Bobby Fischer

Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11–0 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6–0 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.

In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with FIDE, chess's international governing body, over the match conditions. Consequently, the Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov was named World Champion by default. Fischer subsequently disappeared from the public eye, though occasional reports of erratic behavior emerged. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held in Yugoslavia, which at the time was under an embargo of the United Nations. His participation led to a conflict with the US federal government, which warned Fischer that his participation in the match would violate an executive order imposing US sanctions on Yugoslavia. The US government ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest; subsequently, Fischer lived as an émigré. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that the US government had revoked. Eventually, he was granted Icelandic citizenship by a special act of the Althing, allowing him to live there until his death in 2008. During his life, Fischer made numerous antisemitic statements, including Holocaust denial, despite his own Jewish ancestry. His antisemitism was a major theme in his public and private remarks, and there has been speculation concerning his psychological condition based on his extreme views and eccentric behavior.

Fischer made many lasting contributions to chess. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading in chess literature. In the 1990s, he patented a modified chess timing system that added a time increment after each move, now a standard practice in top tournament and match play. He also invented Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960, a chess variant in which the initial positions of the pieces are randomized to one of 960 possible positions.

Early life Bobby Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on March 9, 1943. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer, was a US citizen, born in Switzerland; her parents were Polish Jews. Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Regina became a teacher, a registered nurse, and later a physician.

After graduating from college in her teens, Regina traveled to Germany to visit her brother. There, she met geneticist and future Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph Muller, who persuaded her to move to Moscow to study medicine. She enrolled at First Moscow State Medical University, where she met Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, also known as Gerardo Liebscher, a German biophysicist, whom she married in November 1933. In 1938, Hans-Gerhardt and Regina had a daughter, Joan Fischer. The reemergence of antisemitism under Stalin prompted Regina to go with Joan to Paris, where Regina became an English teacher. The threat of a German invasion led her and Joan to go to the United States in 1939. Regina and Hans-Gerhardt had already separated in Moscow, although they did not officially divorce until 1945.

At the time of her son's birth, Regina was homeless. For several years, she took jobs around the country to support her family. She engaged in political activism and raised both Bobby and Joan as a single parent.

In 1949, Regina moved the family to Manhattan, New York City, and the following year to Brooklyn, where she studied for her master's degree in nursing and subsequently began working in that field. FBI files note that Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, while recording that Neményi took a keen interest in Fischer's upbringing. Not only were Regina and Neményi reported to have had an affair in 1942, but Neményi made monthly child support payments to Regina and paid for Bobby's schooling until Paul Neményi's death in 1952. When Joan lost interest in chess, and Regina did not have time to play, Fischer was left to play many of his first games against himself. When the family vacationed at Patchogue, Long Island, New York, that summer, Bobby found a book of old chess games and studied it intensely.

In 1950, the family moved to Brooklyn, first to an apartment at the corner of Union Street and Franklin Avenue and later to a two-bedroom apartment at 560 Lincoln Place. It was there that "Fischer soon became so engrossed in the game that Regina feared he was spending too much time alone." Fischer played in the exhibition, and although he held on for 15 minutes, drawing a crowd of onlookers, he eventually lost to Pavey.

One of the spectators was Brooklyn Chess Club President Carmine Nigro, an American chess expert of near master strength and an instructor. Nigro was so impressed with Fischer's play that he introduced him to the club and began teaching him. Fischer noted of his time with Nigro: "Mr. Nigro was possibly not the best player in the world, but he was a very good teacher. Meeting him was probably a decisive factor in my going ahead with chess."

Nigro hosted Fischer's first chess tournament at his home in 1952. In the summer of 1955, Fischer, then 12 years old, joined the Manhattan Chess Club. Fischer's relationship with Nigro lasted until 1956, when Nigro moved away.

The Hawthorne Chess Club In June 1956, Fischer began attending the Hawthorne Chess Club, which met at master John "Jack" W. Collins's home. Collins taught chess to children and has been described as Fischer's teacher, but Collins himself suggested that he did not actually teach Fischer, and the relationship might be more accurately described as one of mentorship.

Fischer played thousands of blitz and offhand games with Collins and other strong players, studied the books in Collins's large chess library, and ate almost as many dinners at Collins's home as his own.

Young champion

In March 1956, the Log Cabin Chess Club of West Orange, New Jersey (based in the home of the club's eccentric multi-millionaire founder and patron Elliott Forry Laucks), took Fischer on a tour to Cuba, where he gave a 12-board simultaneous exhibition at Havana's Capablanca Chess Club, winning ten games and drawing two. On this tour, the club played a series of matches against other clubs. Fischer played , behind International Master Norman Whitaker. Whitaker and Fischer were the club's leading scorers, each scoring 5½ points out of 7 games.

On the tenth national rating list of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), published on May 20, 1956, Fischer's rating was a modest 1726, over 900 points below top-rated Samuel Reshevsky (2663). Fischer experienced a "meteoric rise" in his playing strength during 1956. Fischer's first real tournament success occurred in July 1956, when he won the US Junior Chess Championship in Philadelphia. He scored 8½/10 to become the youngest-ever Junior Champion at age 13, a record that still stands. At the 1956 US Open Chess Championship in Oklahoma City, he scored 8½/12 to tie for 4th–8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning. In the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, he scored 7/10 to tie for 8th–12th places, with Larry Evans winning. In November, Fischer played in the 1956 Eastern States Open Championship in Washington, D.C., tying for second with William Lombardy, Nicholas Rossolimo, and Arthur Feuerstein, with Hans Berliner taking first by a half-point.

