View source for Biography:Bobby Fischer

{{Infobox chess player
 |name = Bobby Fischer
 |image = Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-76052-0335,_Schacholympiade,_Tal_(UdSSR)_gegen_Fischer_(USA)_Crop.jpg
 |image_size = 235px
 |caption = Fischer in 1960
 |alt = 
 |birthname = Robert James Fischer
 |country = United States <!-- delimiting via timespan is misleading - Fischer never lost his US citizenship --><br />Iceland (2005–2008)
 |birth_place = {{wipe|Chicago}}, Illinois, US
 |death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|1|17|1943|3|9}}
 |death_place = [[Place:Reykjavík|Reykjavík]], Iceland
 |title = Grandmaster (1958)
 |worldchampion = 1972–1975
 |peakrating = 2785 (July 1972 FIDE rating list)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Fischer,%20Robert%20James.html |title=Fischer, Robert James |publisher=olimpbase.com |accessdate=September 18, 2015}}</ref>
}}

'''Robert James Fischer''' (March 9, 1943{{spaced ndash}}January 17, 2008) was an American <!-- Please do not change this to "Icelandic" or "Icelandic-American" or other iterations --> chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time.<ref name=greatest>Greatest player ever:
* Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 47 (Ree interview), 91 (Timman interview), 113 (Short interview).
* Hartston 1985, p. 157.
* Levy 1975, p. 9.
* Lombardy 2011, p. 220.
* Müller 2009, p. 23.
* Schonberg 1973, pp. 271, 302.
* Waitzkin 1993, p. 275 (quoting Kasparov).
* Wilson 1981, p. 171.
</ref><ref name=arguably>Arguably greatest player ever:
* Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 133–34.
* Divinsky 1990. p. 67.
* Eade 2011, p. 308.
* Euwe 1979, p. ix.
* Golombek 1977. p. 117.
* Kasparov 2004, p. 490.
* Mednis 1997, p. xiii.
* Soltis 2003, p. 9.
* Wolff 2001, p. 273.
</ref><!-- Please do not change this to "one of the greatest chess players of all time." The lead says "by many," not "universally." See Legacy section of article for more -->

Fischer showed great skill in chess from an early age; at 13, he won a {{chessgloss|brilliancy}} known as "The Game of the Century". At age 14, he became the US Chess Champion, and at 15, he became both the [[Philosophy:Chess prodigy#List of youngest grandmasters|youngest grandmaster (GM) up to that time]] and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963–64 US Championship with 11 wins in 11 games, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. His book ''My 60 Memorable Games'', published in 1969, is regarded as a classic work of chess literature. He won the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point margin, and won 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps, in the Candidates Matches. In July 1971, he became the first official FIDE number-one-rated player.

Fischer won the World Chess Championship in 1972, defeating Boris Spassky of the [[Place:Soviet Union|USSR]], in a match held in [[Place:Reykjavík|Reykjavík]], Iceland. Publicized as a [[History:Cold War|Cold War]] confrontation between the US and USSR, it 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 one of the conditions for the match. Under FIDE rules, this resulted in Soviet GM Anatoly Karpov, who had won the qualifying Candidates' cycle, being named the new world champion by default.

After forfeiting his title as World Champion, Fischer became reclusive and sometimes erratic, disappearing from both competitive chess and the public eye. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held in [[Place:Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslavia]], which was under a {{wipe|United Nations}} embargo at the time. His participation led to a conflict with the US government, which warned Fischer that his participation in the match would violate an [[Social:Executive order|executive order]] imposing US sanctions on Yugoslavia, and ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest. After that, he lived his life as an émigré. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that had been revoked by the US government. Eventually, he was granted an Icelandic passport and citizenship by a special act of the Icelandic Althing, allowing him to live in Iceland until his death in 2008.

Fischer made numerous lasting contributions to chess. 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 Fischerandom, a new variant of chess known today as "Chess960".

==Early years==
Bobby Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in {{wipe|Chicago}}, Illinois, on March 9, 1943.<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 2">Brady 1973, p. 2.</ref> His birth certificate listed his father as Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, also known as Gerardo Liebscher,<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Staff|date=March 2004|title=WHO WAS FISCHER'S FATHER?|magazine=Chess Life|publisher=US Chess Federation|page=10}}</ref> a German [[Physics:Biophysics|biophysicist]]. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer, was a US citizen,<ref>{{cite web|last=Reitwiesner|first=William Addams|url=http://www.wargs.com/other/fischer.html|title=Ancestry of Bobby Fischer (Extracts from the U.S. Federal Decennial Census)|publisher=ancestry.com|accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Quinn">{{cite news|last=Quinn|first=Ben|author2=Alan Hamilton|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3261419.ece|title=Bobby Fischer, chess genius, heartless son|publisher=''The Sunday Times''|date=January 28, 2008|accessdate=September 14, 2008}}{{subscription required}}</ref> born in Switzerland; her parents were Polish Jews.<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 313.</ref><ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 27">"...she appears to have been religiously unobservant". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 27.</ref> Raised in St. Louis, Missouri,<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 2"/> Regina became a teacher, registered nurse, and later a physician.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schulz|first=Von André|url=http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=3433|title=Mutmaßungen über Fischer|publisher=chessbase.com|date=October 8, 2004|accessdate=October 17, 2008}}</ref>

After graduating from college in her teens, Regina traveled to Germany to visit her brother. It was there she met geneticist and future Nobel Prize winner [[Biography:Hermann Joseph Muller|Hermann Joseph Muller]], who persuaded her to move to [[Place:Moscow|Moscow]] to study medicine. She enrolled at I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, where she met Hans-Gerhardt, whom she married in November 1933.<ref name="Brady 2011, pp. 7-8">Brady 2011, pp. 7–8.</ref> In 1938, Hans-Gerhardt and Regina had a daughter, Joan Fischer. The reemergence of anti-Semitism under Stalin prompted Regina to go with Joan to [[Place:Paris|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. Hans-Gerhardt attempted to follow the pair but, at that time, his German citizenship barred him from entering the United States. Regina and Hans-Gerhardt had separated in Moscow, although they did not officially divorce until 1945.<ref name="Brady 2011, pp. 7-8"/>

At the time of her son's birth, Regina was homeless<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 8">Brady 2011, p. 8.</ref> and shuttled to different jobs and schools around the country to support her family. She engaged in political activism, and raised both Bobby and Joan as a single parent.<ref>"The family lived in [California, Idaho, Oregon, Illinois, and Arizona] before moving to New York. Regina's flexibility and desperation led her to a surprising gamut of jobs. She was a welder, schoolteacher, riveter, farm worker, toxicologist's assistant, stenographer, all throughout the early and mid-1940s." Brady 2011, p. 9.</ref><ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 5">Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 5.</ref><ref name="la-times">{{cite news|last=Nicholas|first=Peter|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bobby-fischer21-2009sep21,0,1824779,full.story|title=Chasing the king of chess|work={{wipe|Los Angeles Times}}|date=September 21, 2009|accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref>

In 1949, the family moved to Brooklyn, New York City,<ref>"In early 1949 Regina Fischer took the least expensive housing she could find when she moved the family—Bobby, Joan, and herself—to East 13th Street in Manhattan, facing the kitchen back entrance of the famed Luchow's restaurant, where many of the best chess players would occasionally dine. The Fischers could never afford to eat there. The apartment's entrance was marred by a rusty fire escape running up the front, and there was only one small bedroom—but the rent was $45 a month." FBI report, August 24. 1953 (SAC, New York, 100-102290). Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 10.</ref> where she studied for her master's degree in nursing and subsequently began working in that field.<ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 5"/>

===Paul Nemenyi as Fischer's father===

In 2002, Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer published an investigative report backed by detailed and compelling evidence, which indicated that Bobby Fischer’s biological father was actually [[Biography:Paul Nemenyi|Paul Nemenyi]].<ref name="la-times"/><ref name=NicholasBenson>{{cite web|last=Nicholas|first=Peter|author2=Clea Benson|url=http://www.philly.com/inquirer/news/13896736.html|title=Files reveal how FBI hounded chess king|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=November 17, 2002|accessdate=July 9, 2018}}</ref><ref name=LifeGame>{{cite news|last1=Nicholas|first1=Peter|last2=Benson|first2=Clea|url=http://www.philly.com/inquirer/news/13891951.html|title=Life is not a board game (page 3 of 7)|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=February 9, 2003|accessdate=July 10, 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080123044921/http://www.philly.com/inquirer/news/13891951.html|archivedate=January 23, 2008}}</ref>  Nemenyi, a Hungarian [[Biography:Mathematician|mathematician]] and [[Physicist|physicist]] of Jewish heritage, was considered an expert in fluid and applied mechanics.

Throughout the 1950s, the FBI investigated Regina and her circle for her alleged communist sympathies, as well as her time living in Moscow.<ref>{{cite news|last=Laurence|first=Charles|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3304339/FBI-targeted-chess-genius-Bobby-Fischer-and-his-mother.html#|title=FBI targeted chess genius Bobby Fischer and his mother|publisher=www.telegraph.co.uk|date=November 24, 2002|accessdate=September 13, 2008|location=London}}</ref> FBI files do not identify Nemenyi as Fischer's father, but note that Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, while recording that Nemenyi took a keen interest in Fischer's upbringing.<ref name=NicholasBenson/><ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 22.</ref><ref>Regina Fischer entry, passenger manifest, {{SS|Manhattan|1931|6}}, January 18, 1939, p. 74, line 6, accessed January 20, 2008 via ancestry.com</ref> Not only were Regina and Nemenyi reported to have had an affair in 1942, but Nemenyi made monthly child support payments to Regina and paid for Bobby's schooling until his own death in 1952.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 22, 135.</ref> In addition, Nicholas and Benson found letters by Nemenyi's first son, [[Biography:Peter Nemenyi|Peter]], identifying Bobby Fischer as his brother.

===Chess beginnings===
====Impoverished childhood====
In March 1949, 6-year-old Bobby and his sister Joan learned how to play chess using the instructions from a set bought at a candy store.<ref>"In March of 1949, on a rainy day when Bobby had just turned six, his sister, Joan... bought a plastic chess set for $1 at the candy store [located just below their apartment]... Neither Joan nor Bobby had ever seen a chess set before but they followed instructions printed on the inside of the top of the box..." ''Parade'', October 27, 1957, p. 22., Bobby Fischer Autobiographical Essay, p. 1. Quoted in Brady 2011, pp. 10–11.</ref> 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.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 10–12.</ref> When the family vacationed at Patchogue, Long Island, New York that summer, Bobby found a book of old chess games and studied it intensely.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 5.</ref>

Fischer biographer Frank Brady describes the family's move from Manhattan to Brooklyn in 1950:<ref>Brady 2011, p. 12.</ref>

<blockquote>In the fall of 1950, Regina moved the family out of Manhattan and across the bridge to Brooklyn, where she rented an inexpensive apartment near the intersection of Union and Franklin streets. It was only temporary: She was trying to get closer to a better neighborhood. Robbed of her medical degree in Russia because of the war, she was now determined to acquire a nursing diploma. As soon as she enrolled in the Prospect Heights School of Nursing, the peripatetic Fischer family, citizens of nowhere, moved once again—its tenth transit in six years—to a $52-a-month two-bedroom flat at 560 Lincoln Place in Brooklyn.</blockquote>

The family resided in a "small, basic, but habitable" apartment.<ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 5"/> It was there that "Fischer soon became so engrossed in the game that Regina feared he was spending too much time alone".<ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 5"/> As a result, on November 14, 1950, Regina sent a postcard to the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' newspaper, seeking to place an ad inquiring whether other children of Bobby's age might be interested in playing chess with him. The paper rejected her ad because no one could figure out how to classify it, but forwarded her inquiry to Hermann Helms, the "Dean of American Chess", who told her that Master Max Pavey, former Scottish champion, would be giving a simultaneous exhibition on January 17, 1951.<ref>Fischer 1959, p. xi.</ref><ref>Brady 1973, pp. 5–6.</ref> Fischer played in the exhibition. Although he held on for 15 minutes, drawing a crowd of onlookers, he eventually lost to the chess master.<ref>"A crowd of spectators gathered around the board as the diminutive Bobby faced the self-assured, tweed-jacketed Max Pavey. The boy was so serious about what he was doing that the game attracted more and more onlookers.... Pavey, who excelled at playing rapidly... seemed to zoom around the room hardly studying the other boards as he made his moves, returning to Bobby's game in such a short time that the child couldn't calculate as deeply or as carefully as he wanted... In about fifteen minutes... Pavey captured Bobby's queen, thereby ending the game... Bobby stared at the board for a moment. 'He crushed me', he said to no one in particular. Then he burst into tears." Brady 2011, pp. 17–18.</ref>

