Among juniors, and at the age of 14 he became the US champion - the youngest in history.
From a very young age, Fischer attracted attention not only for his phenomenal chess successes. He also became known for his extraordinary, often scandalous actions and public statements. For example, a teenager spoke about school as follows: “There is nothing to learn at school. Teachers are stupid. Women should not be allowed to work as teachers. At my school, only the physical education teacher was not stupid - he played chess well.”
At the age of 15, Fischer left school to devote himself entirely to chess. “All I ever want to do is play chess,” he said.
Chess career
Young Fisher plays against John Collins
Among chess players, Fischer was highly respected for his outstanding successes, although he was condemned for his extravagance. Commentators noted that Fischer, demanding ideal conditions and increasing fees, in fact, did a lot to improve tournament life and increase the well-being of leading chess players. For example, thanks to Fischer's requests, the size of the prize fund for the World Chess Championship match has increased significantly. On this occasion, Boris Spassky joked: “Fischer is our trade union.” Fischer himself said: “I will ensure that chess is treated with no less respect than boxing. No matter how much Muhammad Ali asks for his next performance, I will demand more.”
World Champion
It was reported that for some time Fischer was a member of the religious sect “Worldwide Church of the Creator,” but after the end of the world predicted by its leaders did not take place, he left the sect. In an interview, he spoke of the leaders of the sect as “terrible hypocrites” and called them “dishonest people who only think about how to take money.”
After winning the match, Fischer was not allowed to return to the United States. In addition to being accused of violating the Yugoslav embargo, he was also charged by the tax department; for non-payment of taxes since 1976, including the tax on the fee of the last match, he was threatened with a fine of 250 thousand dollars. For some time Fischer lived in Hungary, in Budapest. In 1994, he broke up with Zita Rajcsani, but he met and became a friend of the family of sisters Judit and Zsuzsa Polgar, also young chess players. In 1996, Fischer presented to the public the chess 960 he had invented. Then significant changes occurred in Fischer’s life again: he unexpectedly broke up with his Hungarian acquaintances and moved to live in the East. In the Philippines, he met a 20-year-old local woman, who in 2000 gave birth to his daughter, Jinkee Ong (however, Fischer subsequently did not communicate with either this woman or her daughter). Fischer lived mainly in Japan with his old friend Miyoko Watai, a Japanese chess player whom he met back in the 1970s. In 2000, Fischer was even in America; he came there illegally, through Canada, for his sister’s funeral. Although all the previous charges remained against him, the special services did nothing, or simply did not know about his arrival.
After 2000
The matter dragged on. Fischer spent 8 months in prison, during which time he managed to propose to Miyoko to marry him and enter into a prenuptial agreement with her. Montenegro, Germany and Iceland declared their willingness to grant Fischer citizenship, and he was deported to Iceland on 24 March 2005. Before flying out of Japan, Fischer told reporters he believed his arrest was a kidnapping, repeated accusations against Bush and Koizumi and said they "should be hanged as war criminals."
Last years of life
After being deported from Japan, Fischer lived in Iceland, in Reykjavik. In November 2007, he was hospitalized with kidney failure. Fischer was offered surgery, but he refused. This illness, apparently, was the cause of the death of the legendary and most mysterious chess player of the 20th century on January 17, 2008. He was buried in Iceland, in the cemetery of the Catholic parish of the town of Selfoss, 50 km from Reykjavik. The funeral, according to Fischer's own wishes, was modest, attended only by a few of his Icelandic friends and Miyoko Watai.
Characteristics of creative manner
He was distinguished by his extraordinary capacity for work, fanatical devotion to chess, and encyclopedic knowledge. Fischer was an outstanding researcher of the opening and enriched chess theory with many developments. Fischer began the vast majority of his games with the king's pawn move 1.e4, brilliantly playing both open openings (including the King's Gambit!) and half-closed openings. Known so-called "Fischer Defense" in the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Kf3 d6). Fischer's successes in the exchange variation of the Spanish game made this branch of the popular opening fashionable for a long time. With Black, Fischer fought for the initiative, playing in response to 1.e4 most often the Sicilian Defense (most often the Najdorf Variation), and to 1.d4 the King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld Defense. In the match with Spassky (1972), Fischer appeared transformed - his opening arsenal was enriched with new, thoroughly developed principles.
Fischer managed to follow not only the men's competitions, he also studied games from women's tournaments, trying to find a “fresh” idea there too. He read specialized literature in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, German languages. In his youth, Fischer called himself a follower of the Soviet chess school, from which he took the best achievements.
