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Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago, Illinois at the Michael Reese Hospital
by the banks of Lake Michigan on March 9th, 1943. His father Gerhardth Fischer
was born in Berlin, Germany in 1909, he was a biophysicist. His mother was
Regina Wender. They separated when Bobby was 2 years old, and Regina had custody
of Bobby and his older sister Joan who was then 7 years old. She was a qualified
registered Nurse and wanted to take a Master's Degree at New York University in
Nursing Education. She decided to move to Brooklyn. It is there that the legend
of the world's greatest Chess player begins.
On May 1949, Bobby and his sister Joan learned how to play the game with a Chess
set given to them as a present. Both, six and eleven, learned the moves from the
instructions that went with the set. Even as a six-year-old, Bobby became
increasingly fascinated with Chess and enjoyed enough success in solving its
complexities. By age seven, he was so thoroughly absorbed that his mother became
worried. "Bobby isn't interested in anybody unless they play Chess and there
just aren't many children who like it" she once said.
She also attempted to place an ad in the Brooklyn Eagle inquiring whether there
might be other children of Bobby's age who would come and play Chess with him.
On January 17, 1951 Bobby played a game against master Max Pavey who was giving
a simultaneous exhibition and Bobby lost in 15 minutes. A few weeks later Bobby
joined the Brooklyn Chess Club, headed by Mr. Carmine Nigro, President of the
Brooklyn Chess Club and for the next few years he rarely missed a Friday
evening.
In 1953, Bobby Fischer played his first Chess tournament at the Brooklyn Chess
Club Championship when he was ten, he placed fifth. In 1955, Bobby score 4 � - 3
� in a Washington Square Park Swiss tournament. On May he scored three points in
the U.S. Amateur Championship in Lake Mohegan, New York. He joined the Manhattan
Chess club in June, 1955 and soon won the class C championship and the class B
Championship.
He often was given the opportunity of playing against the Club's finest masters.
Reshevsky gave a simultaneous blindfold exhibition in which Bobby competed and
he was ecstatic when he defeated the Grandmaster. On July he won 2 games, drew 6
games, and lost 2 games at the U.S. Junior Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska. He
took 3rd place in the U.S. Junior Speed Championship.
On March 1956, Bobby traveled with the Log Cabin Chess Club to Cuba and gave a
simultaneous exhibition at the Capablanca Chess Club. His U.S.C.F. rating was
published at 1726. On April he won the class A Championship at the Manhattan
Chess Club. On May he played in the U.S. Amateur Championship in Asbury Park,
New Jersey, winning three games, drawing two, and losing one. At thirteen, he
was the youngest player in the event.
On July he took first place at the U.S. Junior Championship in Philadelphia with
eight wins, one draw, and one loss. His U.S.C.F. rating in the event was 1830.
At 13 years and 4 months, he was the youngest player to win the U.S. Junior
Championship. A few weeks later he played in the 57th U.S. Open in Oklahoma
City, winning 5 games, drawing 7 games and tied for 4th-8th place. On September
he tied for 8th place at the Canadian Open in Montreal.
On October he took 8th place in the Rosenwald tournament in New York. His win
against Donald Byrne (2530) won the brilliancy prize and has been called the
game of the century. On November he tied for 2nd-5th place in the Eastern States
Open in Washington, D.C. On December Bobby won the rapid transit play and took
4th place in the Manhattan Chess Club Championship.
On March 1957, Bobby played 2 games against former world champion Max Euwe in
New York, drawing one and losing one. On April he won the New York Metropolitan
League. In July he tied for sixth place at the New Western Open in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. A few days later he played in the U.S. Junior Championship in San
Francisco and took first place and another typewriter. He also won the U.S.
Junior Speed Championship.
On August Bobby Fischer tied for 1st - 2nd at the 58th U.S. Open in Cleveland and won $750.
His official USCF rating put him at 2231, making him the youngest player in the
U.S. with a master's rating at that time, at age 14 years and 5 months. On
September he won the New Jersey Open Championship. On December he won the North
Central Open in Milwaukee. On January 10, 1958 Bobby Fischer at age 14 years and
9 months won the 1957 / 58 U.S. Championship and Zonal with 8 wins, 5 draws and
no losses.
