Bobby Fischer's 1972 World Chess Championship

In 1972, in Reykjavik, Iceland, Bobby Fischer met World Chess Champion Boris Spassky in an eagerly awaited championship match that made Fischer an international celebrity. While international chess had been dominated by the Soviet Union for three decades and was seen by the regime as an example of communist intellectual superiority, Fischer was outspoken in his criticism of Soviet players who he accused of deliberately drawing matches with each other. After officials refused his demands that they forbid all cameras and hold the match out of spectator sight, Fischer stunned the chess world by recklessly losing his first game and forfeiting his second one.

With the Championship itself hanging in the balance, Fischer was preparing to board a flight back to the US when he received communications from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, among others, imploring him to continue. Spassky actually agreed to play Game 3 in a tiny backroom, and the match continued. Fischer won five and drew three of the next eight games and went on to a resounding 12.5 to 8.5 victory. He became the 13th world champion and the first American to win since 1886, but even that champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, was a naturalized Austrian. Fischer appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and turned down numerous lucrative endorsements. In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title, and it was awarded to Russian Anatoli Karpov. Fischer would not play competitive chess again until 1992.