One of the spectators was Brooklyn Chess Club President,<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 18">Brady 2011, p. 18.</ref> Carmine Nigro, an American chess expert of near master strength and an instructor.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 20.</ref> Nigro was so impressed with Fischer's play<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 18"/> that he introduced him to the club and began teaching him.<ref>Fischer 1959, pp. xi–xii.</ref><ref>Brady 1973, p. 7.</ref><ref>Brady 2011, pp. 19–21.</ref> Fischer noted of his time with Nigro:<ref>Fischer 1959, p. 2.</ref> "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."
[[File:JWC Lombardy Fischer.jpg|thumb|right=1.85|Bill Lombardy and Fischer analyzing, with Jack Collins looking on]]
Nigro hosted Fischer's first chess tournament at his home in 1952.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 21.</ref> In the summer of 1955, Fischer, then 12 years old, joined the Manhattan Chess Club, the strongest chess club in the country.<ref>Fischer 1959, p. xii.</ref><ref>Brady 2011, pp. 38–39.</ref> Fischer's relationship with Nigro lasted until 1956,<ref>Brady 2011, p. 52.</ref><ref name=a>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/02/us/carmine-nigro-91-bobby-fischer-s-first-chess-teacher.html|title=Carmine Nigro, 91, Bobby Fischer's First Chess Teacher|date=September 2, 2001|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=August 24, 2013}}</ref> when Nigro moved away.<ref name=a/>

===The Hawthorne Chess Club===
In June 1956, Fischer began attending the Hawthorne Chess Club, based in master John "Jack" W. Collins' home.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 6.</ref> For years it was believed that Collins was Fischer's teacher and coach,<ref name="nytbio">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/04/nyregion/john-w-collins-89-dies-was-fischer-s-chess-tutor.html|title= John W. Collins, 89, Dies; Was Fischer's Chess Tutor|publisher=The New York Times|author=Dylan Loeb McClain|date=December 4, 2001|accessdate=January 4, 2014}}</ref><ref>Brady 1973, p. 12.</ref><ref>Brady, 2011, p. 50.</ref><ref>{{"'}}He taught Bobby Fischer to play chess{{'"}} is the way I am sometimes publicly and privately introduced. Collins 1974, p. 47.</ref> even though Collins stated that he did not teach Fischer.<ref>"Collins, for his part, said that he never 'taught' Bobby in the strictest sense" and that Fischer "knew before instructed". Collins 1974, pp. 48–49. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 52.</ref> It is now believed that Collins was Fischer's mentor, not his teacher or coach.<ref>Collins was Bobby Fischer's "mentor". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 6, 30, and 221.</ref><ref>Collins was Fischer's "mentor". Donaldson & Tangborn 1999, p. 27.</ref><ref>"Collins was my friend and mentor but not my teacher". Lombardy 2011, p. 24.</ref><ref>"Fischer was also extremely fortunate in having John W. (Jack) Collins, a chess master, who was a friend, guide, and mentor to him during his early formative years". Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 44.</ref>

Fischer played thousands of blitz and offhand games with Collins and other strong players, studied the books in Collins' large chess library, and ate almost as many dinners at Collins' home as his own.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 10–11.</ref><ref>Collins 1974, pp. 34–35.</ref><ref>Fischer 1959, p. xiii.</ref>

==Young champion==
In 1956, Fischer experienced a "meteoric rise" in his playing strength.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 53.</ref> On the tenth national rating list of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), published on May 20, 1956, Fischer's rating was 1726,<ref>''Chess Life'', May 20, 1956, p. 4. Also available on DVD (p. 76 in "Chess Life 1956" PDF file").</ref> more than 900 points below top-rated Samuel Reshevsky (2663).<ref>''Chess Life'', May 20, 1956, p. 1. Also available on DVD (p. 73 in "Chess Life 1956" PDF file").</ref>

[[File:Bobby Fisher in Cuba (trimmed).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Fischer in Cuba, March 1956]]
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 Elliot 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.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 15.</ref><ref>Collins 1974, pp. 55–56.</ref> On this tour the club played a series of matches against other clubs. Fischer played {{chessgloss|first board|second board}}, behind International Master Norman Whitaker. Whitaker and Fischer were the leading scorers for the club, each scoring 5½ points out of 7 games.<ref>''The New York Times'', March 5, 1956, p. 36. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 49.</ref>

In July 1956, Fischer won the US Junior Chess Championship, scoring 8½/10 at Philadelphia to become the youngest-ever Junior Champion at age 13.<ref>''Chess Life'', July 20, 1956, p. 1. Also available on DVD (p. 105 in "Chess Life 1956" PDF file").</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 100.</ref> At the 1956 US Open Chess Championship in Oklahoma City, he scored 8½/12 to tie for 4–8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 101.</ref> In the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, he scored 7/10 to tie for 8–12th places, with Larry Evans winning.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 105.</ref> In November, Fischer played in the 1956 Eastern States Open Championship in [[Place:Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]], tying for second with William Lombardy, Nicholas Rossolimo, and Arthur Feuerstein, with Hans Berliner taking first by a half-point.<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 76.</ref>

Fischer accepted an invitation to play in the Third Lessing J. Rosenwald Trophy Tournament in New York City (1956), a premier tournament limited to the 12 players considered the best in the country.<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 16">Brady 1973, p. 16.</ref> Although Fischer's rating was not among the top 12 in the country, he received entry by special consideration. Playing against top opposition, the 13-year-old Fischer could only score 4½/11, tying for 8–9th place.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 108.</ref> Yet, he won the {{chessgloss|brilliancy prize}}<ref>Brady 2011, p. 65.</ref> for his {{" '}}immortal{{' "}}<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 7.</ref> game against International Master<ref>Brady 2011, p. 61.</ref> Donald Byrne,<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 16"/> in which Fischer sacrificed his queen to unleash an unstoppable attack. Hans Kmoch called it "The Game of the Century",<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 48.</ref> writing: "The following game, a stunning masterpiece of {{chessgloss|combination}} play performed by a boy of 13 against a formidable opponent, matches the finest on record in the history of chess prodigies".<ref>''Chess Review'', December 1956, p. 374. Also available on DVD (p. 418 on ''Chess Review 1956'' PDF file).</ref><ref>"While, objectively, it is not one of the greatest games ever played, it is certainly the finest game ever produced by one so young". Wilson 1981, p. 170.</ref> According to Frank Brady, {{"'}}The Game of the Century' has been talked about, analyzed, and admired for more than fifty years, and it will probably be a part of the canon of chess for many years to come."<ref>Brady 2011, p. 64.</ref> "In reflecting on his game a while after it occurred, Bobby was refreshingly modest: 'I just made the moves I thought were best. I was just lucky.{{'"}}<ref>''AP wire story'', February 24, 1957. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 64.</ref>

In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York, losing ½–1½.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 123.</ref><ref>Brady 1973, p. 17.</ref><ref>"To wrest a draw from a former World Champion was neither small cheese nor minor chess, but Bobby was unhappy since he'd lost the match, 1½–½." Brady 2011, p. 67.</ref> On the USCF's eleventh national rating list, published on May 5, 1957, Fischer was rated 2231—over 500 points higher than his rating a year before.<ref>''Chess Life'', May 5, 1957, p. 3. Also available on DVD (p. 67 in "Chess Life 1957" PDF file").</ref> This made him the country's youngest ever chess master, up to that point.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wall|first=Bill |url=http://www.chessville.com/BillWall/FischerTrivia.htm |title=Bobby Fischer Trivia |publisher=chessville.com |date=August 2002 |accessdate=October 4, 2008}}</ref> In July, he successfully defended his US Junior title, scoring 8½/9 at San Francisco.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 127.</ref> As a result of his strong tournament results, Fischer's rating went up to 2298, "making him among the top ten active players in the country".<ref>Brady 2011, p. 73.</ref> In August, he scored 10/12 at the US Open Chess Championship in Cleveland, winning on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 130.</ref><ref name="Collins 1974, p. 56">Collins 1974, p. 56.</ref> This made Fischer the youngest ever US Open Champion.<ref>''Chess Review'', September 1957, p. 260. Also available on DVD (p. 294 in "Chess Review 1957" PDF file).</ref><ref>"No one as young as Bobby had won the United States Open before, and no one had ever held the United States Junior and Open titles concurrently. When Bobby returned to New York, both the Marshall and Manhattan chess clubs conducted victory celebrations, and he was lauded as America's new chess hero." Brady 2011, p. 75.</ref> He won the New Jersey Open Championship, scoring 6½/7.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 138–40.</ref> He then defeated the young Filipino master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso 6–2 in a New York match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola.<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 19">Brady 1973, p. 19.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 135–37.</ref>

===Wins first US title===
Based on Fischer's rating and strong results, the USCF invited him to play in the 1957–58 US Championship.<ref>Harkness 1967, p. 272.</ref> The tournament included such luminaries as six-time US champion Samuel Reshevsky, defending US champion Arthur Bisguier, and William Lombardy, who in August had won the World Junior Championship.<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 20">Brady 1973, p. 20.</ref> Bisguier predicted that Fischer would "finish slightly over the center mark".<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 20"/><ref>A writer in ''Chess Life'', apparently Editor Fred M. Wren, expected Fischer to score about 50%. "The Monday-Morning Quarterback Speaks", ''Chess Life'', January 20. 1958, p. 4. Also available on DVD (p. 12 on ''Chess Life 1958'' PDF file).</ref> 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.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 51.</ref><ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 196.</ref> Still two months shy of his 15th birthday, Fischer became the youngest ever US Champion.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 20–21.</ref> Since the championship that year was also the US Zonal Championship, Fischer's victory earned him the title of International Master.<ref>Edward Winter, [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/#6424._Quiz_question Chess Note 6428] (citing ''Chess Life'', February 5, 1958).</ref><ref>Edward Winter, [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/#6434._St_Petersburg_1895-96 Chess Note 6436] (citing ''FIDE Revue'', April 1958, p. 106).</ref> Fischer's victory in the US Championship sent his rating up to 2626, making him the second highest rated player in the United States, behind only Reshevsky (2713),<ref>''Chess Life'', March 5, 1958. Quoted in Müller 2009, p. 92.</ref> and qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion.<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 19"/>

==Grandmaster, candidate, author==

Bobby wanted to go to Moscow. At his pleading, "Regina wrote directly to the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, requesting an invitation for Bobby to participate in the World Youth and Student Festival. The reply—affirmative—came too late for him to go."<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 8.</ref> Regina did not have the money to pay the airfare, but in the following year 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 Russia.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 89–90.</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ortpQ8nQuH8 Footage of Bobby Fischer on ''I got a Secret''], March 26, 1958 (begins at 17:40)</ref>

Once in Russia, Fischer was invited by the Soviet Union to Moscow,<ref>"The Soviet Union had agreed to invite Bobby to Moscow, and generously pay all expenses for him and his sister..." Marshall Chess Foundation Archive, Letter from Regina Fischer to Bobby Fischer, c. June 1958. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 93.</ref> where International Master Lev Abramov would serve as a guide to Bobby and his sister, Joan.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 91.</ref> Upon arrival, Fischer immediately demanded that he be taken to the Moscow Central Chess Club,<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 92">Brady 2011, p. 92.</ref> where he played speed chess with "two young Soviet masters", Evgeni Vasiukov and Alexander Nikitin,<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 9.</ref> winning every game.<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 92"/> Chess author V. I. Linder writes about the impression Fischer gave grandmaster Vladimir Alatortsev when he played blitz against the Soviet masters: "Back in 1958, in the Central Chess Club, Vladimir Alatortsev saw a tall, angular 15-year-old youth, who in blitz games, crushed almost everyone who crossed his path... Alatortsev was no exception, losing all three games. He was astonished by the play of the young American Robert Fischer, his fantastic self-confidence, amazing chess erudition and simply brilliant play! On arriving home, Vladimir said in admiration to his wife: 'This is the future world champion!{{'"}}<ref>Linder V.I. & Linder I.M. 1994. Quoted in Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 120–21.</ref>

Fischer demanded to play against [[Biography:Mikhail Botvinnik|Mikhail Botvinnik]], the reigning World Champion. When told that this was impossible, Fischer asked to play Keres. "Finally, Tigran Petrosian was, on a semi-official basis, summoned to the club..." where he played speed games with Fischer, winning the majority.<ref>Golombek, ''Golombek's Encyclopedia'', pp. 236–37. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 93.</ref> "When Bobby discovered that he wasn't going to play any formal games...&nbsp;he went into a not-so-silent rage",<ref>Brady 2011, p. 94.</ref> saying he was fed up "with these Russian pigs",<ref>Johnson 2007, p. 128. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 94.</ref> which angered the Soviets who saw Fischer as their honored guest. It was then that the 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.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 94–96.</ref> Fischer drew both games against Janošević and then defeated Matulović in [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]] by 2½–1½.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 163–64.</ref>

At Portorož, Fischer was accompanied by Lombardy.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 98–100.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 26.</ref>  The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 25.</ref> 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 {{chessgloss|patzer|patzers}} in the tournament I reckon to beat."<ref>Leonard Barden, "From Portorož to Petrosian", in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 332.</ref><ref>Just before Larsen played Fischer in their individual game, Larsen predicted that he would be victorious, only to find out quite the opposite: "Once we were well into the tournament, Larsen, Fridrik Olafsson and I were engaged in a friendly debate over Fischer's performance. 'Lucky to have 50%!' quipped Larsen, who went on to say, 'I will spank that baby!'... With wisdom Fridrik supplied a thought for me, 'Watch out the baby doesn't spank you!' At that comment, Larsen waved his hand. In the very next round, Fischer crushed Larsen..." Lombardy 2011, p. 87.</ref> 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 5–6th.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972. pp. 332–34, 347.</ref> The Soviet grandmaster Yuri Averbakh observed,

