....

“It was like being in the trenches. For weeks on end, I averaged no more than an hour’s sleep a night. I was up all day, reporting the event for Life, and then Bobby would insist on keeping me awake all night, talking. I was strained to the breaking point, and ended the summer on the verge of a nervous breakdown. My muscles never totally recovered from the ordeal. It wasn’t just the physical abuse, though. Being with Bobby is like being with a robot on some dumb TV show, pretending to conduct rational dialogues. He is a totally frozen person. The only time you could make him happy and get a spontaneous reaction from him was if you told him about a disaster. Tell him about an earthquake or a plane crash or an outbreak of the plague, and he couldn’t help smiling. Psychologically, as his sister says, he’s a three-year-old child; he’s a mess. He is a man consumed with hatred. He speaks of destroying his opponents with brute force. To win is never enough, he also must humiliate. Chess, at Fischer’s or Spassky’s level, is aggression at the outermost extreme."