Bobby Fischer - The Eccentric Chess Player

Rather than a game of chance, chess is a combination of art, science and sport, based purely on tactics and strategy. Even the best players cannot calculate every possible scenario, because with only 64 squares and 32 pieces, the number of possible moves can exceed the number of atoms in the universe. The way of thinking in chess can be applied to many aspects of life

In 1972, the sport became a top political game, attracting the world's attention at the height of the Cold War. Tht was when Fischer traveled to Iceland to face Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Against the backdrop of escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the match was seen as a contest of wits between the two superpowers. For the United States, this victory was not limited to the 64-square chessboard. To this day, Fischer is the only American citizen to have ever won the world chess championship. However, after that glory, he became a stranger in his own homeland.

Born on March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Fischer inherited his logical thinking ability from his father, German physicist Hans Gerhardt Fischer. Fischer's arrogant, impulsive, stubborn and demanding personality was clearly shown in his later matches. From a very young age, he lived at his own pace, contrary to the normal development of other children.

On a rainy day in March 1949, Joan Targ Fischer, Bobby's older sister, tried to find a new game to satisfy her younger brother's hyperactivity. Joan bought a plastic chess set for $1 at a candy store. Neither sister had ever seen chess pieces before. They followed the instructions in the chess box to figure out how to play, and Bobby's first opponent was his sister. However, Joan was a good student, always busy with homework, so she had no interest in chess. So Bobby taught his mother, Regina Fischer.

Bobby said: "My mother was so busy that she couldn't play a serious game of chess. Sometimes she would peel potatoes or sew clothes while playing chess, which annoyed me. I would win a game, then turn the board around and change the color of the pieces and win again. We both felt tired. So I wanted to find someone who could play chess with me all day."

Because he could not find an opponent to compete with, he had to play alone, turning himself into his own opponent. He arranged the pieces, moved White, then turned the board, then moved Black. He always asked why to find out interesting things behind the moves. Fischer tried to fool himself, thinking that he was playing with a real opponent. Black knew clearly what White was doing and vice versa, because Black was Fischer and White was also Fischer, so he tried to forget all the plans he had just made for one side and think again from the beginning, trying to judge the traps and intentions of the "opponent". To some people, this way of playing seemed crazy. However, it helped Fischer get a feel for the chessboard, the roles of the pieces, the progression of a game, and helped him see the chess game in a completely different way than we do.

October 1956 was one of the turning points that marked the illustrious career of the great chess player Bobby Fischer. On the leafy road, Regina took her son to the Marshall Chess Club. Fischer had been invited to play in the memorial tournament for the sponsor of the Rosenwald tournament because of his victory in the US Junior Championship three months earlier. This was the first invitational tournament he had participated in, with 11 players including some of America's best players and members of the Marshall Club.

The club is where Frank J. Marshall - the 27-year-old US champion - lived with his family, taught and played. He was the head of the club until his death in 1944, after which his wife Caroline took over. Most of the world's most famous grandmasters have come here. It was here that the great Jose Raul Capablanca played his last concert, and it was also where world champion Alexander Alekhine visited and played rapid chess...

As one of the most prestigious clubs in the United States, there are some unwritten rules, including the way of dressing. Fischer had a habit of wearing T-shirts, pleated pants, and sneakers. Caroline Marshall considered this an insult and threatened to ban Fischer from the place if he did not dress more properly. However, being stubborn, Fischer did not care.

Fischer's opponent that day was university professor Donald Byrne, an international grandmaster, former US Open champion. A chess player with a fierce attacking style. Black hair, elegant in speech and dress, Byrne always held a cigar between two fingers, showing the demeanor of an aristocrat.

Before this match, Fischer had not won a single game in the tournament (3 draws). But he seemed to get stronger after each game, perhaps thanks to learning from the grandmasters he had met before. In chess, holding White always has a certain advantage. That day Fischer had to hold Black when he met Byrne who had just defeated Samuel Reshevsky - the chess player who was considered the strongest in the tournament.

Before the match, Fischer had studied Byrne's previous games, so he chose the Gruenfeld Defense opening, which was unfamiliar to his opponent, even though he himself had not yet grasped all the subtleties of this position. This is the instinct of a genius! Because he couldn't remember the order of moves, Bobby had to think about it every time it was his turn and started to run out of time.

