charlie's dad very much,
and didn't want to ride all the way
to Ogden and back with him.
Also, I found out that they were
going to stay overnight in the hotel
where the exhibition was being held
and I had no money to pay for that.
…
We lost the baseball game that Saturday
without Charlie there at shortstop, and
Charlie did not beat Bobby Fischer...
but he did manage to get a draw!
How I wish I could have had Charlie's
gift of seeing into the future just for
a little while. I might have been able
to prevent what happened next.
to be continued...
Just find chapter 01, read it and then click the 'next poem' button, which will get you the next chapter.
submitted 15 Sep 2015
Recife, Brazil
Bobby Fischer played a simultaneous exhibition (chess) in Ogden, Utah on April 18,1964. He played on 65 boards and won 62 of the games. He suffered one loss, to a man named George Girton. When someone from the local newspaper asked Girton if he would be interested in a rematch, he said 'I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.'
Bobby also gave up two draws in the simultaneous match. One was to a Utah expert by the name of Hans Morrow, and the other was to...
I don't know, but it wasn't Charlie. Charlie is fictional.
Additional information, thanks to my friend Darwin Henry 'Hank' Beuning:
Bobby Fischer, Born 9 March 1943, died 17 January 2008 at age 64.
When Bobby played in the Ogden simul on 8 April 1964, he had just turned 21.
He became the youngest Grandmaster in history in 1958.
U.S. Chess Championship was held in New York City from 15 December 1963 to 2 January 1964. Bobby won the championship with a perfect score of 11 out of 11. This is still the only perfect score in the history of the tournament.
Bobby had won the previous 5 championships that he had played in. He was still holding the title [of U.S. Champion] in 1964.
Thank you, Hank, for that information.
..........
I have played Hans Morrow several times, and never got so much as a draw against him... until the last time I played him, when I actually managed to beat him somehow. So, I just got to thinking... I beat somebody who got a draw with Bobby Fischer!
This is a work of fiction, although some of the people and places (and events) are real. Charlie is a fictional character, totally made up. I have never known anyone like the person he is described as being.
Ogden is a real city, and Bobby Fischer really did play 65 people at once that day, but I wasn't there and neither was Charlie.
By the way, Charlie's prediction of Bobby becoming world champion became true in 1972 When Bobby defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title.
The picture shows Bobby (right) and Boris (left) in one of the games from the match.
So nicely envisioned about a chess player. Interesting and captivating. Thanks for sharing.
A continuation of a captivating epic. I look forward to more. I hope you are comfortably settled in at home.
Thanks, Kelly. Actually I have just over one more month left here in Brazil.
Kim, great poem! ! Growing up in Minnesota, the only game I played was checkers. My Grandfather and I played many games. While playing, he smoked a pipe filled with cherry tobacco. Played with him from 5th grade on. I did not learn about chess until I was 18. Such a wonderful game!
I knew a man in Grand Junction, Colorado who smoked a pipe with cherry tobacco. I forgot all about it until you mentioned it here.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/24/2024 7:50:03 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Wow! That is something!
The poem and all of the facts. I was mostly referring to that you beat someone who got a draw with Bobby Fischer! Congratulations!
Or the fact that Bobby played 65 people at once and only lost one game? Or the fact that he is the only person to ever get a perfect score in the U.S. Championship?
What? The poem, or the fact that I beat someone who got a draw with Bobby Fischer? :) :) :)