<blockquote>In the struggle at the board this youth, almost still a child, showed himself to be a full-fledged fighter, demonstrating amazing composure, precise calculation and devilish resourcefulness. I was especially struck not even by his extensive opening knowledge, but his striving everywhere to seek new paths. In Fischer's play an enormous talent was noticeable, and in addition one sensed an enormous amount of work on the study of chess.<ref>Kasparov 2004, pp. 225–26.</ref></blockquote>

Soviet grandmaster 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".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 20–21.</ref> Fischer became the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates and the youngest ever grandmaster at 15 years, 6 months, 1 day.<ref>This record stood until 1991, when it was broken by Judit Polgár. Forbes 1992, p. 171.</ref> "By then everyone knew we had a genius on our hands."<ref>Interview with Allen Kaufman in the television documentary "Anything to Win: The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer". April 9, 2006.</ref>

Before the Candidates' Tournament, Fischer won the 1958–59 US Championship (scoring 8½/11).<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 301.</ref> He tied for third (with Borislav Ivkov) in Mar del Plata (scoring 10/14), a half-point behind Luděk Pachman and Miguel Najdorf.<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 340.</ref> He tied for 4–6th in Santiago (scoring 7½/12) behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik.<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 356.</ref>

At the [[Place:Zürich|Zürich]] International Tournament, spring 1959, Fischer finished a point behind future World Champion Mikhail Tal and a half-point behind Yugoslavian grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 28.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 27.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 165, 171, 176.</ref>

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 so he could read foreign chess periodicals.<ref>''The Chess Games of Robert J. Fischer'', edited by Robert G. Wade and Kevin J. O'Connell, London, Batsford 1973; special article by Paul Keres, entitled ''From the Opposite Side of the Board''.</ref> According to Latvian chess master Alexander Koblencs, even he and Tal could not match the commitment that Fischer had made to chess. Recalling a conversation from the tournament: {{"'}}Tell me, Bobby,' Tal continued, 'what do you think of the playing style of Larissa Volpert?' 'She's too cautious. But you have another girl, Dmitrieva. Her games do appeal to me!' Here we were left literally open-mouthed in astonishment. Misha and I have looked at thousands of games, but it never even occurred to us to study the games of our women players. How could we find the time for this?! Yet Bobby, it turns out, had found the time!{{'"}}<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 41.</ref>

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."<ref>Brady 1965, p. 34.</ref> Now, encouraged by Pal Benko to dress more smartly, Fischer "began buying suits from all over the world, hand-tailored and made to order."<ref>Brady 1965, p. 35.</ref><ref>"At 16 he was able to earn his living from chess, and soon began to dress well, with suits tailored in London and New York." Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 136.</ref> He told journalist Ralph Ginzburg that he had 17 hand-tailored suits and that all of his shirts and shoes were handmade.<ref>Ginzburg 1962, pp. 53–54.</ref>

At the age of 16, Fischer finished equal fifth out of eight (the top non-Soviet player) at the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Bled/[[Place:Zagreb|Zagreb]]/[[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]], Yugoslavia,<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 310.</ref> scoring 12½/28. He was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games.<ref>Wade & 'Connell 1972, p. 356.</ref> That year, Fischer released his first book of collected games: ''Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess'', published by Simon & Schuster.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 105, 125.</ref>

===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."<ref>Ponterotto, p. 29.</ref> In 1952, Regina got Bobby a scholarship (based on his chess talent and "astronomically high IQ") to Brooklyn Community Woodward.<ref>"Attempts by Regina and Joan to engage Bobby in schoolwork were usually fruitless. Bobby could concentrate on puzzles or chess for hours, but he fidgeted and grew restless when confronted with reading, writing, and arithmetic... he was accepted by Community Woodward with the understanding that he'd teach the other students to play, and also as a result of his astronomically high IQ test score of 180." Brady 2011, p. 25.</ref><ref>It has been reported that Fischer scored 180 on an IQ test while a student at Erasmus Hall. {{Cite web |url=http://bobbyfischer.net/bobby02.html |title=The Mind of Bobby Fischer |accessdate=September 3, 2018}}</ref> Fischer later attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond.<ref>Andersen 2006, pp. 15, 41. Streisand later said that Fischer was "always alone and very peculiar&nbsp;... But I found him very sexy". ''Id.'' at 41.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Boyer|first=David |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/neighborhood-report-flatbush-grads-hail-erasmus-as-it-enters-a-fourth-century.html |title= NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: FLATBUSH; Grads Hail Erasmus as It Enters a Fourth Century |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=March 11, 2001 |accessdate=August 15, 2009}}</ref> In 1959, its student council awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.<ref>Brady 1965, pp. 1, 25.</ref><ref>Collins 1974, p. 52.</ref> The same year, Fischer dropped out of high school when he turned 16, the earliest he could legally do so.<ref>Arthur Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 47.</ref><ref>Brady 1965, p. 25.</ref> He later explained to Ralph Ginzburg, "You don't learn anything in school."<ref>Ginzburg 1962, p. 51.</ref><ref>"In his junior year Bobby left school for good because 'the stuff they teach you in school I can't use one way or the other.{{'"}} Schonberg 1973, p. 261.</ref>

When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. Her friend Joan Rodker, who had met Regina when the two were "idealistic communists" living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent as a mother, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union and that this led to his hatred for the Soviet Union. In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother states her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and writes 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".<ref name="Quinn"/> The apartment was on the edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood that had one of the highest homicide and general crime rates in New York City.<ref>Ginzburg 1962, p. 55.</ref> Despite the alienation from her son, Regina, in 1960, protested the practices of the American Chess Foundation<ref>"Probing into the activities of the American Chess Foundation, she demonstrated that some players (such as Reshevsky) received support while others (such as Bobby) did not... she sent out indignant press releases, [and] letters to the government demanding a public accounting." Brady 2011, p. 131.</ref> and staged a five-hour protest in front of the White House, urging President Dwight D. Eisenhower to send an American team to that year's chess Olympiad (set for Leipzig, [[Place:East Germany|East Germany]], behind the [[Social:Iron Curtain|Iron Curtain]]) and to help support the team financially.<ref name=LifeGame/>
{{Clear}}

==US Championships==
Fischer played in eight US Championships, winning all of them,<ref name="Bisguier & Soltis 1974, pp. 282-84">Bisguier & Soltis 1974, pp. 282–84.</ref><ref>Hooper & Whyld 1992, pp. 136–37.</ref> by at least a one-point margin.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 51 (1-point margin in 1957–58), 57 (1-point margin in 1958–59), 62 (1-point margin in 1959–60), 67 (2-point margin in 1960–61), 71 (1-point margin in 1962–63), 77 (2½-point margin in 1963–64), 82 (1-point margin in 1965), 87 (2-point margin in 1966–67).</ref> His results were:<ref name="Bisguier & Soltis 1974, pp. 282-84"/><ref name="Müller 2009, pp. 399-400">Müller 2009, pp. 399–400.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 51, 57, 62, 67, 71, 76, 82, 87.</ref>

:{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"
|-
!US Champ.
!Score
!Place
!Margin
!Percentage
!Age
|-
| 1957–58 || 10½/13 (+8−0=5)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 85.</ref> || First || 1 point || 81% || 14
|-
| 1958–59 || 8½/11 (+6−0=5)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 104.</ref> || First || 1 point || 77% || 15
|-
| 1959–60 || 9/11 (+7−0=4)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 148.</ref> || First || 1 point || 82% || 16
|-
| 1960–61 || 9/11 (+7−0=4)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 181.</ref> || First || 2 points || 82% || 17
|-
| 1962–63 || 8/11 (+6−1=4)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 231.</ref> || First || 1 point || 73% || 19
|-
| 1963–64 || 11/11 (+11−0=0)<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 243">Müller 2009, p. 243.</ref> || First || 2½ points || 100% || 20
|-
| 1965<ref>Müller 2009, p. 262.</ref>|| 8½/11 (+8−2=1)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 263.</ref> || First || 1 point || 77% || 22
|-
| 1966–67 || 9½/11 (+8−0=3)<ref>Müller 2009, p. 285.</ref> || 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.<ref>Bisguier & Soltis 1974, p. 283.</ref> In 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).<ref>Mednis 1997, pp. x–xi, 179–83, 202–11.</ref>

==Olympiads==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-76052-0335, Schacholympiade, Tal (UdSSR) gegen Fischer (USA).jpg|thumb|Fischer at 17 playing 23-year-old World Champion Mikhail Tal in Leipzig]]
Fischer refused to play in the 1958 Munich Olympiad when his demand to play {{chessgloss|first board}} ahead of Samuel Reshevsky was rejected.<ref>Larry Evans, in Müller 2009, p. 7.</ref> Some sources claim that 15-year-old Fischer was unable to arrange leave from attending high school.<ref>''The Games of Robert J. Fischer'', Batsford, 1973, section on chess Olympiads by Robert Wade.</ref> Fischer later represented the United States on first board at four Men's Chess Olympiads, winning two individual Silver and one individual Bronze medals:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/players/p9dxbr3n.html |title=Fischer, Robert James, Men's Chess Olympiads |publisher= olimpbase |date=2015 |accessdate=September 23, 2015}}</ref>

:{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: left;"
|-
!Olympiad
!Individual result
!Percentage
!US team result
!Percentage<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/teams/usa_tea.html |title=United States (USA) Men's Chess Olympiads |publisher= olimpbase |date=2015 |accessdate=September 23, 2015}}</ref>
|-
|Leipzig 1960 || 13/18<ref>Di Felice 2010, p. 485.</ref> (Bronze) || 72.2% || Silver || 72.5%
|-
|Varna 1962 || 11/17<ref>Di Felice 2013a, p. 251.</ref> (Eighth) || 64.7% || Fourth || 68.1%
|-
|Havana 1966 || 15/17<ref>Di Felice 2013b, p. 326.</ref> (Silver) || 88.2% || Silver ||68.4%
|-
|Siegen 1970 || 10/13<ref name="Di Felice 2013c, p. 366">Di Felice 2013c, p. 366.</ref> (Silver) || 76.9% || Fourth || 67.8%
|}

Out of four Men's Chess Olympiads, Fischer scored +40−7=18, for 49/65: 75.4%.<ref>Kažić 1974, pp. 75, 81, 94, 108.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/players/q8aycaol.html |title=Fischer, Robert James |publisher=Wojciech Bartelski & Co |date=August 2003 |accessdate=February 17, 2014}}</ref> 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,<ref>"Fischer... scored a remarkable 15 out of 17 (+14, =2, −1). Unfortunately... his winning percentage of 88.23% was 0.23 of a point lower than Petrosian's 88.46%, although Bobby had played four more games and faced, overall, stronger opposition than [Petrosian]". Müller 2009, pp. 276–77.</ref> and would have won the gold if he had accepted Florin Gheorghiu's draw offer, rather than declining it and suffering his only loss.<ref>"Later Gheorghiu stated that when he offered Fischer the draw, he was convinced he actually had a won game but that he wanted Fischer to be awarded the gold medal. It was obvious that Fischer was trying too hard and had tired and overextended himself. He lost the game decisively. Nevertheless, all of the players and spectators considered Bobby to be the real hero of the most magnificent chess event in history". Brady 1973, p. 120.</ref>

At the 1962 Varna Olympiad, Fischer predicted that he would defeat Argentinian GM Miguel Najdorf in 25 moves. Fischer actually did it in 24, becoming the only player to beat Najdorf in the tournament.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 65.</ref> Ironically, Najdorf lost the game while employing the very opening variation named after him: the Sicilian Najdorf.<ref>Müller 2009, pp. 224–25.</ref>

Fischer had planned to play for the US at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad, but backed out when he saw the poor playing conditions.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 286–87.</ref> 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.<ref>{{"'}}It is important to draw a distinction between the myth of the 'extravagant, capricious, uncontrollable' Fischer and those actions that he undertook quite consciously. Many of his demands in Lugano were absolutely justified. 'It was not only Fischer who did not like the conditions,' writes Petrosian. 'This also applied to me and my colleagues. Imagine a hall, in which three thousand players, trainers and spectators are gathered, a hall without any ventilation and in addition with poor lighting. I have never complained about my eyesight, but I only needed once or twice in a game to think intensively over a move, and my eyes began to hurt.{{'"}} Kasparov 2004, p. 335.</ref> According to Lombardy, Fischer's non-participation was due to Reshevsky's refusal to yield first board.<ref>"Fischer was clearly the best and highest rated U.S. player and also the U.S. Champion. But in consideration of his lifelong prestige, Reshevsky would not yield first board". Lombardy 2011, p. 184.</ref>

==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),<ref>Müller 2009, p. 156.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 183.</ref> ahead of David Bronstein.<ref name=EEp12>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 12.</ref> Fischer lost only to Spassky; this was the start of their lifelong friendship.<ref>Bronstein wrote of their first meeting at Mar del Plata, "They became friends instantly and have remained so until this day". Bronstein & Fürstenberg 1995, p. 121.</ref>

