Genius Is Not a Free Pass

Actually, maybe it is. But that doesn't mean it should be.

As a chess enthusiast I can't but be enthralled by the mythology surrounding Bobby Fischer. I loved Searching for Bobby Fischer for like seventeen different reasons (among them, Ben Kingsley, Joan Allen, and Laura Linney -- ah, Laura Linney), but principally for getting at the nature, the privilege and curse, of prodigious talent.

But Fischer should just have shut up and played. Every time he opens his mouth, especially since he resurfaced last year, he sounds like a dyspeptic old fool.