Fischer accepted an invitation to play in the Third Lessing J. Rosenwald Trophy Tournament in New York City in October 1956, a premier tournament limited to the 12 players considered the best in the US. Playing against top opposition, the 13-year-old Fischer could only score 4½/11, tying for 8th–9th place. Yet he won the for his game against International Master Donald Byrne, in which Fischer sacrificed his queen to unleash an unstoppable attack. Hans Kmoch called it "The Game of the Century", and the game is still widely published and analyzed.

In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former world champion Max Euwe at New York, losing ½–1½. When the US Chess Federation published its rating list in May, Fischer had the rank of Master, the youngest player to earn that title up to that point. In July, he successfully defended his US Junior title, scoring 8½/9 at San Francisco. In August, he scored 10/12 at the US Open Chess Championship in Cleveland, winning on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier. This made Fischer the youngest ever US Open Champion. He won the New Jersey Open Championship, scoring 6½/7. He then defeated the young Filipino master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso 6–2 in a New York match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.

Wins first US title Based on Fischer's rating, the USCF invited him to play in the 1957/58 US Championship. The tournament included Samuel Reshevsky, the defending US champion Arthur Bisguier, and William Lombardy, who in August had won the World Junior Championship. Bisguier predicted that Fischer would "finish slightly over the center mark". Despite all the predictions to the contrary, Fischer scored eight wins and five draws to win the tournament by a one-point margin, with 10½/13. Still two months shy of his 15th birthday, Fischer became the youngest ever US Champion. Since the championship that year was also the US Zonal Championship, Fischer's victory qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. It also earned him the title of International Master.

Grandmaster, candidate, and author In 1957, Fischer wanted to go to Moscow. At his pleading, "Regina wrote directly to the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, requesting an invitation for Fischer to participate in the 6th World Youth and Student Festival of 1957. The reply—affirmative—came too late for him to go." Regina did not have the money to pay the airfare, but in 1958, Fischer was invited onto the game show I've Got a Secret, where, thanks to Regina's efforts, the producers of the show arranged two round-trip tickets to the Soviet Union, for Bobby and his sister Joan.

Fischer was invited by the Soviet Union to Moscow, where would serve as a guide to Bobby and Joan. Upon arrival, Fischer immediately demanded that he be taken to the Moscow Central Chess Club, where he played speed chess with two young masters, Evgeni Vasiukov and Alexandr Nikitin, winning every game. Chess author V. I. Linder writes about the impression Fischer gave Vladimir Alatortsev when he played blitz against the Soviet masters:

Fischer demanded to play against Mikhail Botvinnik, the reigning World Champion. When told that this was impossible, Fischer asked to play Paul Keres. Tigran Petrosian was summoned to the club and played speed games with Fischer, winning the majority. Fischer was disappointed that he could not get more serious games against strong opposition, and his angry remarks appeared in the Russian press. Yugoslavian chess officials offered to take in Fischer and Joan as early guests to the Interzonal. Fischer took them up on the offer, arriving in Yugoslavia to play two short training matches against masters Dragoljub Janošević and Milan Matulović. Fischer drew both games against Janošević and then defeated Matulović in Belgrade by 2½–1½.

At Portorož, Fischer was accompanied by Lombardy. The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Most observers doubted that a 15-year-old with no international experience could finish among the six qualifiers at the Interzonal, but Fischer told journalist Miro Radoicic: "I can draw with the grandmasters, and there are half a dozen in the tournament I reckon to beat." Despite some bumps in the road and a problematic start, Fischer succeeded in his plan: after a strong finish, he ended up with 12/20 (+6−2=12) to tie for 5th–6th. Yuri Averbakh observed:

David Bronstein said of Fischer's time in Portorož: "It was interesting for me to observe Fischer, but for a long time I couldn't understand why this 15-year-old boy played chess so well." Fischer became the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates and the youngest-ever grandmaster at the time, aged 15 years, 6 months, 1 day.

Before the Candidates' Tournament, Fischer won the 1958/59 US Championship (scoring 8½/11). He tied for third (with Borislav Ivkov) in Mar del Plata (scoring 10/14), a half-point behind Luděk Pachman and Miguel Najdorf. He tied for 4th–6th at Santiago (scoring 7½/12) behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik. At the Zürich International Tournament, spring 1959, Fischer finished a point behind Mikhail Tal and a half-point behind Svetozar Gligorić.

Although Fischer had ended his formal education at age 16, dropping out of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, he subsequently taught himself several foreign languages, including Russian, so he could read foreign chess periodicals. According to Alexander Koblencs, even he and Tal could not match the commitment that Fischer had made to chess. Recalling a conversation from the tournament:

Until late 1959, Fischer "had dressed atrociously for a champion, appearing at the most august and distinguished national and international events in sweaters and corduroys". Now, encouraged by Pal Benko to dress more smartly, Fischer "began buying suits from all over the world, hand-tailored and made to order". He told the journalist Ralph Ginzburg that he had 17 hand-tailored suits and that all of his shirts and shoes were handmade.

