Bobby Fischer
Robert James (Bobby) Fischer (1943 - ) is universally considered to have been one of the best players in the history of chess. Many feel that he was the best ever. At his peak, he dominated even his closest challengers by overwhelming scores. When he won the world championship in 1972, he set records for performance that may never be equalled.
Fischer was one of the two charter members of the US Chess Hall of Fame, sharing that honor with 19th-century great Paul Morphy. The two have much in common. Both were American-born, and both dominated the chess world with no close rivals at their peaks. Sadly, however, both retired from serious competition when they were at their strongest, although Fischer came out of retirement briefly to play one match.
Bobby Fischer was born on March 9, 1943, in Chicago. He was raised by his mother and older sister, both highly intelligent people. The family had settled in Brooklyn by the time Fischer was six years old. About that time, his sister bought little Bobby a chess set to keep him amused. He soon became totally absorbed with chess.
By the age of 14, Bobby Fischer won the US Championship, becoming by far the youngest player ever to win that title. At 15, he became the youngest international grandmaster in history. Although that record has since been surpassed, it must be remembered that winning the grandmaster title in Fischer's day was a rarer achievement than it is today.
At the age of 19, Fischer finished fourth in a competition to determine the challenger for the world championship, making him effectively the fifth-ranked player in the world. At the age of 20, he set a record unlikely ever to be equalled, by winning the US Championship by a perfect 11-0 score
Unfortunately, he then began a pattern of conflicts with chess authorities. Some of Fischer's demands and complaints were valid, and led to improved conditions for chess professionals world-wide. However, Fischer had great difficulty compromising even slightly; he wanted 100% of everything he asked for even when he had already gained 95%. That failure to compromise led to his not getting a serious chance at the world championship until he was in his late 20's. In fact, in the late 1960's, many of his friends feared that he was giving up chess totally.
However, he burst back onto the scene in 1970, defeating former world champion Petrosian by a 3-1 score in the USSR-versus- the-world team match. Then he won the interzonal tournament, one of the steps to the world championship, with a record seven consecutive wins to end the event. He then set another record likely never to be equalled, when he won the quarter-final and semi-final matches for the world championship by identical scores of 6-0. Then when he won the first game of the final match, he had thus set a record of 20 consecutive wins (without draws!) at the highest level of grandmaster competition. He then went on to win the world championship by defeating the defending champion, Boris Spassky, by a five-game margin. That championship match was almost cancelled because of Fischer's numerous disputes with organizers.
Unfortunately, the match with Spassky was the last serious competition by Fischer for 20 years. He forfeited the world championship in 1975 after failing to get all of his demands met. He finally re-emerged after 20 years of seclusion from public life, to defeat Spassky in a rematch in 1992. Although Fischer claims that he never lost the world championship, and that his Spassky rematch was therefore a title defense, very few accept that view.
At the peak of success, Fischer became a major figure in the world news media. The publicity for chess caused a huge increase in its popularity; the US Chess Federation experienced a threefold increase in its membership!
Today, Fischer plays private games with certain grandmasters and advocates changes in the rules of chess. However, he remains a reclusive figure who belongs mostly to the realm of legend.