Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship, has died. He was 64.
Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Fischer was wanted in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. In 2005, he moved to Iceland, a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph.
Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess champion, said Fischer’s ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was “a revolutionary breakthrough” for the game. But Fischer’s reputation as a genius of chess was eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies…
An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.
He was probably bored to death waiting for the other guy to move.
What the connection between chess and political dissent?
Or is it just coincidence that Garry Kasparov is also a political rebel in his own country Russia.
Cripes,
pedro the insignificant vs the Three Headed Moran.
Hiisss, scratch, scratch, hisss, hisss,
I wonder if anything better is on TV.
From that era were a few things that made the Soviet Union realize they were only human.
The US landing on the moon in 1969.
The Fischer-Spassky Chess match, 1972.
The Canada’s best beating USSR’s best hockey match. 1972
The US Olympic Hockey team beating the Soviets. 1980.
All of these events grabbed our attention. Three of these events took teams. Only Fischer did it by himself.
Watch a chess game? I’d rather watch grass grow. Or maybe even golf, but the grass is more exciting.
#22 if this is not the best example of irony, I don’t know what is
Omar: Chess, like art, is studied by those who appreciate it. If watching grasss grow lights your candle, who am I to criticize?
I hitchhiked to St. Petersburg, FL just to play at their well known chess club that meets at the downtown shuffleboard club. When I first got there a lot of people were just crowded around two players having a really good game. Most of them were homeless, but they were all enjoying it. When it was over, one derelict trned to me with a beatific smile and said, “Chess is such a beautiful game.” It’s probably the only time he and I could be on the same channel.
Several years before his famous match with Spasksy, he did a monthly chess column in Boy’s Life (Boy Scouts) magazine.
Hmm, given two data points, what can we infer about the mental state of all columnists?
Fischer was great in his time. Unfortunately, when he played Spassky in 1992, it was clear his genius was no longer there. Kasparov commented during the matches that he figured that Fischer was playing around 2600 or so. By comparison most of the top grandmasters are well over 2700 and Kasparov hit over 2800 at one point. He had flashes but overall he just wasn’t the same man. Spending your life on the run will do that.