Fischer experienced the only failure in his competitive career<ref name="Donner 2006, p. 228">Donner 2006, p. 228.</ref> at the Buenos Aires Tournament (1960), finishing with 8½/19 (+3−5=11), far behind winners Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky with 13/19.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 189.</ref> According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament.<ref>Benko & Silman 2003, p. 422 (interview with Evans).</ref><ref>"One of his rivals in that tournament was American grandmaster Larry Evans, and the story goes that he found a Bovaryan lady prepared for a small sum to surround Fischer with her charms. This approach proved successful for Evans, as Fischer finished thirteenth in the tournament..." Donner 2006, p. 228.</ref> Pal Benko says 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."<ref>Benko & Silman, pp. 426–27 (interview with Benko).</ref> Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament in [[Place:Reykjavík|Reykjavík]] with 4½/5,<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 196–97.</ref> and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 198.</ref>

In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles.<ref>"The officers of the American Chess Foundation maintained that Reshevsky was the better player, and they arranged to have him prove it." Brady 2011, p. 135.</ref> Reshevsky, 32 years Fischer's senior, was considered the favorite, since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 42.</ref> 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 match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 43–46.</ref> Reshevsky was declared the winner, by default, and received the winner's share of the prize fund.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 46.</ref>

Fischer was second in a super-class field, behind only former World Champion Tal, at Bled, 1961.<ref>Di Felice 2013a, p. 17.</ref> 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).<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 68.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 199.</ref>

==1962: success, setback, accusations of collusion==

Fischer won the 1962 [[Place:Stockholm|Stockholm]] Interzonal by a 2½-point margin,<ref>Di Felice 2013a, p. 223.</ref> going undefeated, with 17½/22 (+13−0=9).<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 75.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 369.</ref> He was the first non-Soviet player to win an Interzonal since FIDE instituted the tournament in 1948.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 51.</ref> Russian grandmaster Alexander Kotov said of Fischer:<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 81.</ref>

{{quote|I have discussed Fischer's play with Max Euwe and Gideon Stahlberg. All of us, experienced 'tournament old-timers', were surprised by Fischer's endgame expertise. When a young player is good at attacking or at combinations, this is understandable, but a faultless endgame technique at the age of 19 is something rare. I can recall only one other player who at that age was equally skillful at endgames – Vasily Smyslov.}}

Fischer's victory made him a favorite for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 53–54.</ref><ref name=lbobt>{{cite news |last=Barden|first=Leonard |url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,2243089,00.html |title=Obituary, Bobby Fischer |publisher=''The Guardian'' |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref> Yet, despite his result in the Interzonal, Fischer only finished fourth out of eight with 14/27 (+8−7=12),<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 82.</ref> far behind Tigran Petrosian (17½/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27).<ref>Kažić 1974, pp. 188–89.</ref> Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal, was the only contestant who visited him in the hospital.<ref name=BSp155>Benko & Silman, p. 155.</ref>

===Accuses Soviets of collusion===
Following his failure<ref>According to Lombardy, Fischer's lack of a sole second "proved a main reason for his failure": "As a second, Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier had to divide his talents between Bobby and Pal Benko... Bobby was hopping mad over the miserable arrangement made by the American Chess Foundation, which was responsible for the funding for the American participants at Curaçao". Lombardy 2011, p. 122.</ref> in the 1962 Candidates, Fischer asserted, in an August 20, 1962 ''Sports Illustrated'' article, entitled "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess", 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.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 29–30, 37, 40, 83.</ref><ref name="His Own Success 2008">"Victim of His Own Success: The Tragedy of Bobby Fischer", ''Wall Street Journal'', January 22, 2008, p. D8.</ref> Fischer stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged [[Collusion|collusion]], made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE, in late 1962, voted to implement a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with a format of one-on-one knockout matches; the format that Fischer would dominate in 1971.<ref name="His Own Success 2008"/><ref name="Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 331">Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 331–46.</ref>

Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a summer 1962 exhibition game in [[Place:Copenhagen|Copenhagen]] for Danish TV. Later that year, Fischer beat Bogdan Śliwa in a team match against Poland in Warsaw.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 207–08.</ref>

In the 1962–63 US Championship, Fischer experienced his first single-game loss (to Edmar Mednis) in round one. 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.<ref>Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 49.</ref>

==Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s==
Influenced by ill will over the aborted 1961 match against Reshevsky, Fischer declined an invitation to play in the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup tournament in Los Angeles, which had a world-class field.<ref name="Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 49">Arthur Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 49.</ref> He instead played in the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan, which he won with 7½/8.<ref>"At the time he was also writing for ''Chess Life'', a column called "Fischer Talks Chess," and he made some very favorable comments about the overall quality of the opposition he faced as well as the organization of the tournaments". Müller 2009, p. 237.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 49, 149–51.</ref> In August–September 1963, Fischer won the New York State Championship at Poughkeepsie, with 7/7, his first perfect score,<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 49, 152–53.</ref> ahead of Arthur Bisguier and James Sherwin.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 70.</ref>

In the 1963–64 US Championship, Fischer achieved his second perfect score, this time against the top-ranked chess players in the country.<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 243"/><ref name="Bisguier, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 49"/> This result brought Fischer heightened fame, including a profile in ''Life'' magazine.<ref name="Levy 1975, p. 91">Levy 1975, p. 91.</ref> ''Sports Illustrated'' diagrammed each of the 11 games in its article, "The Amazing Victory Streak of Bobby Fischer".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1964/01/13/608156/the-amazing-victory-streak-of-bobby-fischer |title=The Amazing Victory Streak of Bobby Fischer |work=Sports Illustrated |date=January 13, 1964 |accessdate=May 12, 2007}}</ref> 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,<ref>Bisguier, in Wade & Connell 1973, pp. 49–50.</ref> and one of about ten perfect scores in high-level chess tournaments ever.<ref name="Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 81">Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 81.</ref><ref>Soltis 2002, pp. 81–83.</ref><ref>Sunnucks 1970, p. 76.</ref> David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld called it "the most remarkable achievement of this kind".<ref name="Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 81"/> Fischer recalls:<ref>Fischer 1969, 2008, p. 305.</ref> "Motivated by my lopsided result (11–0!), Dr. [Hans] Kmoch congratulated [Larry] Evans (the runner up) on 'winning' the tournament...&nbsp;and then he congratulated me on 'winning the exhibition'."

International Master Anthony Saidy recalled his last round encounter with the undefeated Fischer:<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 248">Müller 2009, p. 248.</ref>

<blockquote>Going into the final game I certainly did not expect to upset Fischer. I hardly knew the opening but played simply, and he went along with the scenario, opting for a N-v-B [i.e., Knight vs. Bishop] endgame with a minimal edge. In the corridor, Evans said to me, "Good. Show him we're not all children."</blockquote>

At adjournment, Saidy saw a way to force a draw, yet "sealed a different, wrong move", and lost.<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 248"/> "Chess publications around the world wrote of the unparalleled achievement. Only Bent Larsen, always a Fischer detractor, was unimpressed: 'Fischer was playing against children{{'"}}.<ref>''Chess Life'', August 1964, p. 202. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 155.</ref>

Fischer, eligible as US Champion, decided against his participation in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal, taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle,<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 80–81.</ref> 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.<ref name="Levy 1975, p. 91"/> Instead, Fischer embarked on a tour of the United States and Canada from February through May, playing a simultaneous exhibition, and giving a lecture in each of more than 40 cities.<ref>Donaldson 2005, pp. 7, 11.</ref> His 94% winning percentage over more than 2,000 games is one of the best ever achieved.<ref>Donaldson 2005, p. 11.</ref> Fischer declined an invitation to play for the US in the 1964 Olympiad in [[Place:Tel Aviv|Tel Aviv]].<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 285.</ref>

==Successful return==
Fischer wanted to play in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament, Havana in August and September 1965.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 127–28.</ref> Since the State Department refused to endorse Fischer's passport as valid for visiting Cuba,<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 209.</ref> 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 [[Engineering:Teleprinter|teleprinter]] to Cuba.<ref>Bisguier & Soltis 1974, p. 213.</ref><ref>Brady 1973, pp. 86–89.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 127–31.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 160, 209.</ref> Luděk Pachman observed that Fischer "was handicapped by the longer playing session resulting from the time wasted in transmitting the moves, and that is one reason why he lost to three of his chief rivals."<ref name="Pachman 1975, p. 215">Pachman 1975, p. 215.</ref> The tournament was an "ordeal" for Fischer, who had to endure eight-hour and sometimes even twelve-hour playing sessions.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 88–89.</ref> Despite the handicap, Fischer tied for second through fourth places, with 15/21 (+12−3=6),<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 127.</ref> behind former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, whom Fischer defeated in their individual game.<ref name="Pachman 1975, p. 215"/> The tournament received extensive media coverage.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 86–88.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 209.</ref>

In December, Fischer won his seventh US Championship (1965), with the score of 8½/11 (+8−2=1),<ref name="Di Felice 2013b, p. 167">Di Felice 2013b, p. 167.</ref> despite losing to Robert Byrne and Reshevsky in the eighth and ninth rounds.<ref>Brady 1973, pp. 92–94.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 82–86.</ref> 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 "the most sensational comeback in the history of grandmaster chess", 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).<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 134.</ref>{{sfn|Kashdan|1977|page=v}}

Now aged 23, Fischer would win every match or tournament he completed for the rest of his life.<ref name="Kasparov 2004, p. 322">Kasparov 2004, p. 322.</ref>

Fischer won the US Championship (1966–67) for the eighth and final time, ceding only three draws (+8−0=3),<ref>Müller 2009, pp. 284–85.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 87–91.</ref> In March–April and August–September, Fischer won strong tournaments at Monte Carlo, with 7/9 (+6−1=2),<ref>Di Felice 2013b, p. 396.</ref> and [[Place:Skopje|Skopje]], with 13½/17 (+12−2=3).<ref>Di Felice 2013b, pp. 423–24.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 236–47.</ref> In the Philippines, Fischer played nine exhibition games against master opponents, scoring 8½/9.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, pp. 450–53.</ref>

===Withdrawal while leading Interzonal===
Fischer's win in the 1966–67 US Championship qualified him for the next World Championship cycle.<ref name="Di Felice 2013b, p. 167"/>

At the 1967 Interzonal, held at Sousse, Tunisia, Fischer scored 8½ points in the first 10 games, to lead the field. His observance of the Worldwide Church of God's seventh-day Sabbath was honored by the organizers, but deprived Fischer of several rest days, which led to a scheduling dispute,<ref>"[At the Sousse Internzonal], Fischer quit at the halfway mark... faced with four games in four consecutive days... for religious reasons, [Bobby] will not play between sundowns on Friday and Saturday. He objected to the consecutive playoffs, claiming that the judges were taking advantage of him, subjecting him to cruel and inhuman punishment. He also pointed out, correctly, that he had entered the tournament with the assurance that such conditions would not prevail. But the judges would not change their ruling..." Schonberg 1973, pp. 256–57.</ref> causing Fischer to forfeit two games in protest and later withdraw, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 161–66.</ref> 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.<ref>''The World Chess Championship: A History'', by Al Horowitz, Macmillan, New York, 1973</ref>

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.<ref name="Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 331"/>

===Second semi-retirement===

In 1968, Fischer won tournaments at Netanya, with 11½/13 (+10−0=3),<ref>Di Felice 2013c, pp. 56–57.</ref> and Vinkovci, with 11/13 (+9−0=4),<ref>Di Felice 2013c, p. 91.</ref> by large margins.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 248–59.</ref> 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.<ref>Müller 2009, pp. 320–21.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 154–55.</ref> That year, Fischer (assisted by grandmaster Larry Evans) released his second book of collected games: ''My 60 Memorable Games'', published by Simon & Schuster.<ref>Donaldson & Tangborn 1999, p. 170.</ref> The book "was an immediate success".<ref>"In this new book, his first—and, ultimately, only—serious work as an adult, Fischer was anything but sparse... what he produced was one of the most painstakingly precise and delightful chess books ever written, rivaling the works of Tarrasch, Alekhine, and Reti... If Fischer had never played another game of chess, his reputation, certainly as an analyst, would have been preserved through its publication." Brady 2011, pp. 162–63.</ref>

==1969–1972: 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.

