Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer was born in Chicago in 1943 and grew up in New York, principally in Brooklyn. He learned chess at six with his older sister Joan, using the instructions supplied with a set. At thirteen he defeated Donald Byrne in the celebrated 1956 game featuring a queen sacrifice. He won the 1957-58 US Championship at fourteen and became a grandmaster in 1958. He eventually won all eight US Championships he entered. His eleven wins from eleven games in the 1963-64 championship remain the event’s only perfect score.

Fischer’s path to the world title included a twenty-game winning streak in the 1970-71 qualifying cycle. In the 1971 Candidates matches he defeated both Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by six wins to none, then beat Tigran Petrosian in the final. He defeated Boris Spassky in Reykjavík in 1972 to become the eleventh world champion. The match attracted international attention against the background of the Cold War. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, includes his own analysis of victories, draws and losses. After failing to agree on match conditions with FIDE, he did not defend his championship in 1975, and Anatoly Karpov received the title by default.

Fischer returned for an unofficial rematch with Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992 and won. His participation violated US sanctions, leading to an arrest warrant and years living abroad. He promoted Fischer Random, now also called Chess960, publicly in 1996. He also patented a chess-clock system that adds time after each move. Iceland granted him citizenship in 2005, and he lived there until his death in 2008. His later public life was also marked by antisemitic statements and Holocaust denial.