Chessing with the Stars

Ever wonder what Bobby Fischer was really like? I mean, what he was REALLY, REALLY LIKE, somewhere near the foundation of his being? How about Sammy Reshevsky? Now, thanks to AstroTheme.com ('Astrology: Horoscope, Natal Chart, Biography, Planets, Photo'; bio courtesy of Wikipedia), you can! Here are some excerpts.

• Bobby FISCHER, born 1943/03/09

Your sensitivity: You love nature as much as your comfort, Bobby FISCHER, you are an Epicurean willing to enjoy life’s beautiful and good things within the family "clan" or with friends who value your conviviality and your kindness.

Your intellect and your social life: You are a "free-thinker", Bobby FISCHER, and you tackle problems with a swift and efficient mind. Freedom, progress and originality are your driving forces.

Your affectivity and your seductiveness: In your chart, the Sun is in Pisces and Venus, in Aries. The spring and ingenuous fieriness of Venus in Aries resists the lucid scepticism of the Sun in Pisces. All emotions make sense and they immediately stimulate the natural enthusiasm of your Venusian sign.

Your behaviour: Psychologically speaking, your nature is powerful and self-assured. You are a leader whose strength and nobleness naturally arouse your entourage’s respect and adherence and your legitimacy is unquestioned.

Your will and your inner motivations: Psychologically speaking, your nature is adaptable and receptive, exactly the opposite of the sign of Virgo whose very essence is to analyze every detail, thus creating a definite duality between the self and the outside world: conversely, Pisces absorbs and erases all forms of differentiation they face. With Pisces, there is no opposition, no conflict and no individual reaction.

Your ability to take action: Bobby FISCHER, the way you take action is quite paradoxical: you carry out your business perfectly well when you are in a teamwork with collective goals, but you do so in your original and individualistic manner: this is your main peculiarity.

Ummm, what was that about teamwork? Here's Reshevsky.

• Samuel RESHEVSKY, born 1911/11/26

Your sensitivity: Your sensitivity is devoid of infatuation or carelessness, Samuel RESHEVSKY; you belong to the cerebral type and, due to your needs for inner security and for freedom, you consider feelings and emotions as burdens.

Your intellect and your social life: Your thirst for learning is considerable, Samuel RESHEVSKY, and you can spend a lifetime studying languages, geography, philosophy and law, particularly. You are open-minded and you want to abolish all kinds of frontiers.

Your affectivity and your seductiveness: In your chart, the Sun is in Sagittarius and Venus, in Libra. You are pleasant, sensitive to prevailing trends and you play with passions without aggressiveness. According to the Tradition, you are a model of affectivity.

Your behaviour: Your natural energy is cut-and-dried. It may prompt you to take the driver’s seat wherever you are. Were it not for the strange feeling of sympathy you arouse, you would seem to be arrogant.

Your will and your inner motivations: Psychologically speaking, your nature is extroverted and independent, oriented towards expansion and sociability. You have the soul of a leader, energetic and active.

Your ability to take action: Samuel RESHEVSKY, your mental activity is exuberant. Ideas are buzzing at high speed and you have the ability to think of several different things and to simultaneously process them.

Are all chess players endowed with such super-human qualities? Let's take a look at some others.

• Paul MORPHY, born 1837/06/22
  
• Emanuel LASKER, born 1868/12/24
  
• Jose Raul CAPABLANCA, born 1888/11/19
  
• Alexander ALEKHINE, born 1892/10/31
  
• Max EUWE, born 1901/05/20
  
• Alberic O'KELLY de GALWAY, born 1911/05/17
  
• Mikhail BOTVINNIK, born 1911/08/17
  
• Tigran PETROSSIAN, born 1929/06/17
  
• Mikhail TAL, born 1936/11/09
  
• Boris SPASSKY, born 1937/01/30
  
• Robert HUBNER, born 1948/11/06
  
• Anatoli KARPOV, born 1951/05/23
  
• Gary KASPAROV, born 1963/04/13
  
• Miguel ILLESCAS, born 1965/12/03
  
• Vassily IVANCHUK, born 1969/03/18
  
• Viswanathan ANAND, born 1969/12/11
  
• Joël LAUTIER, born 1973/04/12
  
• Veselin TOPALOV, born 1975/03/15
  
• Vladimir KRAMNIK, born 1975/06/25
  
• Judit POLGAR, born 1976/07/23
  
• Alexander MOROZEVICH, born 1977/07/18
  
• Peter LEKO, born 1979/09/08
  
• Levon ARONIAN, born 1982/10/06
  
• Etienne BACROT, born 1983/01/22

On Bacrot: 'Your sensitivity: You love nature as much as your comfort, Etienne BACROT, you are an Epicurean willing to enjoy life’s beautiful and good things within the family "clan" or with friends who value your conviviality and your kindness.' • That's what was said about Fischer! In fact, the rest of the paragraph for both players is exactly the same:

You are faithful, stable, with your feet rooted in the ground and you are reliable in all circumstances. You are attached to your affective and material security. You tend to be jealous and possessive and, although your nature is quite slow, you may be short-tempered and aggressive when you feel threatened. In such cases, you display an exceptional stubbornness and fury and it becomes impossible to make you change your mind. Although you are aware that your behaviour is wrong, you stick to your line and your grudge is persistent. However, you are so sensitive to tenderness and to concrete gestures of affection that a few presents or a few caresses are enough to make you see life through rose-coloured glasses again.

Looks like I got sidetracked by computer generated twaddle while researching Fischer - Reshevsky, Match 1961 (Game 2). I'll return to the source game for my next post in that series.