===Road to the World Championship===
[[File:Fischer Score Card.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.75|Fischer's scoresheet from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany]]

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 because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. Benko, one of the three qualifiers, agreed to give up his spot in the Interzonal in order to give Fischer another shot at the World Championship.<ref>Benko & Silman, p. 426.</ref><ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 84–86.</ref><ref name="Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 137">Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 137.</ref><ref>Müller 2009, p. 343.</ref><ref>Leonard Barden, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p.&nbsp;342.</ref> "When it was suggested to Fischer that Benko was considering the gesture based on a large sum of money to be paid to him, Bobby replied that Benko would not give up his berth for money alone. It was a matter of honor".<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 174">Brady 1973, p. 174.</ref><ref>"The only condition I asked for stepping down was for Fischer to agree not to withdraw from the Interzonal or the ensuing matches should he qualify for them – and he fulfilled this condition". ''Chess Life & Review'', July 1975, Vol. XXX, No. 7.</ref> "Lombardy, who was next in line with the right to participate, was queried as to whether he would also step aside. 'I would like to play,' he answered, 'but Fischer should have the chance.{{'"}}<ref name="Brady 1973, p. 174"/>

In 1970 and 1971, Fischer "dominated his contemporaries to an extent never seen before or since".<ref>{{cite web |last=Sonas|first=Jeff |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-greatest-che-player-of-all-time-part-iv |title=The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part IV |publisher=chessbase.com |date=May 25, 2005 |accessdate=February 23, 2014}}</ref>

Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]], Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century". There was much surprise when Fischer decided to participate:<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 82.</ref>

<blockquote>Fischer had not played competitive chess for eighteen months, and many thought he would never return. Then, to general surprise and delight, he agreed to participate in the Soviet Union vs. the Rest of the World in 1970 in Belgrade.</blockquote>

With Evans as his second,<ref>"I was acting as Fischer's second..." {{cite news |last=Evans|first=Larry Melvyn |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=79449 |title=The Rest Of The World Sort Of Strikes Back |work=Sports Illustrated, cited on chessgames.com |date=April 20, 1970 |accessdate=September 19, 2015}}</ref> Fischer flew to Belgrade<ref>Brady 2011, p. 164.</ref> with the intention of playing board one for the rest of the world.<ref>"Fischer was intrigued and agreed to play on first board for the '"Rest of the World"' team".</ref><ref name="Müller 2009, p. 321">Müller 2009, p. 321.</ref> Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, however, (due to his recent tournament victories) demanded to play {{chessgloss|first board}} instead of Fischer, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating.<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 321"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olimpbase.org/1970g/1970in.html |title=USSR vs Rest of the World: Belgrade 1970 |publisher=Wojciech Bartelski & Co. |date=August 2003 |accessdate=September 19, 2015}}</ref> To the surprise of everyone, Fischer agreed.<ref>"[Fischer] announced that he would relinquish his board one position and allow Larsen the top spot on the World team '"as a matter of principle"' Everyone was astonished..." Brady 1973, p. 161.</ref><ref>"To even greater amazement, when the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen demanded that he play on Board One for the Rest against the leading Soviet, pointing out quite reasonably that he had achieved the best tournament results over the previous two years, Fischer yielded the point and agreed to step down to Board Two. It meant that he played Petrosian rather than Spassky". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 82–83.</ref> Although the USSR team eked out a 20½–19½ victory, "On the top four boards, the Soviets managed to win only one game out of a possible sixteen. Bobby Fischer was the high scorer for his team, with a 3–1 score against Petrosian (two wins and two draws)."<ref>Brady 2011, p. 165.</ref> "Fischer left no doubt in anyone's mind that he had put his temporary break from the tournament circuit to good use. Petrosian was almost unrecognizable in the first two games, and by the time he had collected himself, although pressing his opponent, he could do no more than draw the last two games of the four-game set".<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 321"/>

After the USSR versus the Rest of the World Match, the unofficial World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) was held at Herceg Novi. "[The Russians] figured on teaching Fischer a lesson and on bringing him down a peg or two".<ref name="Schonberg 1973, p. 267">Schonberg 1973, p. 267.</ref> Petrosian and Tal were considered the favorites,<ref name="Chess Digest 1971, p. 83">Chess Digest 1971, p. 83.</ref> but Fischer overwhelmed the super-class field with 19/22 (+17−1=4), far ahead of Tal (14½), Korchnoi (14), Petrosian (13½), and Bronstein (13).<ref name="Chess Digest 1971, p. 83"/><ref name="Denker & Parr 1995, p. 105">Denker & Parr 1995, p. 105.</ref> Fischer lost only one game (to Korchnoi, who was also the only player to achieve an even score against him in the double round robin tournament).<ref>''Chess Digest'' 1971, pp. 83–92.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 188–89.</ref> Fischer "crushed such blitz kings as Tal, Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov by a clean score".<ref name="Kasparov 2004, p. 343">Kasparov 2004, p. 343.</ref> 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".<ref name="Kasparov 2004, p. 343"/><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 183.</ref> For Lombardy, who had played many blitz games with Fischer,<ref>"I was among the best blitz players around [due to the fact that] I trained regularly with Bobby since he was 11-years old". Lombardy 2011, p. 90.</ref> Fischer's 4½-point margin of victory "came as a pleasant surprise".<ref>"As for Bobby's ability at speed chess, it came as no shock that Bobby would win the world blitz championship in 1970 in Belgrade. I expected Bobby to win by a wide margin, but his winning by a margin of 4½ points ahead of Tal did come as a pleasant surprise!" Lombardy 2011, pp. 90–91.</ref>

[[File:Stevan Kragujevic, Bobi Fiser u Beogradu.jpg|upright=0.90|thumb|left|Fischer in Belgrade for the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in 1970]]
In April–May 1970, Fischer won at Rovinj/[[Place:Zagreb|Zagreb]] with 13/17 (+10−1=6), by a two-point margin, ahead of Gligorić, Hort, Korchnoi, Smyslov, and Petrosian.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 342.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 263–70.</ref> In July–August, Fischer crushed the mostly grandmaster field at Buenos Aires, winning by a 3½-point margin, scoring 15/17 (+13−0=4).<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 271–78.</ref> 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),<ref name="Di Felice 2013c, p. 366"/> with his only loss being to World Champion Boris Spassky.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 201–02.</ref> Right after the Olympiad, Fischer defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper ''Expressen''.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 279.</ref> Fischer had taken his game to a new level.<ref>Kasparov 2004, pp. 342–44.</ref>

Fischer won the Interzonal (held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970) with 18½/23 (+15−1=7),<ref>Di Felice 2013c, pp. 320–21.</ref> far ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, with 15/23.<ref>{{cite web |last=Weeks|first=Mark |url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/7072$iix.htm |title=World Chess Championship 1970 Palma de Mallorca Interzonal Tournament |publisher=Printer |date=1997–2008 |accessdate=October 4, 2008}}</ref><ref>Fischer's 3½-point margin set a new record for an Interzonal, beating Alexander Kotov's 3-point margin at Saltsjöbaden 1952. Kažić 1974, pp. 171–72.</ref> Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins.<ref>Panno refused to play in protest of the organizers' rescheduling of the game to accommodate Fischer's desire not to play on his religion's Sabbath. Panno was not present when the game was to begin. Fischer waited ten minutes before playing his first move (1.c4) and went to get Panno to convince him to play. Forty-five minutes later, Panno came to the board and resigned. Brady 1973, p. 179.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 344, 410.</ref> Setting aside the Sousse Interzonal (which Fischer withdrew from while leading), Fischer's victory gave him a string of eight consecutive first prizes in tournaments.<ref name="Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 137"/> Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik was not, however, impressed by Fischer's results, stating: "Fischer has been declared a genius. I do not agree with this... In order to rightly be declared a genius in chess, you have to defeat equal opponents by a big margin. As yet he has not done this".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 214.</ref> Despite Botvinnik's remarks, "Fischer began a miraculous year in the history of chess".<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 86.</ref>

In the 1971 Candidates matches, Fischer was set to play against Soviet grandmaster and concert pianist Mark Taimanov in the quarter-finals. The match began in mid-May in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 167">Brady 2011, p. 167.</ref> Fischer was generally favored to win.<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 167"/><ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 88.</ref> Taimanov had reason to be confident. He was backed by the firm guidance of Botvinnik, who "had thoroughly analysed Fischer's record and put together a 'dossier' on him", from when he was in talks to play Fischer in a match "a couple of years earlier".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 220–22.</ref> 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 Alexander Nikitin in a footnote".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 225–26.</ref> 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!"<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 226.</ref> With the score at 4–0, in Fischer's favor, the fifth game adjournment was a sight to behold.<ref>{{"'}}What happened next during the resumption of the 5th game,' Tal wrote later, 'had to be seen to be believed. It is simply incredible that three grandmasters could have left a rook en prise a mere three moves after the resumption of the game.{{'"}} Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 232.</ref> Schonberg explains the scene:<ref name="Schonberg 1973, p. 267"/>

<blockquote>Taimanov came to Vancouver with two seconds, both grandmasters. Fischer was alone. He thought that the sight of Taimanov and his seconds was the funniest thing he had ever seen. There Taimanov and his seconds would sit, six hands flying, pocket sets waving in the air, while variations were being spouted all over the place. And there sat Taimanov with a confused look on his face. Just before resuming play [in the fifth game] the seconds were giving Taimanov some last-minute advice. When poor Taimanov entered the playing room and sat down to confront Fischer, his head was so full of conflicting continuations that he became rattled, left a Rook ''en prise'' and immediately resigned.</blockquote>

Fischer beat Taimanov by the score of 6–0.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 412–16.</ref> There was little precedent for such a lopsided score in a match leading to the World Championship.<ref>"The record books showed that the only comparable achievement to the 6–0 score against Taimanov was Wilhelm Steinitz's 7–0 win against Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1876 in an era of more primitive defensive technique." Leonard Barden, ''From Portorož to Petrosian'', in Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 345.</ref>

Upon losing the final game of the match, Taimanov shrugged his shoulders, saying sadly to Fischer: "Well, I still have my music."<ref>Brady 1973, p. 188. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 168.</ref> 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...&nbsp;[and] the authorities prohibited him from performing on the concert platform."<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 91–92.</ref> "The crushing loss virtually ended Taimanov's chess career."<ref>Brady 2011, p. 168.</ref>

Fischer was next scheduled to play against Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. "Spassky predicted a tight struggle: 'Larsen is a little stronger in spirit.{{'"}}<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 92.</ref> Before the match, Botvinnik had told a Soviet television audience:<ref>Cafferty 1972, p. 102.</ref>

<blockquote>It is hard to say how their match will end, but it is clear that such an easy victory as in Vancouver [against Taimanov] will not be given to Fischer. I think Larsen has unpleasant surprises in store for [Fischer], all the more since having dealt with Taimanov thus, Fischer will want to do just the same to Larsen and this is impossible.</blockquote>

Fischer beat Larsen by the identical score of 6–0.<ref>"...the chess world... was positively sent reeling by Bobby's crushing 6–0 defeat of Larsen". Müller 2009, p. 360.</ref> 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".<ref>Byrne & Nei 1974, p. 19.</ref> 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.<ref>Kasparov 2004, pp. 405–06.</ref> Chess statistician Jeff Sonas concludes that the victory over Larsen gave Fischer the "highest single-match performance rating ever".<ref>{{cite web |last=Sonas|first=Jeff |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2354 |title=The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part II |publisher=chessmetrics.com |date=April 28, 2005 |accessdate=November 1, 2009}}</ref>

On August 8, 1971, while preparing for his last Candidates match with former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, Fischer played in the Manhattan Chess Club Rapid Tournament, winning with 21½/22 against a strong field.<ref name="Denker & Parr 1995, p. 105"/><ref>Di Felice 2014, pp. 48–49.</ref>

Despite Fischer's results against Taimanov and Larsen, his upcoming match against Petrosian seemed a daunting task.<ref>"Petrosian's opponents have declared him to be 'the hardest player in history to defeat.{{'"}} Steiner 1974, p. 21.</ref> Nevertheless, the Soviet government was concerned about Fischer.<ref>Karpov 1991, p. 114.</ref><ref>{{"'}}'''Karpov:''' It was already clear that the winner [of the Petrosian-Korchnoi Semi-Final Candidates Match] would have to play Fischer, who on the other staircase was rapidly ascending to the chess throne. There was practically no doubt that Spassky would be able to deal with him, but in the Sports Committee they decided that it was better if it didn't come to this... And so the officials summoned Petrosian and Korchnoi and asked them directly which of them had the better chances against Fischer. Korchnoi said that the 'generation beaten by Fischer' had practically no chances. But Petrosian said that he believed in himself. After this it was suggested to Korchnoi that he should allow Petrosian to win, and in compensation they promised to send him to three major tournaments (which for a Soviet player in those times was a princely reward).{{'"}} Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 273.</ref> "Reporters asked Petrosian whether the match would last the full twelve games... 'It might be possible that I win it earlier,' Petrosian replied",<ref>Brady 2011, p. 169.</ref> and then stated: "Fischer's [nineteen consecutive] wins do not impress me. He is a great chess player but no genius."<ref>Brady 1973, p. 195.</ref> Petrosian played a strong {{chessgloss|theoretical novelty}} in the first game, gaining the advantage, but Fischer eventually won the game after Petrosian faltered.<ref>Kasparov 2004, pp. 408–17.</ref><ref>Jan Timman, ''The Art of Chess Analysis'', R.H.M. Press, 1980, pp. 36–42. {{ISBN|0-89058-048-0}}.</ref><ref>Soltis 2003, pp. 259–62.</ref> 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.<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 311–12.</ref><ref>Soltis 2002, p.?</ref> Petrosian won the second game, finally snapping Fischer's streak.<ref>Mednis 1997, pp. 266–70.</ref> After three consecutive draws, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6½–2½ (+5−1=3).<ref>Reuben Fine, ''The Final Candidates Match Buenos Aires, 1971: Fischer vs Petrosian'', Hostel Chess Association, 1971, pp. 13–32.</ref> ''Sports Illustrated'' ran an article on the match, highlighting Fischer's domination of Petrosian as being due to Petrosian's outdated system of preparation:<ref>{{cite news |last=Cantwell|first=Robert |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1971/11/08/612506/bobby-clears-the-board-for-the-title |title=Bobby Clears The Board For The Title |work=Sports Illustrated |date=November 8, 1971 |accessdate=March 12, 2016}}</ref>