Grandmaster A. Suetin characterized Fischer’s creative style as follows:
A distinctive feature of Fischer's playing is its remarkable clarity, concreteness, and rationality of thinking. Even the strongest grandmasters are no strangers to hobbies in search of the board: tempting, unrealistic; but fantastic continuations may prevent them from calculating their options correctly. But when you study Fischer’s game (even in blitz games!), you get the impression that he coldly, without hesitation, automatically discards all these beauties. But he directs all his efforts to finding the truth.
Other commentators also noted in Fischer's game amazing clarity, concrete thinking and rare sportsmanship: he strived only for victory, but did not violate the principles of positional struggle. If his games ended in a draw, it meant that all resources to achieve victory were truly exhausted. Fischer was not a modernist in chess, like Tal or Larsen, he gravitated towards “pure”, clear chess, but this did not make his game dry and boring. Anatoly Karpov, characterizing Fischer’s contribution to chess, said: “I don’t know anyone else in the history of chess to whom our game would owe so much.”
Sports achievements
| Year | Tournament | + | - | = | Result | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | New York, Brooklyn Chess Club Championship | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4½ out of 7 | 3-5 |
| New Jersey US Amateur Championship | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2½ out of 6 | 32 | |
| New York, Washington Park Championships | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4½ out of 8 | 15-60 | |
| Lincoln, Nebraska, US Junior Championships | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 out of 10 | 11-21 | |
| 1956 | New York, New York Championship | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 5-7 |
| New York, Manhattan Chess Club, tournament "A" | 7 | 1 | 4 | 9 out of 12 | 1 | |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 4½ out of 5 | - | ||
| Asburn Park, New Jersey, US Amateur Championship | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 out of 6 | 12 | |
| Philadelphia, US Youth Championships | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8½ out of 10 | 1 | |
| Oklahoma City, LVII US Open | 5 | 0 | 7 | 8½ out of 13 | 4-8 | |
| Montreal, Canadian Open | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 out of 10 | 8-12 | |
| New York, III Rosenwald Prize Tournament | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4½ out of 11 | 8-9 | |
| Washington, Eastern States Open | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5½ out of 7 | 2-5 | |
| 1956/57 | New York, Manhattan Chess Club semi-final | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2½ out of 5 | 4 |
| 1957 | West Orange, New Jersey Long Cabin Open | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 out of 6 | 6-11 |
| Long Cabin, 50-50 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 out of 5 | ||
| New York Metropolitan League Team Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 out of 5 | - | |
| New York, match with M. Euwe | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ out of 2 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wiscontin, Western States Open | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | 7 | |
| San Francisco, US Youth Championships | 8 | 0 | 1 | 8½ out of 9 | 1 | |
| Cleveland, Ohio, LVIII US Open | 8 | 0 | 4 | 10 out of 12 | 1-2 | |
| East Orange, New Jersey, New Jersey State Championship | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6½ out of 7 | 1 | |
| New York, match with D. Bennison | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | ||
| New York, match with R. Cardoso (8 games) | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wis., Mid-North Open | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 6-16 | |
| 1957/58 | New York, XII USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 5 | 10½ out of 13 | 1 |
| 1958 | Belgrade, match against D. Janosevic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 of 2 | |
| Belgrade, match against M. Matulovic | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ out of 4 | ||
| Portorož, interzonal tournament | 6 | 2 | 12 | 12 out of 20 | 5-6 | |
| 1958/59 | New York, XIII US Championship | 6 | 0 | 5 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1959 | Mar del Plata | 8 | 2 | 4 | 10 out of 14 | 3-4 |
| Santiago, Memorial A. Palma | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7½ out of 12 | 4-6 | |
| Zurich | 8 | 2 | 5 | 10½ out of 15 | 3-4 | |
| Bled - Zagreb - Belgrade, Candidates Tournament | 8 | 11 | 9 | 12½ out of 28 | 5-6 | |
| 1959/60 | New York, XIV US Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1960 | Mar del Plata | 13 | 1 | 1 | 13½ out of 15 | 1-2 |
| Buenos Aires | 3 | 5 | 11 | 8½ out of 19 | 13-16 | |
| Reykjavik | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | 1 | |
| Berlin, match USA - Germany (game with Darga) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Leinzig, XIV Olympiad | 10 | 2 | 6 | 13 of 18 | ||
