Black & White

February 15, 2023
An illustrated biography of the chess prodigy. During the depths of the Cold War, Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) became the most renowned and controversial champion in American chess history. Born in Chicago and raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, he was obsessed with chess as a child, and he displayed a remarkable grasp of the game's intricacies. He honed his skills in the New York chess clubs, where he defeated much older and more experienced players, but the rest of his life became an afterthought, as he ignored his schoolwork, family, and any semblance of a social life. He was making headlines in his early teens, before his ambitions and fame spread internationally--especially in the Soviet Union, which ruled the global chess landscape. "The Soviet players were not only professionals, no, they were grandmasters," writes Voloj, in this collaboration with Willian. "The government subsidized them, and in the USSR, they were treated like movie stars or Olympic athletes....Bobby wanted to be as brilliant as the Soviet grandmasters." Despite the Soviet dominance, Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in the 1972 encounter labeled "The Match of the Century." The author suggests that the psychological machinations that turned Fischer into a chess master had significant mental health consequences, which combined with emotional immaturity issues and political pressures to undermine his public image. He sabotaged matches with outrageous demands and flouting of rules, and he demanded extravagant financial compensation for appearances. He also made numerous antisemitic comments over the years, and he eventually faded into obscurity--dethroned from his championship, disgraced, and exiled. The text handles the subject's complications with clarity and grace, while the illustrations serve as a fitting complement, fully exposing the psychic torment of a man in free fall. For further details about Fischer's fall from grace, turn to Frank Brady's Endgame. An illuminating introduction to an enigmatic 20th-century figure.

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February 27, 2023
Voloj (The Joe Shuster Story) and Willian depict in a straightforward bio-comic the life and legacy of chess grandmaster Fischer (1943–2008). From his prodigy days in the tenements of Brooklyn to his world championship against Boris Spassky in 1972, Fischer’s talent and artistry on the chessboard are adroitly drawn, and his intense animosity toward Soviet dominance of the game ups the Cold War stakes of his one-man battle against the Russians. Fischer’s spark and passion for gameplay is tempered by his misanthropic later years, when he descended into antisemitism and conspiracy theories. Though an admirer encouraged Fischer to return to public life, including a rematch with Spassky, Fischer’s paranoia and demons followed him to an exile in Iceland, where he died at the age of 64 (the same number as there are squares on a chessboard). A balanced treatment of a controversial figure emerges through detailed black-and-white art, though the abbreviated script can’t match the thoroughness of prose biographies such as Endgame by Frank Brady. Still, it’s a worthy primer on the spectacular sway Fischer held in the public imagination in America and around the world. Agent: Nicolas Grivel, Nicolas Grivel Agency.

March 15, 2023
Reading Black & White, a graphic biography of chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer, one can't help but think a little about Icarus and the risks of a meteoric rise. Readers learn that Fischer was a relatively solitary child growing up impoverished in Brooklyn--that is, until chess entered his life. With genius aptitude for the game, he catches the attention of the wealthy, social-club like chess world, rising through the ranks even before he should be admitted (children are typically unwelcome). As his star rises, however, so descends Fischer's interest in anything other than chess, and his insistence that he be able to make a living with the game alone exposes a rashness and ego that create lifelong problems. His fall took decades, slowly descending into paranoia and anti-Semitic conspiracies (despite being Jewish himself) and an untimely death as a fugitive. Making brilliant use of the medium, Voloj and Willian play with the similarities of comics panels and the chessboard to move the pieces of Fischer's life into and out of view across time. Sure to fascinate chess and popular culture fans alike.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.