Gary Gifford wrote on Mon, Oct 16, 2006 09:10 AM UTC:
I doubt that the seconds are of much signifigance in these matches. For
example: Fischer could have had Christine and me as seconds back in 1972*
and, in my opinion, he would have still won convincingly. Maybe even by
another point as we would have tried our hardest to get him to play that
second game which he didn't show up for.
Also, it is known that these days top level players use computers
extensively. A player can always have seconds who are of the artificial
intelligence nature.
But the true value of a second seems to be to have some buddies to provide
encouragement and support during the ordeal. Computers won't do that.
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*If she had been born by then, of course.