| 1960/61 | New York, XV USA Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1961 | New York - Los Angeles, match with Samuel Reshevsky (out of 16 games) | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5½ out of 11 | |
| Bled, A. Alekhine memorial | 8 | 0 | 11 | 13½ out of 19 | 2 | |
| Radio consultation party with London | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ out of 1 | ||
| 1962 | Stockholm, interzonal tournament | 13 | 0 | 9 | 17½ out of 22 | 1 |
| Copenhagen, game with B. Larsen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Curacao Candidates Tournament | 8 | 7 | 12 | 14 of 27 | 4 | |
| Varna, XV Olympiad | 8 | 3 | 6 | 11 of 17 | ||
| Match USA - Poland (game with B. Sliwa) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| 1962/63 | New York, XVII US Championship | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1963 | Bay City, Michigan Western States Open | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7½ out of 8 | 1 |
| Pougskipje, New York, New York State Open | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 out of 7 | 1 | |
| 1963/64 | New York, XVIII US Championship | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 of 11 | 1 |
| 1965 | Havana, IV Capablanca Memorial ((by telephone and teletype) | 12 | 3 | 6 | 15 out of 21 | 2-4 |
| 1965/66 | New York, XX USA Championship | 8 | 2 | 1 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1966 | Los Angeles, Pyatigorsky Cup tournament | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 of 18 | 2 |
| Havana, XVII Olympiad | 14 | 1 | 2 | 15 of 17 | ||
| 1966/67 | New York, XXI USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 3 | 9½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1967 | Monaco | 6 | 1 | 2 | 7 of 9 | 1 |
| Skopje | 12 | 2 | 3 | 13½ out of 17 | 1 | |
| Sousse, interzonal tournament | 7 | 0 | 3 | 8½ out of 10 | ||
| 1968 | Netanya, Israel | 10 | 0 | 3 | 11½ out of 13 | 1 |
| Vinkovci, Yugoslavia | 9 | 0 | 4 | 11 of 13 | 1 | |
| 1969 | New York Metropolitan League (game with Sadie) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | |
| 1970 | “Match of the Century” (match between the national teams of the USSR and the rest of the world), 2nd board against T. Petrosyan |
2 | 0 | 2 | 3 of 4 | |
| Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, international tournament blitz | 17 | 1 | 4 | 19 of 22 | 1 | |
| Zagreb | 10 | 1 | 6 | 13 of 17 | 1 | |
| Buenos Aires | 13 | 0 | 4 | 15 of 17 | 1 | |
| Siegen, XIX Olympiad | 8 | 1 | 4 | 10 out of 13 | ||
| Siegen, game with Andersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Palma de Mallorca, interzonal tournament | 15 | 1 | 7 | 18½ out of 23 | 1 | |
| 1971 | Vancouver, quarter-final candidates match against M. Taimanov | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | |
| Denver, semi-final match challengers against B. Larsen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | ||
| Buenos Aires, final candidates match against T. Petrosyan | 5 | 1 | 3 | 6½ out of 9 | ||
| 1972 | Reykjavik, world championship match with Boris Spassky | 7 | 3 | 11 | 12½ out of 21 | |
| 1992 | Sveti Stefan, Belgrade, Match with Boris Spassky | 10 | 5 | 15 | 17½ out of 30 |
Personal accounts
|
|
Among juniors, and at the age of 14 he became the US champion - the youngest in history.
From a very young age, Fischer attracted attention not only for his phenomenal chess successes. He also became known for his extraordinary, often scandalous actions and public statements. For example, a teenager spoke about school as follows: “There is nothing to learn at school. Teachers are stupid. Women should not be allowed to work as teachers. At my school, only the physical education teacher was not stupid - he played chess well.”
At the age of 15, Fischer left school to devote himself entirely to chess. “All I ever want to do is play chess,” he said.
Chess career
Young Fisher plays against John Collins
Among chess players, Fischer was highly respected for his outstanding successes, although he was condemned for his extravagance. Commentators noted that Fischer, while demanding ideal conditions and increased fees, actually did a lot to improve tournament life and increase the well-being of leading chess players. For example, thanks to Fischer's requests, the size of the prize fund for the World Chess Championship match has increased significantly. On this occasion, Boris Spassky joked: “Fischer is our trade union.” Fischer himself said: “I will ensure that chess is treated with no less respect than boxing. No matter how much Muhammad Ali asks for his next performance, I will demand more.”
World Champion
It was reported that for some time Fischer was a member of the religious sect “Worldwide Church of the Creator,” but after the end of the world predicted by its leaders did not take place, he left the sect. In an interview, he spoke of the leaders of the sect as “terrible hypocrites” and called them “dishonest people who only think about how to take money.”
