Searching for Bobby Fischer

By: Fred Waitzkin

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Fred Waitzkin was smitten by chess during the historic Fischer-Spassky championship in 1972. When Fischer disappeared from public view, Waitzkin’s interest waned—until his own son, Josh, emerged as a chess prodigy.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is the story of Fred Waitzkin and his son, from the moment six-year-old Josh first sits down at a chessboard until he competes for the national championship. Drawn into the insular, international network of chess, they must also navigate the difficult waters of their own relationship. All the while, Waitzkin searches for the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose myth still dominates the chess world and profoundly affects Waitzkin’s dreams for his son.

©1988 Fred Waitzkin (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Superb....narrator Lloyd James...so fully inhabits the first-person narrative that he turns the book into a disturbing and fascinating character study." (AudioFile)

Semi-interesting story and flawed production.

The story of the authors son is interesting, as is the brief insight into the Soviet chess machine and briefer-still aspect of Bobby Fischer’s reign and self destruction. The authors insistence to generalize all chess parents through his own immaturity, to project his own thoughts and misgivings as a parent, and a parent of a prodigy as assumed and expected for those parents around him, however, was poorly written and cringy to listen to at best, and downright unbearable at times.

The audio recording is extremely poorly edited, there are at least 5 instances where sentences from the recording are repeated in 15-30 second loops, as if cut-and-pasted together without listening to the previous clips.

The movie was better, and sufficient, which is disappointing.

Inspiring and Honest

I did not experience gaps in the chapters, only repetitions of a few lines of text.

I often recognized parts of my conflicted self as an Art teacher at an elementary School for the Arts, stage mother and hockey mother. The descriptions of chess parents of exceptionally gifted children were spot on. How to maximize performance but not crush or warp the child? Where does my ego end and my child begin?

The narrator’s descriptions of tournaments were gripping even though I do not understand the game deeply.

The description and trajectory of Bobby Fischer was both humorous and tragic, as is the status of chess in America. I feel my eyes are now open to a rarified tribe that plays for love, beauty, and adventure much as other artists struggle in the twilight between starvation and adulation. May these rare, precious thinkers find support and acclaim of an advanced society instead of the indifference of a boorish one.

interesting view of the world of chess

I've recently started getting into chess, so this was a pretty interesting insight into how the chess scene was in the 1980s... the only complaint is that the editing is a bit lacking, on multiple occasions there would be sentences that would be repeated... not a big deal, but was a bit distracting...

What Good Books Do

Like many people, I had seen the film based on this book years ago. The book is different, truer to life, but the film captures the spirit of the book, even while bringing forward more minor characters, combining some others, and eliminating still more in the interest of time and comprehension. Still, the film took some great scenes directly from the text.

The book, like the film, takes a game that most people have only a passing knowledge of, and makes it exciting. Fred’s son, Josh, is as compassionate in this telling, and Fred’s criticism of himself is introspective and revealing.

I’ve rarely read a non-fiction book this gripping, and now want to watch the film again with this expanded view of the story in my head.

The reader was conversational and matter-of-fact, while still showing excitement and intensity at appropriate moments.

Well done.

A fantastic execution of terrific content!

James had a compelling performance throughout the entirety of this audiobook. channeling all of the energy and enthusiasm of the author, it lent authenticity and drama to an already remarkable story.

The only drawback I had was there were several repeated sections of about 10 to 15 seconds throughout the book which unfortunately prevented this from getting all five stars in all categories.