Chess player, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Raised in Brooklyn after his parents divorced in 1945, he learned to play chess when he was six and won the US junior and senior titles at age 14. In 1972 he captured the world championship from Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, while competing for what was then the largest purse ($250,000) offered in any sport outside boxing. Amid praise for his classicist style, the win set off a short-lived US chess boom. A longtime nemesis of tournament officials for his tantrums and phobias, he failed in 1975 to agree to terms for a title defence against Anatoly Karpov, and was stripped of his crown by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Echecs). Afterwards he refused to compete in public, lived in virtual seclusion in the Los Angeles area, and was briefly active in the fundamentalist Worldwide Church of God. In 1992, he disappeared after breaking international sanctions by going to Yugoslavia to play Boris Spassky. He lived undetected in Europe and Japan until 2004, when he was arrested in Tokyo for passport irregularities and the US requested his extradition. In 2005 he left for Iceland having been granted an Icelandic passport and citizenship.
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (born March 9, 1943) is an United States-born Icelandic chess grandmaster and in 1972 became the only US-born chessplayer ever to win the World Chess Championship.
Fischer's victory over the Soviet world champion Boris Spassky in the "Match of the Century" not only sparked interest in the game around the world, but was seen as a symbolic victory for the capitalist West. Particularly in the United States, Spassky was portrayed as the product of an impersonal, mechanical, and oppressive system of state control, while Fischer was depicted as a solitary genius who had heroically overcome the Soviets' dominance: the American David who had slain the Communist Goliath.
Early years
Robert James Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Fischer's father was listed on the birth certificate as Wender's first husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist;
In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess from instructions found in a chess set that his sister had bought at a candy store below their Brooklyn apartment. Fischer spent much time at Collins' house, and some have described Collins as a father figure for Fischer.
1956-1967
Fischer's first real triumph was winning the United States Junior Chess Championship in July 1956.
In 1957, Fischer won the United States Open Chess Championship on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier. Fischer was given entry into the invitational U.S. Championship.
Fischer's victory qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. This made Fischer the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates, and also earned him the title of International Grandmaster, making him at that time the youngest grandmaster in history.
At the age of 16, Fischer finished a creditable equal fifth out of eight at the Candidates Tournament held in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1959.
In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with frequent U.S. Champion Samuel Reshevsky, one of the world's strongest players. After 11 games and a tie score (2 wins apiece with 7 draws) the match ended due to a dispute between Fischer and match organizer Jacqueline Piatigorsky.
In the next World Championship cycle, Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by 2.5 points, scoring 17.5-4.5, making him one of the favorites for the Candidates tournament in Curaçao.
In 1962, Fischer said that he had "personal problems" and began to listen to various radio ministers in a search for answers. According to Fischer, he lived a bifurcated life, with a rational chess component and an enthusiastic religious component.
Following his failure in the 1962 Candidates, Fischer asserted that the Soviet players had a non-aggression pact and concentrated on playing against him.
Fischer therefore decided not to participate in the Amsterdam Interzonal in 1964, thus taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle. (In the previous two cycles, FIDE had sought to address complaints of Soviet collusion by limiting the number of Soviet participants, an approach that Soviet chess players considered extremely unfair.)
In the next cycle, at the 1967 Sousse Interzonal, Fischer scored a phenomenal 8.5 points in the first 10 games. Fischer forfeited two games in protest and later withdrew, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle.
At home, Fischer won all eight U.S. Championships that he competed in, beginning with the 1957-1958 championship and ending with the 1966-1967 championship. Fischer, however, had sat out the U.S. Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. To enable Fischer to compete for the title, Grandmaster Pál Benkő gave up his Interzonal place, for which the United States Chess Federation (USCF) paid him a modest $2,000; Fischer graciously agreed to allow Bent Larsen of Denmark to play first board for the Rest of the World team in light of Larsen's recent outstanding tournament results, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating. The USSR team won the match by a hair (20.5-19.5), but Fischer beat Tigran Petrosian, whom Boris Spassky had dethroned as world champion the previous year, 3-1, winning the first two games and drawing the last two. Fischer won it with a remarkable 18.5-4.5 score, 3.5 points ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, who tied for second at 15-8. Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins (one by default).