After winning the match, Fischer was not allowed to return to the United States. In addition to being accused of violating the Yugoslav embargo, he was also charged by the tax department; for non-payment of taxes since 1976, including the tax on the fee of the last match, he was threatened with a fine of 250 thousand dollars. For some time Fischer lived in Hungary, in Budapest. In 1994, he broke up with Zita Rajcsani, but he met and became a friend of the family of sisters Judit and Zsuzsa Polgar, also young chess players. In 1996, Fischer presented to the public the chess 960 he had invented. Then significant changes occurred in Fischer’s life again: he unexpectedly broke up with his Hungarian acquaintances and moved to live in the East. In the Philippines, he met a 20-year-old local woman, who in 2000 gave birth to his daughter, Jinkee Ong (however, Fischer subsequently did not communicate with either this woman or her daughter). Fischer lived mainly in Japan with his old friend Miyoko Watai, a Japanese chess player whom he met back in the 1970s. In 2000, Fischer was even in America; he came there illegally, through Canada, for his sister’s funeral. Although all the previous charges remained against him, the special services did nothing, or simply did not know about his arrival.
After 2000
The matter dragged on. Fischer spent 8 months in prison, during which time he managed to propose to Miyoko to marry him and enter into a prenuptial agreement with her. Montenegro, Germany and Iceland declared their willingness to grant Fischer citizenship, and he was deported to Iceland on 24 March 2005. Before flying out of Japan, Fischer told reporters he believed his arrest was a kidnapping, repeated accusations against Bush and Koizumi and said they "should be hanged as war criminals."
Last years of life
After being deported from Japan, Fischer lived in Iceland, in Reykjavik. In November 2007, he was hospitalized with kidney failure. Fischer was offered surgery, but he refused. This illness, apparently, was the cause of the death of the legendary and most mysterious chess player of the 20th century on January 17, 2008. He was buried in Iceland, in the cemetery of the Catholic parish of the town of Selfoss, 50 km from Reykjavik. The funeral, according to Fischer's own wishes, was modest, attended only by a few of his Icelandic friends and Miyoko Watai.
Characteristics of creative manner
He was distinguished by his extraordinary capacity for work, fanatical devotion to chess, and encyclopedic knowledge. Fischer was an outstanding researcher of the opening and enriched chess theory with many developments. Fischer began the vast majority of his games with the king's pawn move 1.e4, brilliantly playing both open openings (including the King's Gambit!) and half-closed openings. Known so-called "Fischer Defense" in the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Kf3 d6). Fischer's successes in the exchange variation of the Spanish game made this branch of the popular opening fashionable for a long time. With Black, Fischer fought for the initiative, playing in response to 1.e4 most often the Sicilian Defense (most often the Najdorf Variation), and to 1.d4 the King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld Defense. In the match with Spassky (1972), Fischer appeared transformed - his opening arsenal was enriched with new, thoroughly developed principles.
Fischer managed to follow not only the men's competitions, he also studied games from women's tournaments, trying to find a “fresh” idea there too. He read specialized literature in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and German. In his youth, Fischer called himself a follower of the Soviet chess school, from which he took the best achievements.
Grandmaster A. Suetin characterized Fischer’s creative style as follows:
A distinctive feature of Fischer's playing is its remarkable clarity, concreteness, and rationality of thinking. Even the strongest grandmasters are no strangers to hobbies in search of the board: tempting, unrealistic; but fantastic continuations may prevent them from calculating their options correctly. But when you study Fischer’s game (even in blitz games!), you get the impression that he coldly, without hesitation, automatically discards all these beauties. But he directs all his efforts to finding the truth.
Other commentators also noted in Fischer's game amazing clarity, concrete thinking and rare sportsmanship: he strived only for victory, but did not violate the principles of positional struggle. If his games ended in a draw, it meant that all resources to achieve victory were truly exhausted. Fischer was not a modernist in chess, like Tal or Larsen, he gravitated towards “pure”, clear chess, but this did not make his game dry and boring. Anatoly Karpov, characterizing Fischer’s contribution to chess, said: “I don’t know anyone else in the history of chess to whom our game would owe so much.”
