Shame on the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame...

@americalost said
@BigDoggProblem
It's amazing that anyone could even question whether Bobby Fischer should be in the Chess Hall of Fame. And regarding your statements about Polgars personality (which is just fine to anyone who isn't a sad sap with a desperate need to keep shoring up a framework of male superiority) and mental illness keeping people out of the HoF, I sense a very rigid personality... and not a very pleasant one. Under your rules that leaves you out of eligibility.

I doubt you could compare the personality of Fischer to Polgar. Fischer went on international TV and radio condemning Jews, even though he was 100% Jewish himself. As great a player as Fischer undoubtedly was, he was in the end, a nut case. Polgar was not even close in that regard.

Did i miss some news? Why would anyone have a problem with Susan Polgar?

@sonhouse

And to not put too fine a point on it, BDP's point was that he thought personality should NOT be a factor- a point which AmericaLost missed completely.

Although I agree that Susan Polgar's personality and behavior aren't exactly fitting for a person in her position of influence, I think that everything she's done for women in chess and her record speak for themselves.

Just noticed Wilhelm Steinitz is in there, too...another highly unpleasant person, at times, but an extremely important figure in chess history.

Why don't they put in Claude Bloodgood, not only has he castled Kingside twice
in surname, he also made a complete mockery of the grading system by manipulating
a rating of over 2700....and he was a chess author.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Bloodgood

Q: What links Bloodgood, Steintz, Fischer (and Staunton).

A: They all died when they were 64.

Bloodgood killed his mother 😉
He also came up with the Norfolk Gambit.
White gets blacks queen for a rook, bishop and pawn.
Fun to play.

@greenpawn34

Bloodgood was from my hometown, and I own his book. It is probably worth noting that he warned the USCF about the problem of closed systems and the rating formula, but no one really bothered to notice until he qualified for the US Championship. Our best estimate at the time was that he was about USCF 2200 strength.
It was well known in Virginia that the South Mecklenburg State Penitentiary chess players were all very overrated due to the closed nature of they system, and some outside clubs would arrange matches, just to pick up some easy rating points.

The new USCF system was implemented in part to resolve this issue.

If it were a Hall of Infamy, I suppose he would qualify.