His USCF rating climbed to 2626. Except for Santa Monica 1966, Bobby Fischer
would win every U.S. tournament he played in. In August he took 5th-6th at the
Portoroz Interzonal and gained the Grand- master title. At the same time he
became the world's youngest Candidate for the world championship at age 15
years, 6 months. On January 1959, Bobby Fischer again won the U.S. Championship
with six wins and five draws.
Bobby Fischer later dropped out of school to become a professional Chess player.
Fischer's academic records indicated an I.Q. of 180 with an incredibly retentive
memory. On April 1959 he took 3rd-4th at Mar Del Plata, Argentina. On May he
took 3rd-4th at Zurich, Switzerland behind Tal and Gligoric, with 8 wins, five
draws, and two losses. On September he took 5th-6th at the Bled / Zagrev /
Belgrade Candidates tournament, won by Mikhail Tal. Fischer's USCF rating was
2636, behind Reshevsky's 2693 rating.
On January 1960 again, Fischer won the U.S. Championship with 7 wins, 4 draws,
and no losses. On April he tied for 1st-2nd with Boris Spassky at Mar Del Plata,
Argentina, then took first place at Reykjavik, Iceland in October. On November
he played board 1 for the United States at the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig,
winning 10 games, drawing 6, and losing 2. His USCF rating was 2641.
On January 1961, Bobby again won the U.S. Championship with 7 wins, 4 draws, and
no losses. On July he started a match with Sam Reshevsky and tied it with 2
wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses. "I am going to win the World Championship," he
predicted to American journalist Robert Cantwell. On March 1962 he won the
Interzonal in Stockholm with 13 wins, 9 draws, and no losses. This was the first
interzonal that a Soviet player did not take first place.
On May he took fourth place at the Curacao Candidates tournament, won by
Petrosian. On October he played board one for the United States at the Chess
Olympiad in Varna, Germany and scored 8 wins, 6 draws, and 3 losses. His USCF
rating was 2687. On January 1963, Bobby won the U.S. Championship with six wins,
four draws, and one loss (Edmar Mednis). He announced he was boycotting FIDE
tournaments until the Russians stopped fixing Chess.
On July Bobby Fischer won the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan. On September he won the
New York State Open with a perfect score of 7 wins, no draws, no losses. On
November he was to play four hundred opponents at once in an exhibition, but it
was postponed because of President Kennedy's assassination. His USCF rating was
2685. On January 1, 1964 Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Championship with a perfect
score of 11 wins. He then began a nation- wide simultaneous exhibition for the
rest of the year.
The first international rating list was published by Arpad Elo in 1964. The top
two players were Fischer and Petrosian at 2690. His USCF rating was 2734. On
August 1965, he participated in the 4th Capablanca Memorial in Cuba by playing
through a teletype machine at the Marshall Chess Club in New York. He tied for
2nd-4th with 12 wins, 6 draws, and 3 losses. On December he won the U.S. Chess
Championship with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. Fischer's USCF rating climbed to
2734.
On July 1966, Bobby took 2nd place at the Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica,
behind Spassky. In November he played Board 1 for the U.S. at the 17th Chess
Olympiad in Havana, scoring 14 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. In December he won the
U.S. Championship with 8 wins, 3 draws, and no losses. This was his 8th U.S.
Championship title. On April 1967, Bobby took 1st place at Monaco. In August he
won at Skopje, Yugoslavia.
In October Bobby Fischer participated in the Sousse Interzonal, but withdrew after leading
the event with 7 wins and 3 draws. His USCF rating was 2762. On July 1968 he
took first place at Netanya, Israel. In September he took first place at
Vinkovci, Yugoslavia. In 1969 Bobby finished his book, "My 60 Memorable Games."
He played Board 1 in a New York Metropolitan League and won. On April 1970, he
played Board 2 in the USSR vs Rest of the World match in Belgrade, beating
Petrosian with two wins and 2 draws.
He then went on to Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia and won the unofficial world 5 minute
Championship with 17 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss. After the tournament he called
off from memory all of the moves from his 22 games, involving over 1,000 moves.