Sports achievements
| Year | Tournament | + | - | = | Result | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | New York, Brooklyn Chess Club Championship | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4½ out of 7 | 3-5 |
| New Jersey US Amateur Championship | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2½ out of 6 | 32 | |
| New York, Washington Park Championships | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4½ out of 8 | 15-60 | |
| Lincoln, Nebraska, US Junior Championships | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 out of 10 | 11-21 | |
| 1956 | New York, New York Championship | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 5-7 |
| New York, Manhattan Chess Club, tournament "A" | 7 | 1 | 4 | 9 out of 12 | 1 | |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 4½ out of 5 | - | ||
| Asburn Park, New Jersey, US Amateur Championship | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 out of 6 | 12 | |
| Philadelphia, US Youth Championships | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8½ out of 10 | 1 | |
| Oklahoma City, LVII US Open | 5 | 0 | 7 | 8½ out of 13 | 4-8 | |
| Montreal, Canadian Open | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 out of 10 | 8-12 | |
| New York, III Rosenwald Prize Tournament | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4½ out of 11 | 8-9 | |
| Washington, Eastern States Open | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5½ out of 7 | 2-5 | |
| 1956/57 | New York, Manhattan Chess Club semi-final | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2½ out of 5 | 4 |
| 1957 | West Orange, New Jersey Long Cabin Open | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 out of 6 | 6-11 |
| Long Cabin, 50-50 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 out of 5 | ||
| New York Metropolitan League Team Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 out of 5 | - | |
| New York, match with M. Euwe | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ out of 2 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wiscontin, Western States Open | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | 7 | |
| San Francisco, US Youth Championships | 8 | 0 | 1 | 8½ out of 9 | 1 | |
| Cleveland, Ohio, LVIII US Open | 8 | 0 | 4 | 10 out of 12 | 1-2 | |
| East Orange, New Jersey, New Jersey State Championship | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6½ out of 7 | 1 | |
| New York, match with D. Bennison | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | ||
| New York, match with R. Cardoso (8 games) | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wis., Mid-North Open | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 6-16 | |
| 1957/58 | New York, XII USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 5 | 10½ out of 13 | 1 |
| 1958 | Belgrade, match against D. Janosevic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 of 2 | |
| Belgrade, match against M. Matulovic | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ out of 4 | ||
| Portorož, interzonal tournament | 6 | 2 | 12 | 12 out of 20 | 5-6 | |
| 1958/59 | New York, XIII US Championship | 6 | 0 | 5 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1959 | Mar del Plata | 8 | 2 | 4 | 10 out of 14 | 3-4 |
| Santiago, Memorial A. Palma | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7½ out of 12 | 4-6 | |
| Zurich | 8 | 2 | 5 | 10½ out of 15 | 3-4 | |
| Bled - Zagreb - Belgrade, Candidates Tournament | 8 | 11 | 9 | 12½ out of 28 | 5-6 | |
| 1959/60 | New York, XIV US Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1960 | Mar del Plata | 13 | 1 | 1 | 13½ out of 15 | 1-2 |
| Buenos Aires | 3 | 5 | 11 | 8½ out of 19 | 13-16 | |
| Reykjavik | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | 1 | |
| Berlin, match USA - Germany (game with Darga) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Leinzig, XIV Olympiad | 10 | 2 | 6 | 13 of 18 | ||
| 1960/61 | New York, XV USA Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1961 | New York - Los Angeles, match with Samuel Reshevsky (out of 16 games) | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5½ out of 11 | |
| Bled, A. Alekhine memorial | 8 | 0 | 11 | 13½ out of 19 | 2 | |
| Radio consultation party with London | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ out of 1 | ||
| 1962 | Stockholm, interzonal tournament | 13 | 0 | 9 | 17½ out of 22 | 1 |
| Copenhagen, game with B. Larsen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Curacao Candidates Tournament | 8 | 7 | 12 | 14 of 27 | 4 | |
| Varna, XV Olympiad | 8 | 3 | 6 | 11 of 17 | ||
| Match USA - Poland (game with B. Sliwa) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| 1962/63 | New York, XVII US Championship | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1963 | Bay City, Michigan Western States Open | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7½ out of 8 | 1 |
| Pougskipje, New York, New York State Open | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 out of 7 | 1 | |
| 1963/64 | New York, XVIII US Championship | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 of 11 | 1 |
| 1965 | Havana, IV Capablanca Memorial ((by telephone and teletype) | 12 | 3 | 6 | 15 out of 21 | 2-4 |
| 1965/66 | New York, XX USA Championship | 8 | 2 | 1 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1966 | Los Angeles, Pyatigorsky Cup tournament | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 of 18 | 2 |
| Havana, XVII Olympiad | 14 | 1 | 2 | 15 of 17 | ||
| 1966/67 | New York, XXI USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 3 | 9½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1967 | Monaco | 6 | 1 | 2 | 7 of 9 | 1 |