At the age of 16, Fischer finished equal fifth out of eight at the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia, scoring 12½/28. He was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games. That year, Fischer released his first book of collected games: Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess, published by Simon & Schuster.

Drops out of school Fischer's interest in chess became more important than schoolwork, to the point that "by the time he reached the fourth grade, he'd been in and out of six schools". In 1952, Regina got Bobby a scholarship (based on his chess talent and "astronomically high IQ") to Brooklyn Community Woodward. Fischer later attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. In 1959, its student council awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements. The same year, Fischer dropped out of high school when he turned 16, the earliest he could legally do so. He later explained to Ralph Ginzburg: "You don't learn anything in school."

When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. In letters to her friend Joan Rodker, Fischer's mother stated her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and wrote that her son would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her: "It sounds terrible to leave a 16-year-old to his own devices, but he is probably happier that way". His results were as follows:

US Champ.ScorePlaceMargin of victoryPercentageAge 1957/58 10½/13 (+8−0=5) First 1 point 81% 14 1958/59 8½/11 (+6−0=5) First 1 point 77% 15 1959/60 9/11 (+7−0=4) First 1 point 82% 16 1960/61 9/11 (+7−0=4) First 2 points 82% 17 1962/63 8/11 (+6−1=4) First 1 point 73% 19 1963/64 11/11 (+11−0=0) First 3½ points 100% 20 1965 8½/11 (+8−2=1) First 1 point 77% 22 1966/67 9½/11 (+8−0=3) First 2 points 86% 23

Fischer missed the 1961/62 Championship (he was preparing for the 1962 Interzonal), and there was no 1964/65 event. In his eight US Chess Championships, Fischer lost only three games: to Edmar Mednis in the 1962/63 event, and in consecutive rounds to Samuel Reshevsky and Robert Byrne in the 1965 championship, culminating in a total score of 74/90 (61 wins, 26 draws, 3 losses).

Olympiads

Fischer refused to play in the 1958 Munich Olympiad when his demand to play ahead of Samuel Reshevsky was rejected. Some sources claim that 15-year-old Fischer was unable to arrange leave from attending high school. Fischer later represented the United States on the first board at four Chess Olympiads, winning two individual silver medals and one individual bronze medal.

OlympiadIndividual resultPercentageUS team resultPercentage Leipzig 1960 13/18 (Bronze) 72.2% Silver 72.5%Varna 1962 11/17 (Eighth) 64.7% Fourth 68.1%Havana 1966 15/17 (Silver) 88.2% Silver 68.4%Siegen 1970 10/13 (Silver) 76.9% Fourth 67.8%

Out of four Chess Olympiads, Fischer scored +40−7=18, for 49/65: 75.4%. In 1966, Fischer narrowly missed the individual gold medal, scoring 88.23% to World Champion Tigran Petrosian's 88.46%. He played four games more than Petrosian, faced stiffer opposition, and would have won the gold if he had accepted Florin Gheorghiu's draw offer, rather than declining it and suffering his only loss.

At the 1962 Varna Olympiad, Fischer predicted that he would defeat Miguel Najdorf in 25 moves. Fischer actually did it in 24, becoming the only player to beat Najdorf in the tournament. Najdorf lost the game while employing the very opening variation named after him: the Sicilian Najdorf.

Fischer had planned to play for the US at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad, but backed out after seeing the poor playing conditions. Both former world champion Tigran Petrosian and Belgian-American International Master George Koltanowski, the leader of the American team that year, felt that Fischer was justified in not participating in the Olympiad. According to Lombardy, Fischer's non-participation was due to Reshevsky's refusal to yield first board.

In 1974, Fischer was willing to play the 21st Chess Olympiad in Nice, France, but FIDE rejected his demand to play in a separate room with only Fischer, his opponent, and spectators.

1960–61 In 1960, Fischer tied for first place with Soviet star Boris Spassky at the strong Mar del Plata Tournament in Argentina, winning by a two-point margin, scoring 13½/15 (+13−1=1), ahead of David Bronstein. Fischer lost only to Spassky; this was the start of their lifelong friendship and rivalry.

Fischer experienced a rare failure in his competitive career at the Buenos Aires Tournament (1960), finishing with 8½/19 (+3−5=11), far behind the winners Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky with 13/19. According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament. Pal Benko said that Fischer did horribly in the tournament "because he got caught up in women and sex. Afterwards, Fischer said he'd never mix women and chess together, and kept the promise." Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament in Reykjavík with 4½/5, and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.

In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles. Reshevsky, 32 years Fischer's senior, was considered the favorite since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match. After 11 games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and the match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky. Fischer forfeited 2 games, and even though the score was now 7½ to 5½, with 8½ required to win, Reshevsky was declared the winner by default and received the winner's share of the prize fund.

Fischer was second in a super-class field, behind only former world champion Tal, at Bled, 1961. Yet, Fischer defeated Tal head-to-head for the first time in their individual game, scored 3½/4 against the Soviet contingent, and finished as the only unbeaten player, with 13½/19 (+8−0=11).