In May he took 1st at Rovinj/Zagreb. In August he took 1st place at Buenos
Aires. On September he played Board 1 for the U.S. at the 19th Olympiad in
Siegen, Switzerland.
On November, Pal Benko gave up his spot at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal so
that Fischer could play. Bobby won the event with 15 wins, seven draws, and 1
loss. Fischer won the Chess Oscar for 1970, 1971, and 1972. On June 1971, Bobby
Fischer defeated Mark Taimanov with 6 wins, no draws, no losses in the
Candidates quarterfinals in Vancouver, Canada. On July he defeated Bent Larsen
also with a perfect 6-0 score in the Candidates semi-final in Denver, Colorado.
His performance rating was 3060.
On August Bobby won the Manhattan Chess Club 5-minute blitz with 21 wins and 1
draw. On September, Bobby defeated Tigran Petrosian with 5 wins, 3 draws, and 1
loss in Buenos Aires for the Candidates finals. He now became challenger for the
world Championship. His USCF rating was at its peak of 2825. On July 11, 1972 he
began his match with Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland for the world
championship.
On September 1, 1972 Bobby became world champion after winning 7 games, drawing
eleven games, and losing three games (1 on forfeit). Fischer received $160,000
for his efforts and another $40,000 in royalties. Bobby Fischer's last published
USCF rating was 2810. His FIDE rating was 2785. On April 3, 1975 Bobby Fischer
forfeited his title as world Chess Champion to Anatoly Karpov without playing a
single Chess game since winning the world championship.
In 1977 Bobby Fischer played 3 games against the MIT Greenblatt computer program. He
turned down $250,000 to play one Chess game at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and
$3 million to play in a tournament in the Philippines. In 1978 Bobby Fischer
filed a $3.2 million lawsuit against the publishers of a magazine critical of
the Worldwide Church of God. He claimed the writers taped his conversations
without his consent. He then accused the church of reneging on their promise to
finance the lawsuit.
On May 26, 1981, Fischer was arrested in Pasadena under suspicion of a bank
robber. He was stopped by a police officer who said he fit the description of a
bank robber. Fischer refused to answer some questions as was arrested. In 1982
Fischer published, "I WAS TORTURED IN THE PASADENA JAILHOUSE." He used the
pseudonym Robert James. In 1987 the House of Representatives passed House
Resolution Bill 545 recognizing Fischer as the world Chess Champion.
In 1988 Bobby patented the Fischer digital Chess clock which adds two minutes
per move. On September 1, 1992, Bobby Fischer came out of his 20 year retirement
and gave a press conference in Yugoslavia. He pulled out an order from the U.S.
Treasury Department warning him that he would be violating U.N sanctions if he
played Chess in Yugoslavia. He spit on the order and now faces ten years in
prison and a $250,000 fine if he returns to the U.S.
In addition, he must forfeit his $3.65 million to the U.S. Treasury and forfeit
10% of any match royalties earned. On September 30, Bobby Fischer began his
rematch with Boris Spassky in Sveti Stefan, Yugoslavia. The match was organized
by banker Jedzimir Vasiljevic. On November 11, Fischer won the match with 10
wins, 5 losses, and 15 draws. He received $3.65 million for his winnings and
Spassky received $1.5 million.
The match used the new Bobby Fischer Chess clock. In 1996 Bobby traveled to
Argentina to promote his random Chess, where you set up the pieces in a random
manner. This would take away the book knowledge of regular Chess. The President
of FIDE offered Fischer $100,000 and a piece of land in the Kalmyk Republic in
redress for copyright violations by former Soviet publishers.
Death
Bobby Fischer had been suffering at length from an undisclosed illness. He
stayed at a Reykjav�k Landssp�tali hospital in October and November 2007, but he
returned home gravely ill in December apparently rejecting any further Western
medicine. On January 17, 2008, he died from kidney failure at the age of 64 in
his home in Reykjav�k.
Play through Bobby Fischer's games
Bobby Fischer Games (over 800 games)
Bobby Fischer: "The Game of the Century"
Bobby Fischer: "The Match of the Century"
Another Fischer Biography