| Skopje | 12 | 2 | 3 | 13½ out of 17 | 1 | |
| Sousse, interzonal tournament | 7 | 0 | 3 | 8½ out of 10 | ||
| 1968 | Netanya, Israel | 10 | 0 | 3 | 11½ out of 13 | 1 |
| Vinkovci, Yugoslavia | 9 | 0 | 4 | 11 of 13 | 1 | |
| 1969 | New York Metropolitan League (game with Sadie) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | |
| 1970 | “Match of the Century” (match between the national teams of the USSR and the rest of the world), 2nd board against T. Petrosyan |
2 | 0 | 2 | 3 of 4 | |
| Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, international blitz tournament | 17 | 1 | 4 | 19 of 22 | 1 | |
| Zagreb | 10 | 1 | 6 | 13 of 17 | 1 | |
| Buenos Aires | 13 | 0 | 4 | 15 of 17 | 1 | |
| Siegen, XIX Olympiad | 8 | 1 | 4 | 10 out of 13 | ||
| Siegen, game with Andersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Palma de Mallorca, interzonal tournament | 15 | 1 | 7 | 18½ out of 23 | 1 | |
| 1971 | Vancouver, quarter-final candidates match against M. Taimanov | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | |
| Denver, semi-final candidates match against B. Larsen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | ||
| Buenos Aires, final candidates match against T. Petrosyan | 5 | 1 | 3 | 6½ out of 9 | ||
| 1972 | Reykjavik, world championship match with Boris Spassky | 7 | 3 | 11 | 12½ out of 21 | |
| 1992 | Sveti Stefan, Belgrade, Match with Boris Spassky | 10 | 5 | 15 | 17½ out of 30 |
Personal accounts
|
|
On January 8, 1957, Robert Fischer became the youngest US chess champion at the age of 13.
He made a show out of chess, breathing life and passion into it. Many considered him a madman and a poseur. He literally didn't care. He could not be ignored. He was a child prodigy and a genius. His name was Bobby Fischer.
Fischer is one of the most brilliant chess players of the 20th century.
Fischer's chess talent manifested itself early. At age 13, he won the U.S. junior title, and on January 8, 1957, he became the youngest U.S. champion.
A year later he became the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess.
He was constantly in the spotlight, not only due to his phenomenal successes, but also because of his sensational statements. “There is nothing to learn at school. Teachers are stupid. Women should not be allowed to work as teachers. At my school, only the physical education teacher was not stupid - he played chess well,” said the teenager.
Bobby promised to beat Soviet chess players as soon as possible and become world champion. But getting through the gauntlet of Soviet grandmasters turned out to be not so easy. For fifteen years Fischer walked towards his goal. But in the end, he did break the chain of Soviet world chess champions and became the first and last American to win the title after defeating Boris Spassky in 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Over the years, he gained a reputation as a chess fanatic.
The last game of the match with Spassky was the last official game played by Fischer.
Scandals have become another constant companion of the American. He always demanded something: either a higher fee, or good lighting, or permission not to play on Saturdays. And if his conditions were not met, he refused to perform, and could pack his bags in the middle of the competition and go home. It is now clear that many of Fischer’s demands were fair and justified, but to his contemporaries they seemed shocking and extravagant.
For example, in 1975, FIDE rejected the conditions set by Fischer for the World Championship, in which he was supposed to play Anatoly Karpov from the USSR, after which Fischer refused to play. The consequence of this action by Fischer was the awarding of the title of world champion to Karpov. After this scandal, Fischer stopped appearing in public for two decades and moved to Europe.
Fanaticism, including in relation to chess, does not lead to good things. Fischer was a “client” of one of the religious sects for many years. His ideas about the world around him became not entirely adequate. Thus, he refused the traditional reception with the president for American triumphant athletes, having learned that he would not be paid any money for this. Fischer left because he believed that he would be exploited, and because all his life he was terrified of defeat. He lost so rarely that a separate book, “How Bobby Fischer was Defeated,” was published about his failures.
Robert James "Bobby" Fisher(Robert James "Bobby" Fischer) was born on March 9, 1943 in Chicago (USA), and died on January 17, 2008 in Reykjavik (Iceland). |
He made a show out of chess, breathing life and passion into it. Many considered him a madman and a poseur. He literally didn't care. He could not be ignored. He was a child prodigy and a genius. His name was Bobby Fischer.
Brought Grandpa
At the tournament in Zurich in 1958, fifteen-year-old Fischer, in a game with the oldest participant, Hungarian grandmaster Gedeon Bartsa, did not have any advantage, but, not wanting to let his opponent go in peace, he played until the 103rd move. The game was postponed three times, the partners filled out two forms, but even after only kings remained on the board, Fischer made two more moves! Draw! Shocked by such a fantastic onslaught, Barza barely rose from his chair, and Robert said, as if nothing had happened: “Let's watch the game from the first move. Somewhere I could have played stronger!” And then Bartsa begged: “What are you talking about! I have a wife and children, who will feed them in the event of my untimely death!”
