Fischer, Robert
Last updated on Sun, 06/29/2008 at 5:30am.
Robert (Bobby ) Fischer was born in Chicago on March 9, 1943. He was the 11th world chess champion (1972-1975). He was the youngest national junior champion (13), the youngest American chess champion ever (14), the youngest grandmaster up to that time (15 years, 6 months, 1 day), and the youngest Candidate for the World Championship ever (15). In 1972, he became world chess champion after defeating Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. In 1975, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) stripped the title away from Fischer after he refused to defend his title against challenger Anatoly Karpov. Fischer once withdrew from a chess tournament because a woman was playing in the event (she was Lisa Lane and U.S. woman champion). His I.Q. has been recorded to be over 180. In 1992, he made a comeback and played a rematch with Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia. He received $3.65 million for defeating Spassky in the Fischer-Spassky II match. The U.S. Department of Treasury obtained an arrest warrant for him for violating President George H. W. Bush's Executive Order banning any economic activity in Yugoslavia (Fischer was the only one prosecuted for this executive order). The US government also filed tax evasion charges against him. Fischer became wanted by the US government and never returned to the Unites States again. In 1962 he boasted, "Women are weakies. I can give Knight odds to any woman in the world!" His performance rating against Larsen in 1971 was 3060 after a 6-0 victory. In 1970 he won the Blitz Tournament of the Century in Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia by a score of 19 out of 22. After the tournament he called off from memory the moves of all his 22 games, involving more that 1,000 moves. In 1981 he was arrested in Pasadena under suspicion of a bank robber. He later wrote of this incident in a book entitled, I WAS TORTURED IN THE PASADENA JAILHOUSE. In 1956 13 year old Bobby Fischer beat Donald Byrne after a brilliant queen sacrifice. This game has been dubbed the “Game of the Century.” In 1996 Fischer launched a new game called “Fischerrandom Chess” in which the major pieces on the back rank are randomly shuffled behind their pawns. This would be a better test of a player’s skill rather than relying on opening theory and memorizing opening lines. In 1970-71 he won 20 straight games. At Palma de Mallorca in 1970 he won his last 7 games. He then defeated Taimanov 6-0 (performance rating of 3040). He then defeated Larsen 6-0 (performance rating of 3080). He then won his first game against Petrosian in the Candidates final. He lost his 2nd game match against Petrosian. He won the US chess championship eight times. When Fischer won his 8th title in 1966, his first place prize was $2,500. In 2003, his US passport was revoked. He was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition to the United States. In March 2005, Iceland granted him residency after nine months in a Japanese jail. He died at his home (apartment) of kidney failure in Reykjavik, Iceland on January 17, 2008. He was 64 years old. He is buried at the Laugardaelir Church in Selfoss, Iceland.
Here is one of his most brilliant wins (Notes from chessgames.com):