<blockquote>Fischer's recent record raises the distinct possibility that he has made a breakthrough in modern chess theory. His response to Petrosian's elaborately plotted 11th move in the first game is an example: Russian experts had worked on the variation for weeks, yet when it was thrown at Fischer suddenly, he faced its consequences alone and won by applying simple, classic principles.</blockquote>

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."<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 96.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 289.</ref> "Some experts kept insisting that Petrosian was off form, and that he should have had a plus score at the end of the sixth game..." to which Fischer replied, "People have been playing against me below strength for fifteen years."<ref>Schonberg 1973, p. 269.</ref> 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."<ref name="Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 293">Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 293.</ref> "When Petrosian played like Petrosian, Fischer played like a very strong grandmaster, but when Petrosian began making mistakes, Fischer was transformed into a genius."<ref name="Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 293"/>

Fischer gained a far higher rating than any player in history up to that time.<ref>Alexander 1972, p. 74.</ref> On the July 1972 FIDE rating list, his Elo rating of 2785 was 125 points above (World No. 2) Spassky's rating of 2660.<ref name="Informant14ratinglist">''Chess Informant'', Volume 14, Šahovski Informator, 1973, pp. 302–07.</ref><ref name="AllTimeRankings">{{cite web |url=http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html |title=All Time Rankings |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126000035/http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html |archivedate=November 26, 2009 |deadurl=yes |accessdate=March 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>Elo 1978, p. 43.</ref> His results put him on the cover of ''Life magazine'',<ref>''Life'', November 12, 1971, "The Deadly Gamesman".</ref> and allowed him to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten (+0−3=2).<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 429.</ref><ref>"['''Petrosian:''']'...I must warn Spassky that Fischer is armed with all the new ideas in chess. As soon as Fischer gains even the slightest advantage, he begins playing like a machine. You cannot hope for some mistake. Fischer is a quite extraordinary player. His match with Spassky will be tough.{{'"}} Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 336.</ref>

===World Championship match===
[[File:Bobby Fischer 1972.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Fischer in Amsterdam in 1972, on a visit to discuss the World Chess Championship details with the then FIDE president Max Euwe]]
[[File:Bobby Fischer 1972b.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Fischer in Amsterdam in 1972]]
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 [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]], [[Place:Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], while Spassky's was [[Place:Reykjavík|Reykjavík]], Iceland.<ref>Gligorić 1972, pp. 10–11.</ref> For a time it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement failed.<ref>Gligorić 1972, pp. 11–12.</ref> After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to appear in Iceland until the prize fund was increased. London financier Jim Slater donated an additional US$125,000, bringing the prize fund up to an unprecedented $250,000 (${{Inflation|US|0.250|1972|fmt=c|r=2}} million today) and Fischer finally agreed to play.<ref name="Gligoric 1972, p. 13">Gligorić 1972, p. 13.</ref>

Before and during the match, Fischer paid special attention to his physical training and fitness, which was a relatively novel approach for top chess players at that time. He had developed his tennis skills to a good level, and played frequently during 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.<ref>Gligorić 1972, p. 47.</ref> According to Soviet grandmaster Nikolai Krogius, Fischer "was paying great attention to sport, and that he was swimming and even boxing..."<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 308.</ref>

The match took place in Reykjavík from July to September 1972.  Fischer was accompanied by William Lombardy; besides assisting with analysis,<ref>Brady 1973, p. 225, p. 253.</ref> Lombardy may have played an important role in getting Fischer to play in the match and to stay in it.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 248.</ref>  The match was the first to receive an American broadcast in prime time.<ref name="Alexander 1972, p. 141">Alexander 1972, p. 141.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/19/chess.sport|title=Death of a madman driven sane by chess|first=Stephen|last=Moss|publisher=The Guardian|date=January 19, 2008|accessdate=January 4, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>Alexander 1972, pp. 84–87.</ref> 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.<ref>Gligorić 1972, p. 37.</ref><ref>Alexander 1972, p. 87.</ref> 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.<ref name="Alexander 1972, p. 141"/>

The [[History:Cold War|Cold War]] trappings made the match a media sensation.<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 271–73.</ref> It was called "The Match of the Century",<ref>Byrne & Nei 1974, p. vii.</ref><ref>Perhaps the best-selling book on the match was subtitled ''{{wipe|The New York Times}} Report on the Chess Match of the Century''</ref><ref>"Even before a move has been made, this breathtaking, blood-curdling and heartrending encounter is justly being labelled as 'the Match of the Century'". Donner 2006, p. 136 (originally published in ''De Tijd'', June 28, 1972).</ref> and received front-page media coverage in the United States and around the world.<ref>Roberts, Schonberg, Horowitz & Reshevsky 1972, pp. 195–96.</ref><ref>Müller 2009, p. 370. The match made the covers of ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' and ''Newsweek''. ''Id.'' at 19.</ref> Fischer's win was an American victory in a field that Soviet players had dominated for the previous quarter-century; players closely identified with, and subsidized by, the Soviet state. 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".<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 206.</ref><ref>Müller 2009, p. 15.</ref> Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman calls Fischer's victory "the story of a lonely hero who overcomes an entire empire".<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 89.</ref> 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".<ref>Müller 2009, p. 13.</ref>

Upon Fischer's return to New York,<ref>Soltis 2003, pp. 10–11.</ref> a Bobby Fischer Day was held.<ref>"Wearing city's gold medal and accompanied by Mayor John Lindsay, Bobby shakes hands with some 3,000 fans attending..." Saidy & Lessing 1974, photo on pp. 224–25; captions on p. 227.</ref> He was offered numerous product endorsement offers worth "at least $5 million"  (${{Inflation|US|5|1972|fmt=c|r=1}} million today), all of which he declined.<ref>Larry Evans, in Müller 2009, p. 13.</ref> He appeared on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.si.com/vault/issue/43123/1/1 |title=BOBBY'S CHESSBOARD MASTERY |work=Sports Illustrated |date=August 14, 1972 |accessdate=May 12, 2007 }}</ref> with American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz. Fischer also made an appearance on a Bob Hope TV special.<ref name="Cavett">{{cite news |last=Cavett |first=Dick |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/was-it-only-a-game/?_r=0 |title=Was It Only a Game? |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=February 8, 2008 |accessdate=January 4, 2014}}</ref> Membership in the US Chess Federation doubled in 1972,<ref>{{cite web |year=2016 |title=2016 US Chess Yearbook |website=uschess.org |url=http://www.uschess.org/images/stories/Yearbooks/2016yearbook.pdf |access-date=August 30, 2018 }}</ref> and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom". This match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.<ref>"The 1972 championship will become immortalized in film, on the stage, in song. It will remain incontrovertibly the most notorious chess duel in history. There will never be another like it... A lone American star was challenging the long Soviet grip on the world title. His success would dispose of the Soviet's claim that their chess hegemony reflected the superiority of their political system..." Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 2–3.</ref>

===Forfeiture of title===
Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975 against Anatoly Karpov, who emerged as his challenger.<ref>Karpov beat Lev Polugaevsky in a Candidates quarter-final match in January–February 1974 (+3−0=5). Byrne 1976, p. 19. In the semi-finals, held in April–May 1974, he beat Spassky (+4−1=6). ''Id.'', p. 79. In the finals, held in September–November 1974, he beat Viktor Korchnoi (+3−2=19). ''Id.'', p. 113.</ref> 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.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 471.</ref>

A FIDE Congress was held in 1974 during the Nice Olympiad. The delegates voted in favor of Fischer's 10-win proposal, but rejected his other two proposals, and limited the number of games in the match to 36.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 412–13.</ref> In response to FIDE's ruling, Fischer sent a cable to Euwe on June 27, 1974:<ref>Brady 2011, pp.&nbsp;218–19.</ref><ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 472.</ref><ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 413–14.</ref>

<blockquote>As I made clear in my telegram to the FIDE delegates, the match conditions I proposed were non-negotiable. Mr. Cramer informs me that the rules of the winner being the first player to win ten games, draws not counting, unlimited number of games and if nine wins to nine match is drawn with champion regaining title and prize fund split equally were rejected by the FIDE delegates. By so doing FIDE has decided against my participation in the 1975 World Chess Championship. Therefore, I resign my FIDE World Chess Championship title. Sincerely, Bobby Fischer.</blockquote>

The delegates responded by reaffirming their prior decisions, but did not accept Fischer's resignation and requested that he reconsider.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 414.</ref> 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).<ref>Grandmaster Hans Ree remarked of Fischer's demand that the champion keep his title in the event of a 9–9 tie, "They [FIDE] thought that this demand was too severe. It was rejected, understandably". Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 46.</ref> Botvinnik called the 9–9 clause "unsporting".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 417–18.</ref> Korchnoi, David Bronstein, and Lev Alburt considered the 9–9 clause reasonable.<ref>Korchnoi and Alburt observed that Karpov, in later securing the right to a rematch if he lost the World Championship, was given a greater advantage by FIDE than Fischer had asked for. Over two matches, Korchnoi was required to beat Karpov by at least 6–5 and 6–5: an aggregate score of +2 and a minimum win requirement +2 greater than Karpov would have needed in 1975. This scenario nearly materialized since the 1978 match was tied 5–5 after 31 games before Karpov won the 32nd game. Korchnoi could, in theory, have won 6–0 in the first match and lost 5–6 in the second, with an aggregate win total of 11 games to Karpov's 6. Recognizing this, FIDE president Euwe proposed that the champion should only have a rematch in the event he lost 5–6, but Karpov rejected this proposal. Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 418–19.</ref><ref>In a letter to Larry Evans, published in ''Chess Life'' in November 1974, Fischer claimed the usual system (24 games with the first player to get 12½ points winning, and the champion retaining his title in the event of a 12–12 tie) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which he regarded as bad for chess. Not counting draws would be "an accurate test of who is the world's best player". Donaldson & Tangborn 1999, p. 159.</ref><ref>Former US Champion Arnold Denker, who was in contact with Fischer during the negotiations with FIDE, claimed that Fischer wanted a long match to be able to play himself into shape after a three-year layoff. Denker & Parr 1995, pp. 110–11.</ref>

Due to the continued efforts of US Chess Federation officials,<ref>Mednis 1997, p. 282.</ref> a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, Netherlands,<ref>Bozidar Kazic. 1975. "Anatoly Karpov New World Champion." Chess Informant 19.</ref> 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.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 414–16.</ref> 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.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 473.</ref> 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.<ref>Karpov 1991, pp. 159–165.</ref>

Brian Carney opined in ''{{wipe|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&nbsp;... 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".<ref name="His Own Success 2008"/>

Bronstein felt that Fischer "had the right to play the match with Karpov on his own conditions".<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 419–20.</ref> Korchnoi stated:<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 418.</ref>

<blockquote>Was Fischer right in demanding that the world title be protected by a two point handicap – that the challenger would be considered the winner with a 10–8 score and that the champion would retain his title in the event of a 9–9 draw? Yes, this was quite natural: the champion deserves this, not to mention the fact that further play to the first win in the event of an even score would be nothing short of a lottery – the winner in that case could not claim to have won a convincing victory.</blockquote>

Soviet grandmaster 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".<ref>{{"'}}Karpov... knew he could hardly draw a game with Fischer, never mind score one or two wins. His only chance was to disrupt the match. So a whole arsenal of tricks was worked out, designed to upset the sensitive American, unaccustomed to such methods. As Karpov himself said, 'This match cannot end normally. Either I'll be taken to hospital (Anatoly weighed only 48kg at the time and even at the end of his Moscow match with Korchnoi he required pep pills to keep him going) or else he'll be taken to a lunatic asylum.{{'"}} Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 419.</ref> Years later, in his 1992 match against Spassky, Fischer said that Karpov refused to play against him under Fischer's conditions.<ref>"''Roger Cohen:'' Why, after turning down so many offers to make a comeback, did you accept this one? ''Bobby Fischer:'' That's not quite true. As I recall, for example, Karpov in 1975 was the one who refused to play ''me'' under ''my'' conditions..." Brady 2011, p. 247.</ref>

==Sudden obscurity==
After the 1972 World Chess Championship, Fischer did not play a competitive game in public for nearly 20 years.<ref>Seirawan & Stefanovic 1992, p. 22.</ref> In 1977 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he played three games against the MIT [[Biography:Richard Greenblatt (programmer)|Greenblatt]] computer program, winning them all.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bisguier|first=Arthur |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/r14/1988/0622/lchs22.html |title=When Bobby Fischer took on a computer |publisher=Christian Science Monitor |date=June 22, 1988 |accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref>

