It is commonly felt that in chess as in life, when people cannot figure out what you are doing, they are kept in a state of confusion, uncertain and waiting. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Take away that predictability and you have people guessing. In the Spassky-Fischer match of 1972, Fischer was deliberately unpredictable. He believed that behaviour which seemed to have no consistency or purpose would keep his opponent off-balance. Taken to the extreme, the strategy can intimidate and terrorize.
According to New York Times bestselling author Robert Greene, nothing is more terrifying than the sudden and unpredictable. That is why we are so frightened by earthquakes and hurricanes. We do not know when they will strike. When they do, we wait in terror for the next one. A notably polite Boris Spassky, the Russian world chess champion, arrived in Iceland for the title clash in May of 1972, but Fischer was nowhere to be seen. The match was on hold. The temperamental challenger from Brooklyn had difficulties with the prize money,