Worried, he bit his nails, played with his hair, knelt on the chair, put his elbows on the table, rested his chin on one hand and then the other... But, after 11 moves, Bobby had the upper hand in the game and checkmated Byrne on the 41st move after 5 hours of play. Fischer's combinations were so sharp, clever, and skillful. He led the audience from one surprise to another. Even experienced players could hardly imagine such talented moves. Fischer's chess game at the age of 13 was dubbed the chess game of the century.

Kmoch, the referee of that match, felt the image of a world champion in Fischer, so he carefully kept the original minutes written by the prodigy himself as a masterpiece by the famous painter Rembrandt. This minute has passed through many collectors, and is currently valued at about $100,000.

At the age of 15, Fischer became the youngest Grandmaster and the youngest candidate for the World Chess Championship. He won the 1963-1964 US Championship with an absolute score of 11-0. At that time, Fischer often instilled fear in the players, so much so that no one dared to challenge him, but he mostly chose opponents to challenge. After playing against him, players were easily traumatized because the score was too big, often 6-0 or 8-0, and a whole game plan that had been carefully practiced was ruined.

After the end of World War II, the state of continuing political conflict, military tension and economic competition between the Soviet Union and its satellite states and the Western powers, including the United States, remained. Although the countries were not officially in conflict, they expressed their competition through military alliances, the nuclear arms race, intelligence, propaganda, the space race and even sports.

The match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was not only of sporting significance but also of great political significance. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger himself had to convince Fischer to compete. Fischer only agreed after his demand for prize money was met. Kissinger then had to ask British millionaire James Slater through his friend - famous British journalist David Frost. After Slater's call, the organizers doubled the prize money, with the winner receiving $231,000 (165 times the amount Spassky had received for winning the previous tournament) and the loser receiving $168,000.

When he arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, Fischer made things difficult for the organizers by making strict demands such as changing the competition venue from Iceland to Yugoslavia, the conditions for tables, chairs, chessboards, lighting, and the distance between seats and the stage...

Fischer seemed indifferent in the first game and Spassky won. The next day Fischer was disqualified for violating the rules. 2–0 to Spassky. Everyone thought the American would leave Iceland in disgrace. Kissinger then had to call and urge Fischer. And then, on the third day, he returned to rain bombs on the Soviet fortress. From that day on, Spassky won only one more game. In the remaining 19 games, Fischer won 7, lost 1 and drew 11, winning with a score of 12.5 to 8.5 and becoming the new chess king of the world.

When receiving the prize, Fischer took out the prize money from the envelope and counted it in front of many people, this eccentric action made the American public indignant. But this victory was considered an American victory in the field where the Soviet Union had long been considered "invincible", so he was still welcomed as a hero when he returned home.

Fischer's high prize money demands were probably due to the fact that he had only received $400 for six weeks of hard work at the 1958 Interzonal. "Each game was like a five-hour exam," he said, and that was discouraging. By then he was an international grandmaster, and qualified for the World Championship. But he wondered how he could make a living playing chess. Outside the Soviet Union, where players were well supported by the state, no chess player could make a living from winning tournaments. They had to take on other jobs such as teaching chess, playing exhibitions, selling chess sets, and writing for chess magazines to supplement their income. For Fischer, it was a precarious existence!

In 1975, Soviet grandmaster Anatoli Karpov overcame a series of opponents to challenge Fischer for the title of world champion. However, Fischer refused to play against Karpov because the organizers did not agree to a series of his demands. In June 1975, the World Chess Federation declared Anatoli Karpov the new world champion.

Since refusing to compete with Anatoli Karpov, Fischer has hardly played on the international stage and has lived a quiet life. Whenever he appeared in public, he made harsh comments, made angry gestures, and even attacked the American sports industry, so he was banned from competing.

In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of his world championship, he decided to go to Sveti Stefan (Yugoslavia) to have an unofficial rematch with Spassky, even though this violated the embargo of the United States and the United Nations. Of course, part of it was because of the huge sum of money: 3.3 million dollars. Fischer once again made Spassky regret. However, from then on, he began to sink into dark days. In the United States, a wanted notice was issued for the former champion for violating the ban on traveling to Yugoslavia. From a hero, Fischer became the target of police pursuit.

