Fischer Number

[Matt Mackenzie]

Out of posters on here, Stewart Reuben has played Fischer......

[David Grobler]

well....anyway.....getting the discussion back to the "average" players....mines a 6...which I thought was very impressive (until I read some of the others !)

It's probably lower than 6. You've beaten Alan Papier, and it shouldn't take that long to get from Papier to Sherwin given how long they've both played in the Bristol League.

EDIT: It is lower than 6, seeing your message on Facebook:

David Grobler beat Alan Merry
Alan Merry beat Jack Rudd
Jack Rudd beat James Sherwin
James Sherwin beat Robert Fischer

Im a 4 !!!! Jack...I think I love you.....

[Graham Borrowdale]

So, the trick is to find someone I have beaten who has beaten Jack Rudd. I have a feeling there might be someone out there - Tom Hinks-Edwards? That would give me a Fischer number of 4 and, more importantly, a Rudd number of 2.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Tom's beaten me, yes - in the 1997 British at Hove.

[David Grobler]

So, the trick is to find someone I have beaten who has beaten Jack Rudd. I have a feeling there might be someone out there - Tom Hinks-Edwards? That would give me a Fischer number of 4 and, more importantly, a Rudd number of 2.

A Rudd number of 2 is impressive...but...(and dont take this the wrong way Jack... )...a Fischer number of 4 is more impressive I'd say !

[Andrew Zigmond]

I can claim a Kasparov number of three with a fairly significant stepping stone on the way.

Nigel Short has beaten Kasparov in longplay games at least twice
A gentleman named Lucian Howard beat Nigel Short in (I think) the Manchester League in the 70s - Mr Short was a teenager but still a very useful player
I beat Mr Howard in the Harrogate League in 2003 (my only competitive win against him, there were two losses)

There is a tenous connection here to another legend; my game against Howard won the Harrogate Chess Club best game prize for that year. The competition was judged by the late Malcolm Veitch who at Cambridge University played a board below a player who had drawn with Alekhine in a simul.

[Geoff Chandler]

I have 2 on Vishy Anand.

Mark Condie beat Vishy and I by an outrageous swindle beat Mark just before he became an IM.

There is a Scottish Champion who once beat Fischer......

[stevencarr]

I once played on the next board to Anand.

Does that count as anything? Answers of 'no, that doesn't count' will be ignored.

Conversely, he can say that he played on the next board to me.

But I bet he doesn't.

[Mike W. Richardt]

I can claim a #2 as well.

For years in the 1990s and early 2000 we had Yuri Balashov and we still have Viktor Kupreichik playing for my German club Svgg Plettenberg. Yuri is a very good friend of Boris Spassky who came to Plettenberg once to visit the club and did a simul display. He played around 20 boards and lost two!!! I won one of them which would make me a #2 as well

Spassky beat Fischer
I beat Spassky (simul only)

Surely that counts?

[PeterFarr]

Yep, let's do Botvinnik numbers instead

Although Leonard could almost certainly trump me there also!

Barden 1-0 Alexander Buxton 1950
Barden 1-0 Alexander Hastings 1953 (despite not knowing how to win the Lucena position)
Alexander 1-0 Botvinnik radio match 1946

How far back could you go? Leonard suggested Morphy numbers; I suppose you could go:

Botvinnik beat Lasker
Lasker beat Steinitz
Steinitz beat Anderssen
Anderssen beat Morphy...

Is there a shorter route ? Can anyone find a way to get to Philidor?

[Neil Graham]

My Fischer number is #2.

Unfortunately it relates to Paul Fischer 160348G

However I do have a Fisher number of #1!

[John Clarke]

Mine's 2: I've beaten James Sherwin, who's beaten Fischer.

In that case mine's an unexpectedly low 6 - provided the youngster called S D Brown whom I was very fortunate to beat in 1973 is the Simon D Brown who later went on to become a FIDE master. (Confirmation, anyone?)

Here's how:

JSC beat S D Brown (Charlton Under-160, 1973)
SDB beat Lawrence Cooper (British Championship, 1994)
LC beat Keith Arkell (Monarch Assurance Open, Isle of Man, 2000)
KA beat Jack Rudd (Gatwick International, 2011)

[Simon Brown]

Hi John

I certainly played at Charlton in 1973 but I don't recall our game. I would have been 12 at the time and don't have my old games but I did become and am still an FM. However it wasn't me who beat Lawrence in 1994 - that I guess would be Stuart C Brown, with whom I have exchanged a number of ELO points over the years.

But all is not lost. I can claim wins over N Short (1975) and M Adams (1981) in real games which may well reduce your number. Admittedly their combined age was about 18 but that is still allowed I guess?

Do post our game if you have it. I'll be able to confirm if it was me!

[IM Jack Rudd]

It certainly does - Short's beaten Korchnoi, who's beaten Fischer, which makes Simon a Fischer 3 and John a Fischer 4.

[Simon Brown]

Do simul and blitz results count? With those I could make John a Fischer 3 in at least three different ways (Spassky, Korchnoi and Petrosian)