I myself
Another episode that gives an idea of Fischer's character. Shortly before the 1959 Candidates Tournament, where the young chess player sensationally qualified, a businessman decided to become a sponsor of the prodigy. His demand was simple: that Bobby say in all interviews that he achieves success with the help of his sponsor. 16-year-old Fischer responded immediately: “If I win the tournament, I win it myself!”
"Russian Collusion"
Bobby was still a bit raw for the 1959 Candidates Tournament, but Fischer approached the 1962 Candidates Tournament in Curacao as one of the favorites. In any case, he considered himself such. True, on the way to first place, which gave the right to the championship match, he had to go through the so-called “Russian series” - the four Soviet grandmasters who participated in the tournament. At first Fischer was in the lead, but the distance was long, and he failed to stay on top. In particular, Mikhail Tal inflicted 4 defeats on the American. As a result, Fischer accused the top three winners - Soviet grandmasters - of deliberately conspiring against him. They say that they made bloodless draws among themselves and thereby saved strength, but with Fischer, who had no opportunity to rest, they gave it their all.
Scandal at the interzonal tournament in Sousse
After the failure in Curacao, Fischer dropped out of tournament chess life for almost 3 years. Missed one championship cycle. But by the interzonal tournament in Sousse (1967), he pulled himself together, with a result of 11 out of 11 (!), warmed up in the American Championship and went to the start! Bobby crushed his opponents left and right. But at the same time, he was constantly capricious, demanding either additional days off or special coverage, and of his own free will dropped out of the tournament, having 8.5 points out of 10! When an outsider drops out, it’s understandable, but when there’s a clear leader, it’s strange. It seems that Bobby was afraid in the candidates' matches to face Boris Spassky, who in those years had no equal. Fear of defeat is another of the main distinguishing features sporting nature Fisher.
Championship match with Spassky
As expected, Spassky won the 1967 Candidates' cycle, and then the chess crown. That is, in the new cycle (1971), the road was open for Fischer right up to the championship match. And Bobby got down to business! In the quarterfinal match, he defeated Mark Taimanov - 6:0! In the semifinals - Bent Larsen - 6:0! And only in the final match of the candidates was the former world champion Tigran Petrosyan able to resist - 6.5:2.5. The last frontier remained... Spassky.
But Fischer did not show up for the official opening of the match in Reykjavik, Iceland (1972). A scandal was brewing. Bobby demanded an increase in the prize fund. The Soviet leadership wanted to recall Boris Spassky, considering such a mess to be humiliating. But two days later the evil genius showed up (sponsors were found who satisfied Fischer’s request). The world held its breath in anticipation of an unprecedented chess action...
In the first game Soviet champion wins! And Fischer immediately became capricious. He began to demand that no red traffic light be on anywhere while he was being taken to the gaming room. He demanded that all television cameras be removed because their noise annoyed him. And then he put forward an ultimatum: to play the next part in the back room, and not on stage! Otherwise he is removed from the match. The organizers thought Bobby was bluffing. But no. Fischer did not show up for the second game and was given a technical defeat. 2-0 in favor of Spassky.
This would have been the end of the fairy tale, but Boris, apparently, considered such a victory unworthy of the champion and agreed to play the 3rd game behind the scenes. Psychological concession! Bobby won the third game beautifully, seized the initiative in the match and eventually became the world champion.
Renunciation
After the championship match, Bobby left chess and, according to eyewitnesses, began to turn into paranoid. Fischer's tragedy was that the scale of his chess talent did not match the scale of his personality. But a new cycle of the chess crown was approaching, and Bobby had to defend his title. The fear of defeat in the upcoming 1975 match with the young Anatoly Karpov weighed on Fischer. He put forward different conditions, but Karpov, unlike Spassky, did not make any concessions, and the match did not take place. The crown passed to Karpov without a fight. However, Bobby said that he and no one else is the real world champion. Because the world champion is determined by the principle of continuity, and he did not lose the match to anyone, for the simple reason that he did not play it! Chess fans still regret that failed match...
Match with Spassky in Belgrade
27As time passed, new heroes appeared in the chess world: Anatoly Karpov, after a titanic confrontation that lasted many years, was replaced by Garry Kasparov. But 20 years after last match Fischer has come out of the shadows! He said that he still considers himself a world champion and gives Boris Spassky the right to a rematch. The chess community was delighted! Sponsors were quickly found. They decided to hold the match in Belgrade. It was at that time that the United States introduced economic sanctions against Yugoslavia. The American government sent Fischer an official letter in which he banned him from participating in the match. Fischer spat on this letter in front of journalists and tore it up. This act meant that upon returning to the USA, Bobby would face prison, so he never returned to his homeland. He commented on the current situation as follows: “Because I played chess, should I go to jail? I’ve never seen greater idiocy in my life.” By the way, Bobby won the match again.