Fischer continued his domination in the 1971 Candidates matches, defeating his opponents with a lopsided series of results unparalleled in chess history. The latter result was particularly shocking: Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer just a year before, and at the Interzonal had in their game handed Fischer his only loss.
Only former World Champion Petrosian, Fischer's final opponent in the Candidates matches, was able to offer resistance. Petrosian unleashed a strong theoretical novelty in the first game and had Fischer on the ropes, but Fischer defended with his customary aplomb and even won the game. This gave Fischer a remarkable streak of 20 consecutive wins, the second longest winning streak in chess history after Steinitz's 25-game streak from 1873 to 1882. Petrosian won decisively in the second game, finally snapping Fischer's winning streak. After three consecutive draws, however, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6.5-2.5 (+5=3-1). The final victory allowed Fischer to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky.
Match of the Century
Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to play unless the prize fund, which he considered inadequate, was doubled. Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a dead-drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions. Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras whose presence had upset Fischer. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing eleven, to win the match 12.5-8.5 and become the 11th World Chess Champion.
Fischer's win was painted as a Cold War propaganda victory for the United States: the iconoclastic American almost single-handedly defeating the mighty Soviet chess establishment that had dominated world chess for the past quarter-century.
Fischer was also the (then) highest-rated player in history according to the Elo rating system. in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom."
Fischer gave the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 of his world championship prize money.
Fischer-Karpov 1975
Fischer was scheduled to defend his title against challenger Anatoly Karpov in 1975. Fischer had played no tournament games since winning the title, and he laid down numerous conditions for the match. FIDE agreed to all of his demands but two, rejecting Fischer's demands on how the match would be won. Fischer claimed the usual system (24 games with the first player to get 12.5 points winning, or the champion retaining his title in the event of a 12-12 tie) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which he regarded as bad for chess. Fischer instead wanted a match of an unlimited number of games, with the first player to score ten wins winning the match, draws not counting. (For these critics, the "first to six wins" Karpov-Kasparov match in 1984, which was aborted after 48 games, would later serve as confirmation.) Fischer's most controversial demand was that if each player won nine games, the reigning champion (Fischer in this case) would retain his title. This meant that Fischer only needed to win nine games to retain the championship, while Karpov had to win by a 10-8 score. Because FIDE would not agree to this proposal, Fischer resigned in a cable to FIDE president Max Euwe on June 27, 1974:
Fischer disappeared and did not play competitive chess for nearly 20 years.
Disappearance and aftermath (1975 to present)
1975-1991
In 1982, Fischer published a pamphlet, "I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!", detailing his experiences following his arrest in 1981 after being mistaken for a wanted bank robber. Fischer or Bobby Fischer, The World Chess Champion)."
In 1984, Fischer wrote to the editors of the Encyclopedia Judaica, stating that he was not Jewish and asking that his name be removed from the publication .
Revenge Match of the 20th Century
After 20 years, Fischer emerged from isolation to challenge Spassky (then placed 96-102 on the rating list) to a "Revenge Match of the 20th Century" in 1992. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship", although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer won the match, 10 wins to 5, with 15 draws. Many grandmasters observing the match said that Fischer was past his prime. Fischer has not played any competitive games since.
Anti-Semitic radio interviews
Fischer, whose mother and possible biological father Paul Nemenyi were both of Jewish descent, had made occasional hostile comments toward Jews from at least the early 1960s. Fischer interpreted this as further evidence of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy perpetrated by "the Jew-controlled U.S. Government" to defame and destroy him .
Fischer participated in at least 33 such broadcasts between 1999 and 2005, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also with stations in Iceland, Colombia, and Russia. Fischer made disparaging remarks about the political situation in chess, alleging that every World Championship match since he had left the scene in 1975 had been pre-arranged.
For some years Fischer lived in Budapest, where he became acquainted with the Polgár family. He played Fischer Random Blitz as well as analyzed many games with Zsuzsa Polgar.
Radio interview after the September 11, 2001 attacks
Hours after the September 11, 2001 attacks Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on the Baguio City station of the Bombo Radyo network, shortly after midnight September 12, 2001 Philippines local time (or shortly after noon on September 11, 2001, New York time). Fischer stated "What goes around comes around even for the United States" and said that if the U.S. fails to change its foreign policy, it "has to be destroyed." After calling for President Bush's death, Fischer also stated he hoped that a Seven Days in May-type military coup d' etat would take over power in the U.S. and then execute "hundreds of thousands of American Jewish leaders", "arrest all the Jews" and "close all synagogues".