1962: success, setback, accusations of Soviet collusion

Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by a 2½-point margin, going undefeated, with 17½/22 (+13−0=9). He was the first non-Soviet player to win an Interzonal since FIDE instituted the tournament in 1948. Alexander Kotov said of Fischer:

Fischer's victory made him a favorite for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao. Yet, despite his result in the Interzonal, Fischer only finished fourth out of eight with 14/27 (+8−7=12), far behind Tigran Petrosian (17½/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27). Tal fell very ill during the tournament and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal's, was the only contestant who visited him in the hospital.

Accuses Soviets of collusion

Following his failure in the 1962 Candidates, Fischer asserted in a Sports Illustrated article that three of the five Soviet players (Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, and Efim Geller) had a prearranged agreement to quickly draw their games against each other in order to conserve their energy for playing against Fischer. It is generally thought that this accusation is correct. Fischer stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged collusion, made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE voted in late 1962 to implement a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with one-on-one knockout matches—the format that Fischer would dominate in 1971.

Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a summer 1962 exhibition game in Copenhagen for Danish TV. Later that year, Fischer beat Bogdan Śliwa in a team match against Poland in Warsaw.

In the 1962/63 US Championship, Fischer lost to Edmar Mednis in round one. It was his first loss ever in a US Championship. Bisguier was in excellent form, and Fischer caught up to him only at the end. Tied at 7–3, the two met in the final round. Bisguier stood well in the middlegame, but blundered, handing Fischer his fifth consecutive US championship. He instead played in the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan, which he won with 7½/8. In August–September 1963, Fischer won the New York State Championship at Poughkeepsie, with 7/7, his first perfect score, ahead of Arthur Bisguier and James Sherwin.

In the 1963/64 US Championship, Fischer achieved his second perfect score, this time against the top-ranked chess players in the country. Sports Illustrated diagrammed each of the 11 games in its article "The Amazing Victory Streak of Bobby Fischer". Such extensive chess coverage was groundbreaking for the top American sports magazine. His 11–0 win in the 1963/64 Championship is the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Fischer recalled: "Motivated by my lopsided result (11–0!), Dr. [Hans] Kmoch congratulated [Larry] Evans (the runner-up) on 'winning' the tournament... and then he congratulated me on 'winning the exhibition'."

Fischer's 21-move victory against Robert Byrne won the brilliancy prize for the tournament. Byrne wrote:

International Master Anthony Saidy recalled his last round encounter with the undefeated Fischer:

At adjournment, Saidy saw a way to force a draw, yet he had already "sealed a different, wrong move", and lost.

Fischer, eligible as US Champion, decided against his participation in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle, even after FIDE changed the format of the eight-player Candidates Tournament from a round-robin to a series of knockout matches, which eliminated the possibility of collusion. He had a 94% winning percentage over more than 2,000 games.

Successful return

Fischer wanted to play in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament in Havana in August and September 1965. Since the State Department refused to endorse Fischer's passport as valid for visiting Cuba, he proposed, and the tournament officials and players accepted, a unique arrangement: Fischer played his moves from a room at the Marshall Chess Club, which were then transmitted by teleprinter to Cuba. All of Fischer's playing sessions went from eight to twelve hours, leading to fatigue in the late rounds. Despite the handicap, Fischer tied for second through fourth places, with 15/21 (+12−3=6), behind former world champion Vasily Smyslov, whom Fischer defeated in their individual game. despite losing to Robert Byrne and Reshevsky in the eighth and ninth rounds. Fischer also reconciled with Mrs. Piatigorsky, accepting an invitation to the very strong second Piatigorsky Cup (1966) tournament in Santa Monica. Fischer began disastrously and, after eight rounds, was tied for last with 3/8. He then staged a strong comeback, scoring 7/8 in the next eight rounds. In the end, World Chess Championship finalist Boris Spassky edged him out by a half point, scoring 11½/18 to Fischer's 11/18 (+7−3=8).

Now aged 23, Fischer would win every match or tournament he completed for the rest of his life.

Fischer won the US Championship (1966/67) for the eighth and final time, ceding only three draws (+8−0=3). In March–April and August–September, Fischer won strong tournaments at Monte Carlo, with 7/9 (+6−1=2), and Skopje, with 13½/17 (+12−2=3). In the Philippines, Fischer played nine exhibition games against master opponents, scoring 8½/9.

Withdrawal while leading Interzonal Fischer's win in the 1966/67 US Championship qualified him for the next World Championship cycle. Fischer forfeited two games in protest and later withdrew, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle. Communications difficulties with the highly inexperienced local organizers were also a significant factor since Fischer knew little French and the organizers had very limited English. No one in Tunisian chess had previous experience running an event of this stature.

Since Fischer had completed fewer than half of his scheduled games, all of his results were annulled, meaning players who had played Fischer had those games cancelled, and the scores nullified from the official tournament record. and Vinkovci, with 11/13 (+9−0=4), by large margins. Fischer then stopped playing for the next 18 months, except for a win against Anthony Saidy in a 1969 New York Metropolitan League team match. That year, Fischer (assisted by Larry Evans) released his second book of collected games: My 60 Memorable Games, published by Simon & Schuster. The book was well-received; it was praised for its copious and careful notes. The games annotated included some draws and losses.

1969–1972: Road to World Champion In 1970, Fischer began a new effort to become World Champion. His dramatic march toward the title made him a household name and made chess front-page news for a time. He won the title in 1972, but forfeited it three years later.