It is a pity that Bobby Fischer did not write a single chess book at the end of his life. After all, his 1972 work “My 60 Memorable Games” is rightfully considered one of the best chess books ever written...
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Biography, life story of Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) is a famous American chess player.
Childhood and youth
Robert James Fisher (aka Bobby) was born March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. His mother Regina Fischer was a Swiss Jew. Regarding the father, historians have different opinions - he was either the German Jew Hans-Gerhard Fischer or the Hungarian Jew Paul Nemenyi. However, biological kinship is not so important, because it was Paul who raised the boy, it was he who helped him financially, constantly supported him, and even tried to get sole custody of him, citing the fact that Regina suffers from a mental disorder and cannot raise her son.
Bobby Fischer was the first American to become world chess champion. He stood out for the unusual features inherent in a genius personality. Fischer grew up in Brooklyn, learned to play chess at the age of 6 and quickly became a master of the game. In August 1958, at the age of 15, he became an international grandmaster. At the same time, he dropped out of school to devote himself entirely to chess. Because of this, he terribly quarreled with his mother, who, tired of the constant arguments, left, leaving Bobby in a Brooklyn apartment.
Career
Young Bobby was bright, passionate and unapologetic. In his youth, he often made mistakes, but with enviable tenacity he did not admit them, considering himself a one hundred percent genius. Over time, his chess skills reached a new level; his opponents were sincerely afraid of this “cold-blooded killer,” as he was called.
Bobby Fischer is especially famous as the American chess player who won the title in 1972. In 1972, the chess player staged an unforgettable, sensational duel with the Russian champion in Reykjavik, Iceland. After winning 21 games, Fischer became the champion. But Fischer was a very strange, eccentric figure, a recluse. He never defended his crown, rejecting a 1975 match with a representative of the International Chess Federation. The Federation awarded the title, and Fischer did not appear in public for almost 2 decades.
CONTINUED BELOW
In 1992 he played again in Belgrade, prize fund the game amounted to five million dollars. By agreeing to the game, Fischer violated the boycott between the United States and Yugoslavia. He won the match, receiving 3.5 million. However, Fischer spent the next decade as a recluse, escaping American power.
On July 4, 2004, Fischer was arrested at Tokyo airport while attempting to leave Japan without a passport. He was held in Japan until March 2005, when he received Icelandic citizenship and was deported to his new homeland.
Personal life
There were many women in Bobby Fischer's life, but, as his biographers assure, he loved none of them as much as he loved chess. Fischer had a long affair with Petra Stadler, a chess player from Hungary, which ended with Petra, tired of her lover’s constant anti-Semitic conversations, leaving Bobby.
After the breakup with Petra, seventeen-year-old Hungarian Zita Rajcsani appeared in Bobby's life. Bobby proposed several times to Zita to become his wife, but she constantly refused, finding various excuses. As a result, their union broke up.
In 2000, it became known that Fischer was in a romantic relationship with Japanese chess player Miyoko Watai. There were rumors that everything was very serious between them, that they had found in each other what they had been looking for all their lives. But the public soon learned that behind Miyoko’s back, Bobby was having an affair with Filipino Mariling Young, who gave birth to a daughter from him in 2001. However, Fischer himself was not very worried about this, calmly continuing to enjoy life with Miyoko.
Miyoko stayed with Bobby until the very end. It was she who sought his release from Japan, it was she who accompanied him to last path, it was she who loved him so sincerely and so purely that she was happy just from the fact that she could be close to her beloved.
Death
In the fall of 2007, Bobby Fischer was hospitalized with a prostate tumor. Doctors wanted to perform an operation on the chess player, but he categorically refused, trusting his life to fate. On January 17, 2008, Fischer died.
The funeral was modest. Only a few of his close friends came to say goodbye to the chess player. On Fischer's grave there is only a small headstone with his name and years of life.
Interesting facts
Fischer wrote the books Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (1966), My 60 Memorable Games (1969).
The 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer was not, per se, about Bobby Fischer. The film was about a young, gifted chess player, and was based on the life story of Joshua Waitzkin.
In 1990, Bobby Fischer patented his invention - a chess clock that adds extra seconds to players after each move. The watch was named after its creator.
Bobby, whose parents were full-blooded Jews, remained a virulent anti-Semite all his life.
Bobby Fischer died at the age of 64. On chessboard 64 cells.