Subsequent to that interview, Fischer's "right to membership in the United States Chess Federation [was] cancelled" by a unanimous 7-0 decisionof the USCF Executive Board, taken on October 28, 2001.
Detention in 2004 and 2005
After years of evading arrest, on July 13, 2004, Fischer was arrested at Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan near Tokyo for allegedly using a revoked U.S. passport while trying to board a Japan Airlines flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila, Philippines. Fischer used a genuine passport that the United States Embassy in Bern, Switzerland issued to him in 1997.
Fischer has been wanted by the United States government since his 1992 match with Spassky in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Fischer's supporters have stated that other U.S. citizens were present at the match, specifically reporters, and were not prosecuted. They also have stated that although Japan and the United States have a mutually binding extradition treaty, Fischer should not have been deported, as violating a U.S. executive order is not a violation of Japanese law. Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and consultant John Bosnitch set up the "Committee to Free Bobby Fischer" after meeting Fischer at Narita airport and offering to assist him. He then worked to block the Japanese Immigration Bureau's efforts to deport Fischer to the United States and coordinated the legal and public relations campaign to free Fischer until his eventual release.
According to the Agence France-Presse, Fischer renounced his United States citizenship. A month later, it was reported that Fischer was marrying Miyoko Watai, the President of the Japanese Chess Association, with whom he had been living since 2000. Fischer also appealed to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell to help him renounce his citizenship. Under pressure from the United States, Japan's Justice Minister rejected Fischer's appeal that he be allowed to remain in the country and ordered him deported.
Political asylum in Iceland
Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005 and requested an Icelandic citizenship. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Alþingi agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the U.S. and Japanese governments . Meanwhile, the U.S. government filed charges of tax evasion against Fischer in an effort to prevent him from traveling to Iceland.
When Japanese authorities received confirmation of Fischer's new citizenship, they agreed to release him and allow him to fly to Iceland. Icelandic officials reiterated their belief that the United States government had singled Fischer out for his political statements.
Shortly before his departure to Iceland on March 23, 2005, Fischer and Bosnitch appeared briefly on the BBC World Service, via a telephone link to the Tokyo airport. Bosnitch stated that Fischer would never play traditional chess again. Fischer denounced President Bush a criminal and Japan as a puppet of the United States.
In May 2005, a delegation, including Boris Spassky, visited Iceland with the intent of "drawing Fischer back to the chessboard." Fischer appeared interested in playing a Chess960 match against a "worthy opponent." Spassky said that he was not planning to play Fischer.
Contributions to chess theory and technology
Fischer made a number of contributions to chess theory, including establishing the viability of the so-called "Poisoned Pawn" variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1. Although this bold queen sortie in order to snatch a pawn was once considered dubious, Fischer succeeded in a series of games of proving it to be sound. Fischer won many games with this line;
Fischer also wrote an article entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" in 1961 for the first issue of Larry Evans' American Chess Quarterly, after Spassky beat him with that opening in their first game ever against each other. After Fischer's article was published, the opening was seen even less frequently in master-level games. Ironically, Fischer himself won a game with it in the 1963 U.S. Championship - against Evans - although Fischer played 3.Bc4 (the Bishop's Gambit) rather than 3.Nf3, which he had analyzed in his article.
In 1988, Fischer filed for U.S. Patent 4,884,255 for a new type of digital chess clock. Fischer's clock gave each player a fixed period of time at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move. The Fischer clock soon became standard in most major chess tournaments.
On June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fischer announced and advocated a variant of chess called Fischer Random Chess, also known as Chess960, that is intended to allow players to contest games based on their understanding of chess rather than their ability to memorize opening variations. Robert Byrne-Fischer, 1963-64 U.S. Championship, Neo-Grünfeld 0-1 Some have called this game from Fischer's historic 11-0 U.S. Championship win, "The Real Game of the Century." Former Chess Life editor Larry Parr reckons that Byrne's resignation after Fischer's 21...Qd7! Fischer (and Byrne) had seen deeper, realizing that Fischer was in fact winning by force.
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