Entry into World Championship cycle

The 1969 US Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the US Championship, as he had sat out the 1968 championship. In his reply to the invitation, he complained that the tournament was too small and short: Ed Edmondson, executive director of the US Chess Federation, tried to persuade Fischer to change his mind, but to no avail. At the start of 1970, Fischer was ineligible to play in the upcoming Palma de Mallorca Interzonal.

Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century". There was general surprise when Fischer decided to participate.

Fischer flew to Belgrade with the intention of playing for the rest of the world. Bent Larsen, however, due to his recent tournament victories, demanded to play first board instead of Fischer, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating. To the surprise of everyone, Fischer agreed. The USSR team eked out a 20½–19½ victory, but Fischer scored 3 - 1 against Petrosian, winning the first two games and drawing the last two. Tal marveled that "During the entire tournament he didn't leave a single pawn en prise!", while the other players "blundered knights and bishops galore".

Fischer in Belgrade for the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in 1970 In April–May 1970, Fischer won at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17 (+10−1=6), by a two-point margin, ahead of Gligorić, Hort, Korchnoi, Smyslov, and Petrosian. In July–August, Fischer crushed the mostly grandmaster field at Buenos Aires, winning by a 3½-point margin, scoring 15/17 (+13−0=4).

Fischer then played first board for the US Team in the 19th Chess Olympiad in Siegen, where he won an individual silver medal, scoring 10/13 (+8−1=4), Right after the Olympiad, Fischer defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

At the FIDE Congress, held in conjunction with the Olympiad, the possibility of modifying the Interzonal roster to allow Fischer to play was discussed. This was voted down, but it was decided that if one of the three US qualifiers dropped out on Fischer's behalf, the US Chess Federation was authorized to revise its list of entrants. Benko, one of the three qualifiers, agreed to give up his spot in the Interzonal to give Fischer another shot at the World Championship; Lombardy, who would have been "next in line" after Benko, did the same.

Fischer won the Interzonal (held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970) with 18½/23 (+15−1=7), far ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, with 15/23. Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins.

Candidates matches In the 1971 Candidates matches, Fischer was set to play Mark Taimanov, the Soviet grandmaster and concert pianist, in the quarter-finals. The match began in mid-May in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fischer was generally favored to win. Taimanov's preparation for the match included a detailed dossier on Fischer, prepared by Botvinnik when he was in talks to play a match with Fischer in early 1970. After Fischer defeated Taimanov in the second game of the match, Taimanov asked Fischer how he managed to come up with the move 12. N1c3, to which Fischer replied "that the idea was not his—he had come across it in the monograph by the Soviet master Alexandr Nikitin in a footnote". Taimanov said of this: "It is staggering that I, an expert on the Sicilian, should have missed this theoretically significant idea by my compatriot, while Fischer had uncovered it in a book in a foreign language!" With the score at 4–0, in Fischer's favor, the fifth game adjournment was a sight to behold. Schonberg explains the scene:

Fischer beat Taimanov by the score of 6–0. There was little precedent for such a lopsided score in a match leading to the World Championship.

Upon losing the final game of the match, Taimanov shrugged his shoulders, saying sadly to Fischer: "Well, I still have my music." As a result of his performance, Taimanov "was thrown out of the USSR team and forbidden to travel for two years. He was banned from writing articles, was deprived of his monthly stipend... [and] the authorities prohibited him from performing on the concert platform."

Fischer was next scheduled to play against Bent Larsen. "Spassky predicted a tight struggle. 'Larsen is a little stronger in spirit. Before the match, Botvinnik had told a Soviet television audience:

Fischer beat Larsen by the identical score of 6–0. Robert Byrne writes: "To a certain extent I could grasp the Taimanov match as a kind of curiosity—almost a freak, a strange chess occurrence that would never occur again. But now I am at a loss for anything whatever to say... So, it is out of the question for me to explain how Bobby, how anyone, could win six games in a row from such a genius of the game as Bent Larsen." Just a year before, Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer, and had handed Fischer his only loss at the Interzonal. Garry Kasparov later wrote that no player had ever shown a superiority over his rivals comparable to Fischer's "incredible" 12–0 score in the two matches.

On August 8, 1971, while preparing for his last Candidates match with former world champion Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the Manhattan Chess Club Rapid Tournament, scoring 21½/22 against a strong field.

Despite Fischer's results against Taimanov and Larsen, his upcoming match against Petrosian seemed a daunting task. Nevertheless, the Soviet government was concerned about Fischer. "Reporters asked Petrosian whether the match would last the full twelve games... 'It might be possible that I win it earlier', Petrosian replied", and then stated: "Fischer's [nineteen consecutive] wins do not impress me. He is a great chess player but no genius." Petrosian played a strong in the first game, gaining the advantage, but Fischer eventually won the game after Petrosian faltered. This gave Fischer a run of 20 consecutive wins against the world's top players (in the Interzonal and Candidates matches), a winning streak topped only by Steinitz's 25 straight wins in 1873–1882. Petrosian won the second game, finally snapping Fischer's streak. After three consecutive draws, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6½–2½ (+5−1=3). Sports Illustrated ran an article on the match.

Upon completion of the match, Petrosian remarked, "After the sixth game, Fischer really did become a genius. I, on the other hand, either had a breakdown or was tired, or something else happened, but the last three games were no longer chess." Fischer's match results befuddled Botvinnik: "It is hard to talk about Fischer's matches. Since the time that he has been playing them, miracles have begun."