He moved to the Los Angeles area and associated with an apocalyptic cult known as the "Worldwide Church of God" for a time.<ref>[Sveti Stefan, September 1, 1992, First Press Conference] "Marc Taverson, ''Le Point'': Are you still a member of the Worldwide Church of God? How do you feel about religion? Fischer: I was never a member of the Worldwide Church of God. I'm not terribly religious at the moment." Seirawan  & Stefanovic 1992, p. 20.</ref><ref>"His connection to the Church was always somewhat ambiguous. He was not a registered member, since he hadn't agreed to be baptized by full immersion in water by Armstrong or one of his ministers. And since he wasn't considered a duly recognized convert, he was sometimes referred to as a 'co-worker' or, less politely, as a 'fringer'&mdash;someone on the fringes or edges of the Church but not totally committed to its mission. The Church imposed a number of rules that Bobby thought were ridiculous and refused to adhere to [...]" Brady 2011, p. 210.</ref> 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.<ref>Fischer 1982, p. 1.</ref> Fischer, who alleged that he was slightly injured during the arrest,<ref>Fischer 1982, p. 2.</ref> said that he was held for two days, subjected to assault and various types of mistreatment,<ref>Fischer 1982, pp. 3–14.</ref> and released on $1,000 bail.<ref>Fischer 1982, pp. 10–12.</ref> Fischer published a 14-page pamphlet detailing his alleged experiences and saying that his arrest had been "a frame up and set up".<ref>Fischer 1982, p. 14.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Fischer|first=Bobby |url=http://bobbyfischer.net/bobby13.html |title=''I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!'' |publisher=Printer |year=1982 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name="chun_atlantic">{{cite web |last=Chun|first=Rene |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200212/chun |title=''Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame'' |publisher=The Atlantic |date=December 2002 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref>

In 1981, Fischer stayed at the home of grandmaster Peter Biyiasas, where, over a period of four months, he defeated Biyiasas seventeen times in a series of speed games.<ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 302"/><ref>Brady 2011, p. 224.</ref> In an interview with ''Sports Illustrated'' reporter William Nack, Biyiasas assessed Fischer's play:<ref name="chun_atlantic" /><ref name=Nack>{{cite news |last=Nack|first=William |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1985/07/29/620937/bobby-fischer |title=Bobby Fischer |publisher=Sports Illustrated |date=July 29, 1985 |accessdate=March 12, 2016}}</ref>

<blockquote>He was too good. There was no use in playing him. It wasn't interesting. I was getting beaten, and it wasn't clear to me why. It wasn't like I made this mistake or that mistake. It was like I was being gradually outplayed, from the start. He wasn't taking any time to think. The most depressing thing about it is that I wasn't even getting out of the middle game to an endgame. I don't ever remember an endgame. He honestly believes there is no one for him to play, no one worthy of him. I played him, and I can attest to that.</blockquote>

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,<ref>{{Cite book|title=''Bobby Fischer - wie er wirklich ist. Ein Jahr mit dem Schachgenie'' |last=Dautov |first=Petra |publisher=California |year=1995 |isbn=9783980428132 |location=Darmstadt |pages= |language=Deutsch}}</ref> Spassky apologized to Fischer.<ref>Brady 2011, p.225</ref>

==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 [[Place:Belgrade|Belgrade]], [[Place:Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], in spite of a {{wipe|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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Weeks|first=Mark |url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/92fs$$.htm |title=1992 Fischer – Spassky Rematch Highlights |publisher=Printer |date=1997–2008 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref> The purse for the rematch was US$5&nbsp;million, with $3.35&nbsp;million of the purse to go to the winner.<ref>Seirawan & Stefanovic 1992, p. 8.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4374811.stm |title=Bobby Fischer arrives in Iceland |publisher=''BBC News''|date=March 25, 2005 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref>

According to grandmaster Andrew Soltis:<ref>Soltis 2003, p. 280.</ref>

<blockquote>[The match games] were of a fairly high quality, particularly when compared with Kasparov's championship matches of 1993, 1995 and 2000, for example. Yet the games also reminded many fans of how out of place Fischer was in 1992. He was still playing the openings of a previous generation. He was, moreover, the only strong player in the world who didn't trust computers and wasn't surrounded by seconds and supplicants.</blockquote>

Fischer won the match with 10 wins, 5 losses, and 15 draws.<ref>Müller 2009, p. 382.</ref> Kasparov stated, "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us".<ref>Waitzkin 1993, p. 298.</ref> Yasser Seirawan believed that the match proved that Fischer's playing strength was "somewhere in the top ten in the world".<ref>Seirawan & Stefanovic 1992, p. 283.</ref>

Fischer and Spassky gave ten press conferences during the match.<ref>The tenth press conference was not transcribed. Seirawan & Stefanovic 1992, p. 272. The content of the other nine press conferences can be found, in full, in ''id.'' at pp. 13, 15–21, 53–57, 86–90, 114–18, 149–54, 170–75, 208–14, 227–31, 256–60.</ref> 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 [1992], 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."<ref>Seirawan & Stefanovic 1992, p. 291.</ref> He added that Fischer was not camera shy, smiled and laughed easily, was "a fine wit" and "wholly enjoyable conversationalist".<ref>Seirawan & Stefanovic, pp. 85, 96, 303.</ref>

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 {{Executive Order|12810}} imposing {{wipe|United Nations}} Security Council Resolution 757 sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia.<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 243-4.</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite news |last=Cohen|first=Roger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/02/arts/bobby-fischer-ends-silence-with-rancor.html |title=Bobby Fischer Ends Silence With Rancor |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=September 2, 1992 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref> His violation of the order led US Federal officials to initiate a warrant for his arrest upon completion of the match,<ref>{{cite news |last=Labaton|first=Stephen |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/16/world/fischer-is-indicted-over-chess-match.html |title=FISCHER IS INDICTED OVER CHESS MATCH |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=December 16, 1992 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref> citing, in pertinent part, "Title 50 USC §§1701, 1702, and 1705 and Executive Order 12810".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.chessbase.com/portals/4/files/images2/2004/fischer10.pdf |title=Indictment |publisher=U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Federal Circuit) |date=December 15, 1992 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref>"On December 15, 1992, a single count indictment in federal court in Washington, D.C., was handed down by a grand jury against Bobby Fischer for violating economic sanctions, through an executive order issued by President George Bush. A letter to that effect was sent to Bobby in Belgrade, and upon announcement of the indictment, federal officials issued a warrant for his arrest". Brady 2011, p. 255.</ref>

Prior to the rematch against Spassky, Fischer had won a training match against Svetozar Gligorić in Sveti Stefan with six wins, one loss and three draws.<ref>Winter, Edward. "[http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fischergligoric.html Fischer v Gligorić Training Match (1992)]", ''Chess Notes''</ref>

==Personal life==

===Religious affiliation===
Although Fischer's mother was Jewish, Fischer rejected attempts to label him as Jewish.<ref name="la-times"/><ref name="Fischer-Harper" /><ref>"As his mother was Jewish, under Jewish law he was Jewish himself, although this was a label he always rejected. When he discovered that he had been included in a list of famous Jews in the ''Encyclopedia Judaica'', he wrote to the editor to declare how distressed this mistake had made him and to demand that it not be repeated". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 26–27.</ref> In a 1984 letter to the ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Fischer requested that they remove his name from their encyclopedia. He added: "I suggest rather than fraudulently misrepresenting me to be a Jew [...] you try to promote your religion on its own merits — if indeed it has any!"<ref>{{cite news|first=Nathaniel|last=Popper|url=http://www.forward.com/articles/5039/|title=Chess Master Pawned Identity for Hatred|newspaper=The Jewish Daily Forward|date=July 23, 2004|accessdate=September 22, 2018}}</ref>

In an interview in the January 1962 issue of ''Harper's'', he was quoted as saying, "I read a book lately by [[Biography:Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree."<ref name="Fischer-Harper">{{cite web |url=http://bobbyfischer.net/bobby04.html |title=Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master |work=Ralph Ginzburg's January 1962 interview, Harper's Magazine |accessdate=January 21, 2008}}</ref><ref>Ginzburg 1962, p. 54.</ref>

Fischer associated with the Worldwide Church of God in the mid-1960s. The church prescribed Saturday Sabbath, and forbade work (and competitive chess) on Sabbath.<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 15.</ref> According to his friend and colleague Larry Evans, in 1968 Fischer felt philosophically that "the world was coming to an end" and he might as well make some money by publishing ''My 60 Memorable Games'';<ref name=brady>{{cite book |title=Bobby Fischer:Profile of a Prodigy |author=Brady, Frank |publisher=[[Social:Dover Publications|Dover Publications]] |year=1974 |isbn=0-486-25925-0 |pages=151–153}}</ref> Fischer thought that the [[Religion:Rapture|Rapture]] was coming soon.<ref>''Chess Life'', April 2009, p. 10.</ref>

During the mid-1970s Fischer contributed significant money to the Worldwide Church of God.<ref>"Where was Fischer? For several years, he lived in the bosom of the Worldwide Church of God in Pasadena, where he was called 'a co-worker'. The church fed him, they gave him comfortable accommodation in Mocking Bird Lane, they even flew him around in a private jet. In return, Fischer handed over around a third ($61,200) of his Icelandic prize money". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, pp. 301–02.</ref> In 1972 one journalist stated that "Fischer is almost as serious about religion as he is about chess", and the champion credited his faith with greatly improving his chess.<ref name="darrach19720811">{{cite news |last=Darrach|first=Brad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVUEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&rview=1&pg=PA40#v=onepage&q&f=true |title=Bobby is Not a Nasty Kid |publisher=''Life'' |page=40 |date=August 11, 1972 |accessdate=March 25, 2013}}</ref><ref>"Bobby tried to live and practice his beliefs; he felt truly ''born again'', and he was applying the same sense of discipline and reverence to the Bible that he had all his life to chess. [...] But eventually his religious commitments began tearing him apart. He couldn't spend ten or twelve hours a day studying chess and another six to eight hours on Bible studies [...]" Brady 2011, p. 143.</ref> Yet, prophecies by Herbert W. Armstrong went unfulfilled,<ref>This led Fischer to believe that Armstrong was really a "false prophet". Brady 2011, p. 212.</ref> and the church was rocked by revelations of a series of sex scandals involving Garner Ted Armstrong.<ref>{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/17/us/garner-ted-armstrong-evangelist-73-dies.html |title=Garner Ted Armstrong, Evangelist, 73, Dies |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=September 17, 2003 |accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref> Fischer eventually left the church in 1977, "accusing it of being 'Satanic', and vigorously attacking its methods and leadership."<ref name="Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 302">Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 302.</ref>

===Anti-Semitism===
Fischer made numerous anti-Semitic statements and professed a general hatred for Jews since at least the early 1960s.<ref name="Fischer-Harper" /><ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 30, 44.</ref> Jan Hein Donner wrote that at the time of Bled 1961, "He idolized Hitler and read everything about him that he could lay his hands on. He also championed a brand of anti-semitism that could only be thought up by a mind completely cut off from reality."<ref name="Donner 2006, p. 228"/> Donner took Fischer to a war museum, which "left a great impression, since [Fischer] is not an evil person, and afterwards he was more restrained in his remarks—to me, at least."<ref name="Donner 2006, p. 228"/>

From the 1980s on, Fischer's comments about Jews were a major theme in his public and private remarks.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 41, 45, 61, 66, 90, 92, 95, 101, 107, 117–20.</ref> He openly [[Unsolved:Holocaust denial|denied the Holocaust]], and called the United States "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Larry|last=Parr|title=Is Bobby Fischer Anti-Semitic?|magazine=Chess News|date=May 2001}}</ref> Between 1999 and 2006, Fischer's primary means of communicating with the public was radio interviews. He participated in at least 34 such broadcasts, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also in Hungary, Iceland, Colombia, and Russia. In 1999, he gave a radio call-in interview to a station in Budapest, Hungary, during which he described himself as the "victim of an international Jewish conspiracy". In another radio interview, Fischer said that it became clear to him in 1977, after reading ''The Secret World Government'' by Count Cherep-Spiridovich, that Jewish agencies were targeting him.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 123.</ref> Fischer's sudden reemergence was apparently triggered when some of his belongings, which had been stored in a Pasadena, California, storage unit, were sold by the landlord, who claimed it was in response to nonpayment of rent.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 41, 65–66, 118–19, 121.</ref> Fischer was also upset that [[Company:UBS|UBS]] bank had liquidated his assets and closed his account without his permission. When asked who he thought was responsible for the actions UBS had taken Fischer replied, "There's no question that the Jew-controlled United States is behind this — that's obvious."<ref name="Fischer on Icelandic Radio">[http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3468 Fischer on Icelandic Radio] April 11, 2006.</ref><ref name="Interview on Útvarp Saga">{{cite AV media |people=Bobby Fischer and Sigurður Tómassyni |date=October 2006 |title=Interview on Útvarp Saga |language=en |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3468 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208065716/https://en.chessbase.com/portals/4/files/news/2006/fischer16102006.mp3 |archive-date=December 2017 |location=Iceland}}</ref>

Fischer's library contained anti-semitic and racist literature such as ''Mein Kampf'', ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'', and ''The White Man's Bible'' and ''Nature's Eternal Religion'' by Ben Klassen, founder of the World Church of the Creator.<ref>DeLucia 2009, pp. 160–62, 166. Chess historian Edward Winter, in his review of DeLucia's book, calls it "[o]ne of the most extraordinary of all chess books". Winter 2009.</ref><ref>Fischer wrote of ''Nature's Eternal Religion'' in a 1979 letter to Benko, {{"'}}The book shows that Christianity itself is just a Jewish hoax and one more Jewish tool for their conquest of the world.&nbsp;... Unfortunately the author is an extreme racist and this somewhat spoils the book.{{'"}} DeLucia 2007, p. 280.</ref> A notebook written by Fischer contains sentiments such as "12/13/99 It's time to start randomly killing Jews".{{sfn|DeLucia|2009|page=290, 292}} Despite his views, Fischer remained on good terms with Jewish chess players.<ref>"Fischer was able to separate his hatred for Judaism as a religion and Jews as an ethnic group from Jewish people as individuals. He was on perfectly amicable terms with Jewish chess masters in the United States and the USSR." Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 27.</ref>

