Kasparov praises Fischer

2008-01-18 20:31

Moscow - Chess legend Garry Kasparov on Friday lauded Bobby Fischer as an inspiration for his own career and an "irresistible force" who was perhaps the greatest player the game had ever known.

Fischer, whose tortured genius earned him both worldwide acclaim and disdain, died on Thursday at the age of 64 at his home in Iceland.

Kasparov, seen by many as history's most successful chess player, never met the older Fischer, but said that "as a very young boy who started playing chess I followed with millions of others Fischer's footsteps."

"He combined great quality of his moves with elements of psychological warfare and it proved to be an absolutely irresistible force," Kasparov said outside his Moscow home.

Kasparov said that Fischer's withdrawal from chess had been a "great loss" and that he regretted Fischer's controversial political statements.

But his career of "phenomenal victories crushing the best players in the world" was "probably one of the greatest or even the greatest in the history of chess," Kasparov said.

- AFP