Fischer gained a far higher rating than any player in history up to that time. On the July 1972 FIDE rating list, his Elo rating of 2785 was 125 points above (World No. 2) Spassky's rating of 2660. His results put him on the cover of Life magazine, and allowed him to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten (+0−3=2).

World Championship match

Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. Of the possible sites, Fischer's first choice was Belgrade, Yugoslavia, while Spassky's was Reykjavík, Iceland. For a time, it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement failed. After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to appear in Iceland until the prize fund was increased. The London financier Jim Slater donated an additional US$125,000, bringing the prize fund up to an unprecedented $250,000 ($ million in ) and Fischer finally agreed to play.

Before and during the match, Fischer paid special attention to his physical training and fitness, a relatively novel approach for top chess players at that time. Leading up to this match, he conducted interviews with 60 Minutes and Dick Cavett explaining the importance of physical fitness in his preparation. He had developed his tennis skills to a good level and played frequently on off-days in Reykjavík. He had also arranged for exclusive use of his hotel's swimming pool during specified hours, and swam for extended periods, usually late at night. According to Soviet Grandmaster Nikolai Krogius, Fischer "was paying great attention to sport, and that he was swimming and even boxing."

The match took place in Reykjavík from July to September 1972. Fischer was accompanied by William Lombardy; besides assisting with analysis, Lombardy may have played an important role in getting Fischer to play in the match and to stay in it. The match was the first to receive an American broadcast in prime time. Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions. Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras, whose presence had upset Fischer. After that game, the match was moved back to the stage and proceeded without further serious incident. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing eleven, to win the match 12½–8½ and become the 11th World Chess Champion. It was called "The Match of the Century", (1=Perhaps the best-selling book on the match was subtitled The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century.) Fischer's win was an American victory in a field that Soviet players – closely identified with and subsidized by the state – had dominated for the previous quarter-century. Kasparov remarked: "Fischer fits ideologically into the context of the Cold War era: a lone American genius challenges the Soviet chess machine and defeats it". Dutch Grandmaster Jan Timman called Fischer's victory "the story of a lonely hero who overcomes an entire empire". Fischer's sister observed: "Bobby did all this in a country almost totally without a chess culture. It was as if an Eskimo had cleared a tennis court in the snow and gone on to win the world championship".

Upon Fischer's return to New York, a Bobby Fischer Day was held. He was offered numerous product endorsement offers worth "at least $5 million" ($ million in ), all of which he declined. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz; on television, he played chess in a comedy sketch with an ushanka-clad Bob Hope, and was interviewed on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Membership in the US Chess Federation doubled in 1972, and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom".

Forfeiture of title Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975 against Anatoly Karpov, who had emerged as his challenger. Fischer, who had played no competitive games since his World Championship match with Spassky, laid out a proposal for the match in September 1973, in consultation with FIDE official Fred Cramer. He made three principal (non-negotiable) demands:

The match continues until one player wins 10 games, draws not counting. No limit to the total number of games played. In case of a 9–9 score, the champion (Fischer) retains the title, and the prize fund is split equally.

Fischer argued that these demands were reasonable because otherwise a player who had taken the lead could trade some pieces and draw some games, coasting towards the title. This was arguably what had happened in the 1972 match (games 14–20 were all drawn), but it was a style of chess that Fischer found offensive. Under the proposed 10-win format, one would still have to play for a win.

Many observers considered Fischer's requested 9–9 clause unfair because it would require the challenger to win by at least two games (10–8). Botvinnik called the 9–9 clause "unsporting". Korchnoi, David Bronstein, and Lev Alburt considered the 9–9 clause reasonable. Korchnoi in particular stated:

There was also the practical issue of hosting an unlimited match. If neither player could prove superiority and the match was an endless series of draws, the match would be astronomically expensive. In response to FIDE's ruling, Fischer sent a cable to Euwe on June 27, 1974:

The delegates responded by reaffirming their prior decisions, but did not accept Fischer's resignation and requested that he reconsider.

Due to the continued efforts of US Chess Federation officials, a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, Netherlands, in which it was accepted that the match should be of unlimited duration, but the 9–9 clause was once again rejected, by a narrow margin of 35 votes to 32. FIDE set a deadline of April 1, 1975, for Fischer and Karpov to confirm their participation in the match. No reply was received from Fischer by April 3. Thus, by default, Karpov officially became World Champion. In his 1991 autobiography, Karpov professed regret that the match had not taken place, and claimed that the lost opportunity to challenge Fischer held back his own chess development. Karpov met with Fischer several times after 1975, in friendly but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match, since Karpov would never agree to play to 10.

Brian Carney opined in The Wall Street Journal that Fischer's victory over Spassky in 1972 left him nothing to prove, except that perhaps someone could someday beat him, and he was not interested in the risk of losing. He also opined that Fischer's refusal to recognize peers also allowed his paranoia to flower: "The world championship he won ... validated his view of himself as a chess player, but it also insulated him from the humanizing influences of the world around him. He descended into what can only be considered a kind of madness". Years later, in his 1992 match against Spassky, Fischer similarly said that it was Karpov who refused to play against him under Fischer's conditions.