However, for Fischer, the incident was also caused by his family's Jewish origins - because he always considered himself the victim of an anti-Semitic conspiracy. Fischer's opposition to the United States reached its peak after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when he declared that he wanted to see America wiped out. After the above statement, Fischer continued to live in hiding.

No one knew where the former chess champion was until July 2004, when he was arrested by Japanese customs at Narita airport for using a fake passport while checking in to fly to the Philippines. He was detained at an illegal immigration detention center in the suburbs of Tokyo for about 8 months. After protests from many sides, especially from the Japan Chess Association, at the end of December 2004, the Japanese Justice Minister ordered the deportation of him and his Japanese wife Miyoko Watai (a Japanese chess champion).

While being wanted by the US and expelled by Japan, Fischer was welcomed by the Icelandic government. Not only did they issue Fischer a passport, the Icelanders also flew all the way to Copenhagen to pick up the former champion. On March 24, 2005, when he stepped out of the Reykjavik airport gate, hundreds of fans with banners reading "Welcome Bobby", "We love Bobby"... were waiting there. People surrounded Fischer, putting colorful wreaths around the former champion's neck. Fischer was welcomed with enthusiasm like a national hero returning from a glorious victory.

For Iceland, their acceptance of Fischer was a humane act, sharing the difficulties the champion was facing. Fischer holds a very important position in the culture of this country. Welcoming Fischer with open arms also meant thanking the champion for the great things he had done and the echo of the 1972 match had brought more attention to the island nation of Iceland.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov met many historical figures in his life, but the most impressive interaction for him was with Bobby Fischer. When he became the President of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), Kirsan tried every way to contact this reclusive genius, but in vain. After a while, he understood why Fischer cut off all ties with the "Soviet Union" even after the collapse of this federation - it was because Fischer believed that the Soviet Union owed him $ 100,000 in royalties for the book "60 Memorable Games", although the book was published before the Soviet Union joined the international copyright convention.

Never mind. For a person who thinks the sky is the limit like Fischer, it is impossible to reason with "international law" like that. Although Fischer really wanted to make "big money" from chess matches, Fischer did not allow advertisers to operate. He hated anyone who wanted to make money from his name. Fischer even refused to meet with President Nixon after learning that the White House owner "refused to pay the meeting fee".

To meet this mysterious figure, Kirsan asked Grandmaster Liliental, Fischer's close friend who was helping the American in Budapest, to act as a mediator. He told Fischer that Kirsan would bring the Soviet debt, although it was actually the FIDE President's own money. Kirsan went to Hungary with $100,000 in cash (Fischer did not trust the banking system, especially the American one), a bottle of Russian vodka, and a tin of black caviar. After taking out a knife to scoop up the caviar and taking a few sips of wine, Fischer used the same knife to cut open 10 stacks of money and began counting them. Only then did he begin to get excited and start chatting with Kirsan.

He instructed Kirsan on the rules of chess that he had invented. It was "Fischer" or "960 chess", a type of chess that can be played by 2 to 6 people, with the same number of pieces as classical chess, but initially the pieces were arranged randomly, hence the name Fischerandom chess (960 is the number of different ways to arrange the pieces). It was fun, but Bobby wouldn't let him take pictures because there was no agreement. In the end, Fischer put all the money in a mesh bag, carried it all the way to the airport to see Kirsan off...

After suffering from kidney disease, Fischer refused to be treated in hospital because he did not trust the doctors. On January 17, 2008, he breathed his last in Iceland at the age of 64, leaving behind stories that consumed a lot of ink for the media.

Bobby Fischer's arrogant attitude and eccentricity caused him to lose almost all his friends and this explains why only a few people saw him off to his final resting place. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov himself directed FIDE to help with his funeral.

Fischer passed away and left behind countless legacies for the sport that symbolizes human intelligence, laying the foundation for the development of Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin, Le Quang Liem today... One of the most powerful weapons that helped Fischer become an outstanding chess player in the world was his very powerful opening moves. Fischer is also considered to have contributed a lot to the chess opening theory that is currently used. In the 1990s, Fischer patented a modification to the timing system that added time to each player's move. This is now standard practice in top-level matches and tournaments.

The Guardian (UK) once described: "Fischer believed before his death that the essence of chess would die with him." And chess grandmaster Mark Taimanov, who lost to Fischer in 1971, said: "He was dominated by the board all his life, and died after moving all 64 squares."