Whether Karpov could have beaten Fischer is a matter of speculation. Lev Alburt felt that the decision to not concede to Fischer's demands rested on Karpov's "sober view of what he was capable of". Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975, but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978. Garry Kasparov argued that Karpov would have had good chances, because he had beaten Spassky convincingly and was a new breed of tough professional, and indeed had higher-quality games, while Fischer had been inactive for three years. Karpov himself said in 2020 that he thought he had chances, although he could not say he would be favored.

Sudden obscurity After the 1972 World Chess Championship, Fischer did not play a competitive game in public for nearly 20 years. In 1977 he published three games he played against the MIT Greenblatt computer program Mac Hack, winning them all.

He moved to the Los Angeles area and associated with the Worldwide Church of God for a time, though he was not a registered member. On May 26, 1981, while walking in Pasadena, Fischer was arrested by a police patrolman because he resembled a man who had just committed a robbery in the area. Fischer, who alleged that he was slightly injured during the arrest, said that he was held for two days, subjected to assault and various types of mistreatment, and released on $1,000 bail. Fischer published a 14-page pamphlet detailing his allegations of police misconduct, saying that his arrest had been "a frame up and set up".

In 1981, Fischer stayed at the home of grandmaster Peter Biyiasas in San Francisco, where, over a period of four months, he defeated Biyiasas seventeen times in a series of speed games.

In 1988–1990, Fischer had a relationship with German chess player Petra Stadler, who had been put in touch with Fischer by Spassky. When Stadler later published a book about the affair, Spassky apologized to Fischer.

1992 Spassky rematch

Fischer emerged after twenty years of isolation to play Spassky (then tied for 96th–102nd on the FIDE rating list) in a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" in 1992. This match took place in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, Yugoslavia, despite a United Nations embargo that included sanctions on commercial activities. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship", although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer insisted he was still the true World Champion, and that for all the games in the FIDE-sanctioned World Championship matches, involving Karpov, Korchnoi, and Kasparov, the outcomes had been prearranged. The purse for the rematch was US$5 million, with $3.35 million of the purse going to the winner. This was, and still is, the largest purse for a match in chess history.

According to Andrew Soltis:

Fischer won the match with 10 wins, 5 losses, and 15 draws. Kasparov stated: "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us". Yasser Seirawan believed that the match proved that Fischer's playing strength was "somewhere in the top ten in the world".

Fischer and Spassky gave ten press conferences during the match. Seirawan attended the match and met with Fischer on several occasions; the two analyzed some match games and had personal discourse. Seirawan later wrote: "After September 23 , I threw most of what I'd ever read about Bobby out of my head. Sheer garbage. Bobby is the most misunderstood, misquoted celebrity walking the face of the earth." He added that Fischer was not camera shy, smiled and laughed easily, was "a fine wit" and "wholly enjoyable conversationalist".

The US Department of the Treasury warned Fischer before the start of the match that his participation was illegal, that it would violate President George H. W. Bush's imposing United Nations Security Council Resolution 757 sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia. In response, during the first scheduled press conference on September 1, 1992, in front of the international press, Fischer spat on the US order, saying "this is my reply". His violation of the order led American federal officials to initiate a warrant for his arrest upon completion of the match, citing, in pertinent part, "Title 50 USC §§1701, 1702, and 1705 and Executive Order 12810".

Before the rematch against Spassky, Fischer had won a training match against Svetozar Gligorić in Sveti Stefan with six wins, one loss, and three draws.

Later life and death

Life as an émigré After the 1992 match with Spassky, Fischer, now a fugitive, slid back into relative obscurity, taking up residence in Budapest, Hungary, and allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsányi. Fischer stated that standard chess was stale and that he now played blitz games of chess variants, such as Chess960. He visited the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár. In 1998 and 1999, he also stayed at the house of the young Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko.

From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio in the Philippines, residing in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugene Torre, a close friend who had acted as his during his 1992 match with Spassky. Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Marilyn Young.

Head-to-head record versus selected grandmasters (Rapid, blitz, and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins −losses =draws.)

Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union) +2−4=5 Mikhail Botvinnik (Soviet Union) +0−0=1 Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union) +3−1=5 Boris Spassky (Soviet Union) +17−11=28 Max Euwe (Netherlands) +1−1=1 Tigran Petrosian (Soviet Union) +8−4=15 Efim Geller (Soviet Union) +3−5=2 Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia) +7−4=8 Paul Keres (Soviet Union) +4−3=3 Victor Korchnoi (Soviet Union) +2−2=4 Bent Larsen (Denmark) +9−2=1 Miguel Najdorf (Argentina) +4−1=4 Lev Polugaevsky (Soviet Union) +0−0=1 David Bronstein (Soviet Union) +0−0=2 Samuel Reshevsky (United States) +9−4=13 Mark Taimanov (Soviet Union) +7−0=1 Borislav Ivkov (Yugoslavia) +4−2=4 Pal Benko (United States) +8−3=7

Internet chess playing speculation In 2001, Nigel Short wrote in The Sunday Telegraph chess column that he believed he had been secretly playing Fischer on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) in speed chess matches. Subsequently, others claimed to have played Fischer as well. Fischer denied ownership of the account.

In popular culture In film The 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer, adapted from its eponymous book, uses Fischer's name in the title although the film and book are both based on the life of fellow chess prodigy Joshua Waitzkin, whose father, Fred Waitzkin, wrote the book. Outside of the United States, it was released as Innocent Moves. The title refers to the search for Fischer's successor after his disappearance from competitive chess, since Waitzkin's father felt that his own son could be that successor. Fischer never saw the film and claimed that it violated his privacy by using his name without his permission. Fischer did not receive any compensation from the film and called it "a monumental swindle". In April 2009, the documentary Me and Bobby Fischer, about Fischer's last years as his old friend Saemundur Palsson gets him out of jail in Japan and helps him settle in Iceland, premiered in Iceland. The film was produced by Friðrik Guðmundsson with music by Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Björk and Einar Arnaldur Melax. In October 2009, the biographical film Bobby Fischer Live was released, with Damien Chapa directing and starring as Fischer. In 2011, documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus released Bobby Fischer Against the World, which explores the life of Fischer, with interviews from Garry Kasparov, Anthony Saidy, and others. On September 16, 2015, the American biographical film Pawn Sacrifice was released, starring Tobey Maguire as Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy.

Other media The 1984 concept album Chess, with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, is loosely based on the 1972 World Championship match between Fischer and Spassky. The characterization of the American player Freddie Trumper as a hot-headed and paranoid xenophobe is based on Fischer. During the 1972 Fischer–Spassky match, the Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky wrote an ironic two-song cycle "Honor of the Chess Crown". The first song is about a rank-and-file Soviet worker's preparation for the match with Fischer; the second is about the game. Many expressions from the songs have become catchphrases in Russian culture. British sophisti-pop band Prefab Sprout reference Fischer in their 1984 song "Cue Fanfare" in the lyrics "When Bobby Fischer's plane touches the ground/He'll take those Russian boys and play them out of town". In a season 21 episode of Saturday Night Live, in a sketch set at a chess tournament, the Spartan cheerleaders, played by Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri, sang a cheer with references to Fischer and his reclusion, including the lyrics "Where is he?/I don't know/I don't know". In episode 6 of season 3 of Drunk History, titled "Games", comedian and author Rich Fulcher retells the story of the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Fischer and Spassky. In the episode, Taran Killam plays Fischer, and Jake Johnson plays Spassky.

Tournament, match, and team event summaries

Fischer played 752 tournament games in his career, winning 417, drawing 251, and losing 84. These include, however, games when he was very young; if only the games after he turned 20 are considered, he played 311 tournament games and lost 23, a 7.4% loss percentage. Year!!Tournament!!Location!!Wins!!Draws!!Losses!!Points!!Games!!Ranking!!Players!!%

Matches

International Team events

Notable games

Donald Byrne vs. Fischer, New York 1956; Grünfeld Defense, 5.Bf4 (D92). Played when Fischer was 13 years old, "this game appeared in chess magazines around the world, provoking the delight of the public and the amazement of the experts". It was dubbed "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch in Chess Review. Svetozar Gligorić vs. Fischer, Bled 1961; King's Indian Defense, Classical Variation, Mar del Plata Variation (E98). "A genuine drawn masterpiece" according to Garry Kasparov. Andrew Soltis rated it as one of "The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century".

Robert Byrne vs. Fischer, 1963/64 US Championship; Neo-Grünfeld Defense, 0–1; annotated. From an almost position, Fischer beats a strong international master in —"a game that was immediately recognized as an all-time classic".

Fischer vs. Mark Taimanov, Vancouver Candidates Final 1971; 4th match game, Sicilian Defense, Taimanov Variation (B47). Fischer's patient and accurate handling of bishop vs. knight, first in the rook and minor piece endgame, and then after rooks were , has become a staple of endgame instructional literature.

Fischer vs. Tigran Petrosian, Buenos Aires Candidates Final 1971; 7th match game, Sicilian Defense, Taimanov Variation (B42), 1–0. Fischer's unconventional choice of 22.Nxd7+, exchanging a well-posted knight for an apparently passive bishop, has been widely praised. However, in 2020 engine-assisted analysis by Karsten Müller and ChessBase News readers came to the conclusion that 22.a4 wins, while 22.Nxd7+ only draws against correct defense.

Fischer vs. Boris Spassky, World Chess Championship 1972; 6th match game, Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower Defense (D59), 1–0; annotated on the 1972 match page. Fischer called this game his best of the match. Efim Geller had told Spassky about the strong move 14...Qb7 during their preparation, but Spassky had forgotten the advice and played 14...a6. Geller won with 14...Qb7 against Jan Timman in the AVRO 1973 tournament. Boris Spassky vs. Fischer, World Chess Championship 1972; 13th match game, Alekhine Defense, Modern Variation, Alburt Variation (B04), 0–1; annotated on the 1972 match page. Botvinnik called this game "the highest creative achievement of Fischer". He resolved a drawish opposite-colored bishops endgame by sacrificing his bishop and trapping his own rook. "Then five passed pawns struggled with the white rook. Nothing similar had been seen before in chess." Fischer vs. Boris Spassky, 1992; 1st match game, Ruy Lopez, Breyer Variation (C95), 1–0; annotated on the 1992 match page. Fischer's "fine" victory in his first competitive game in 20 years "made a great impression on the chess world", although in Kasparov's view, Spassky's play was below the standard of the leading grandmasters of the time.