===Life as an émigré===
After the 1992 match with Spassky, Fischer, now a fugitive, slid back into relative obscurity, taking up residence in [[Place:Budapest|Budapest]], Hungary, and allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsányi.<ref name="chun_atlantic" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Daniszewski |first=John |url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920904&slug=1511077 |title=Fischer's 19-Year-Old Companion Shares Chess Limelight |publisher=Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com |date=September 4, 1992 |accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> Fischer claimed that standard chess was stale and that he now played blitz games of chess variants, such as Chess960. He visited with the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár.<ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 65, 106–09.</ref><ref>Brady 2011, pp. 255–62.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpHyqg-gM-s |title=Sofia Polgar discussing Bobby Fischer |publisher=youtube.com |accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> In 1998/99 he also stayed at the house of young Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko.<ref>{{Citation|last=chess24|title=Peter Leko talks about Bobby Fischer staying at his home|date=2018-04-08|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX5SioDLPbc|accessdate=2018-04-18}}</ref>

From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio City in the Philippines,<ref name=pdi/> residing in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugenio Torre, a close friend who had acted as his {{chessgloss|second}} during his 1992 match with Spassky.<ref name=pdi>{{cite web |last=Cabreza|first=Vincent |url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080119-113499/Fischer-has-a-Pinoy-heir-born-in-Baguio----friends |title=Fischer has a Pinoy heir born in Baguio – friends |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=January 19, 2008 |accessdate=January 20, 2008}}</ref> Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Marilyn Young.<ref name=chessbase_marilynphoto>Marilyn Young's name was written behind a photograph dated December 14, 2000, sent to her by Fischer. The photograph is displayed on the Chessbase website. See also: {{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5905 |title=Fischer's daughter Jinky files claim to his estate |publisher=chessbase.com |date=November 11, 2009 |accessdate=January 3, 2010}}</ref> On May 21, 2001, Marilyn Young gave birth to a daughter named Jinky Young, and she claimed that Fischer was the child's father.<ref name=pdi_filheirs>{{cite web |last=Ochoa |first=Francis |url=http://sports.inquirer.net/inquirersports/inquirersports/view/20080207-117275/Fischers-Filipino-heirs-going-after-estate |title=Fischer's Filipino heirs going after estate |publisher=''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' |date=February 7, 2008 |accessdate=January 3, 2010 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625170210/http://sports.inquirer.net/inquirersports/inquirersports/view/20080207-117275/Fischers-Filipino-heirs-going-after-estate |archivedate=June 25, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name=gma_pinayheir>{{cite web |url=http://www.gmanews.tv/story/82348/Bobby-Fischers-Pinay-heir-may-get-settlement |title=Bobby Fischer's Pinay heir may get settlement |publisher=GMANews.tv |date=February 26, 2008 |accessdate=January 3, 2010}}</ref>

===Comments on September 11 attacks===
Shortly after midnight on September 12, 2001, Philippines local time (approximately four hours after the [[Religion:September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]] in the US), Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on the Baguio City station of the Bombo Radyo network. Fischer stated that he was happy that the airliner attacks had happened, while expressing his view on United States and Israeli foreign policy, saying "I applaud the act. Look, nobody gets&nbsp;... that the US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians&nbsp;... for years."<ref name="Sunday_Telegraph">{{cite news| last=Bamber|first=David|author2=Chris Hastings |title=Bobby Fischer speaks out to applaud Trade Centre attacks |publisher=''The Sunday Telegraph'' |date=December 2, 2001 |page=17}}</ref><ref name="Harper's_Magazine">{{Cite journal| title=The Bin Laden defense; Diatribe; Bobby Fischer speaks out in favor of 9/11 attacks; Brief Article; Transcript| journal=''Harper's Magazine'' |volume=304 |issue=1822 |page=27 |date=March 1, 2002 |id=0017-789X}}</ref><ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 122.</ref><ref>"In 2001, though, with the Internet rapidly expanding, his rants were heard all over the world, and what he said brought renewed scrutiny by the United States government". Brady 2011, p. 279.</ref> He also said "The horrible behavior that the US is committing all over the world&nbsp;... This just shows you, that what goes around, comes around even for the United States."<ref name="Sunday_Telegraph"/><ref name="Harper's_Magazine"/> Fischer also referenced the movie ''Seven Days in May'' and said he hoped for a military coup d'état in the US, "[I hope] the country will be taken over by the military—they'll close down all the synagogues, arrest all the Jews, execute hundreds of thousands of Jewish ringleaders."<ref name="Weber">{{cite news |last=Weber|first=Bruce |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/crosswords/chess/19fischer.html |title=Bobby Fischer, Troubled Genius of Chess, Dies at 64 |work=The New York Times |date=January 19, 2008 |accessdate=January 11, 2013}}</ref><ref name="BöhmJongkind">Fischer's radio broadcasts show that he was "out of his mind&nbsp;... a victim of his own mental illness". Böhm & Jongkind 2003, pp. 66–67.</ref> In response to Fischer's statements about 9/11, the US Chess Federation passed a motion to cancel his right to membership in the organization.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://archive.uschess.org/docs/pdf/15EBactionsvolex02.PDF |title= Executive Board Actions (EB 02-40) |publisher= USCF |year= 2002 |deadurl= yes |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20140225230222/http://archive.uschess.org/docs/pdf/15EBactionsvolex02.PDF |archivedate= February 25, 2014}}</ref> Fischer's right to become a member was reinstated in 2007.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.uschess.org/docs/gov/reports/2007.02.03-04_EB_Meeting_-_Unofficial_Summary.pdf |title=Unofficial summary of the February, 2007, meeting of the USCF Executive Board |accessdate=March 17, 2016}}</ref>

===Detention in Japan===
Fischer lived for a time in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fischer.jp/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080121125138/http://www.fischer.jp/ |archivedate=January 21, 2008 |title=Archive of official site |publisher=Web.archive.org |date=January 21, 2008 |accessdate=November 12, 2011 |deadurl=yes |df=mdy }}</ref> On July 13, 2004, acting in response to a letter from US officials, Japanese immigration authorities arrested him at Narita International Airport near Tokyo for allegedly using a revoked US passport while trying to board a Japan Airlines flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in [[Place:Manila|Manila]], {{wipe|Philippines}}.<ref name=TimeKingsGambit>{{cite news |first= Jim|last= Frederick |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,686101,00.html |title= King's Gambit |publisher= ''TIME'' |date= August 23, 2004|accessdate= July 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/will-fischer-be-extradited- |title=Will Fischer be extradited? |publisher=chessbase.com |date=July 19, 2004 |accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref>"[Fischer's] worry was that the U.S. government might finally have caught up with him. He'd violated State Department economic sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a $5 million chess match against Boris Spassky in Sveti Stefan, Montenegro, in 1992, and an arrest warrant had been issued at that time. If he went back to the United States, he'd have to stand trial, and the penalty, if he was convicted, would be anywhere from ten years in prison to $250,000 in fines, or both, plus possible forfeiture of his $3.5 million winnings". Brady 2011, p. 2.</ref> Fischer resisted arrest, and claimed to have sustained bruises, cuts and a broken tooth in the process.<ref name="mbl.is">[http://mbl.is/mm/gagnasafn/grein.html?grein_id=811183 "Fischer er jákvæður og skýr í hugsun"]. {{is icon}}.</ref> At the time, Fischer had a passport (originally issued in 1997 and updated in 2003 to add more pages) that, according to US officials, had been revoked in November 2003 due to his outstanding arrest-warrant for the Yugoslavia sanctions violation.<ref name=TimeKingsGambit/> Despite the outstanding arrest-warrant in the US, Fischer said that he believed the passport was still valid.<ref>"There were problems with the revocation of the passport, however. Fischer never received the notice and therefore couldn't appeal it, which according to law he had the right to do. The Justice Department claimed that the letter had been sent to the hotel in Bern (the location Bobby had given to the embassy) and was returned to them with no forwarding address appended. It was dated December 11, 2003, and when a faxed copy of the letter was ultimately examined, it didn't have an address for Fischer on it, the implication being that the embassy had never sent the letter to Bern". Brady 2011, pp. 281–82.</ref> The authorities held Fischer at a custody center for 16 days before transferring him to another facility. Fischer claimed that his cell was windowless and he had not seen the light of day during that period, and that the staff had ignored his complaints about constant tobacco smoke in his cell.<ref name="mbl.is"/><ref>"Bobby was astute enough to know that by making more and more broadcasts [against the United States and Jews worldwide], he was increasing his chances of eventual arrest. When nothing happened, however, he felt invulnerable and continued to travel without hiding..." Brady 2011, p. 280.</ref><ref>"It's possible that Fischer's broadcasts were the fuel that sparked the U.S. government to activate the decade-old charge against him". Brady 2011, pp. 282–83.</ref><ref>"Miyoko, for her part, thought that U.S. authorities could have arrested Bobby anytime post-1992, but they didn't, and only went after him when 'suddenly he started to attack America and it made the government very angry.{{'"}} AP wire story (Tokyo), July 18, 2004. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 283.</ref><ref>"Not knowing that his arrest was imminent, and believing that his passport was legal, on July 13, 2004, [Fischer] went to Narita Airport in Tokyo to board a plane bound for Manila. He was arrested and shackled in chains". Brady 2011, p. 282.</ref><ref>"...on July 13, 2004... [Fischer] was arrested..." "...on March 23, 2005, [Fischer] was released from his cell". Brady 2011, pp. 282, 293.</ref>

Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and consultant John Bosnitch set up the "Committee to Free Bobby Fischer" after meeting Fischer at Narita Airport and offering to assist him.<ref>{{cite news |last= Suzuki|first= Hiroshi |url= https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=amx21MqZzvxk&refer=us |title= Bobby Fischer Renounces U.S. Citizenship, Seeks Refugee Status |publisher= Bloomberg |date= August 6, 2004 |accessdate= August 2, 2010}}</ref> Boris Spassky wrote a letter to US President George W. Bush, asking "For mercy, charity", and, if that was not possible, "to put [him] in the same cell with Bobby Fischer" and "to give [them] a chess set".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://en.chessbase.com/post/spaky-to-bush-arrest-me- |title= Spassky to Bush: Arrest me! |publisher= chessbase.com |date= August 10, 2004 |accessdate= October 7, 2015|quote= I would not like to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. He is what he is. I am asking only for one thing. For mercy, charity. If for some reason it is impossible, I would like to ask you the following: Please correct the mistake of President François Mitterrand in 1992. Bobby and myself committed the same crime. Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set.}}</ref> It was reported that Fischer and Miyoko Watai, the President of the Japanese Chess Association (with whom he had reportedly been living since 2000) wanted to become legally married.<ref name=TimeKingsGambit/> (It was also reported that Fischer had been living in the Philippines with Marilyn Young during the same period.<ref name=pdi/>) Fischer applied for German citizenship on the grounds that his father was German.<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article438161.ece |title= Profile: Bobby Fischer: Endgame on the darker side of genius |work= timesonline.co.uk |accessdate= July 18, 2009}}</ref> Fischer stated that he wanted to renounce his US citizenship, and appealed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell to help him do so, though to no effect.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2004/08/17/national/fischers-next-moves-renounce-u-s-citizenship-and-marry-a-japanese/ |title= Fischer's next moves: renounce U.S. citizenship and marry a Japanese |work= The Japan Times Online |date= August 17, 2004 |accessdate= January 4, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1852 |title= Fischer renounces US citizenship |publisher= chessbase.com |date= August 15, 2004|accessdate= January 27, 2014}}</ref> Japan's Justice Minister rejected Fischer's request for asylum and ordered his deportation.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127262,00.html |title= Bobby Fischer's Deportation Appeal Rejected |publisher= ''Associated Press'' |date= July 28, 2004 |accessdate= February 19, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4370119.stm |title= Iceland grants Fischer passport |publisher= ''BBC News'' |date= March 21, 2005 |accessdate= January 28, 2014}}
</ref><ref>
"[Fischer] was picked up by limousine supplied by the Icelandic embassy, given his new Icelandic passport, and he and Miyoko, hand in hand, sped to Narita Airport". AP wire story, March 23, 2005. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 293.
</ref>

===Citizenship and residency in Iceland===
Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005, requesting Icelandic citizenship.<ref>{{'"}}Honorable Members of Althingi: I... sincerely thank the Icelandic nation for the friendship it has shown to me ever since I came to your country many years ago and competed for the title of World Champion in chess... For the past six months I have been forcibly and illegally imprisoned in Japan... During this period my health has steadily deteriorated... I would therefore like to formally request that Althingi grant me Icelandic citizenship so that I may actually enjoy the offer of residence in Iceland that your Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. David Oddsson had so graciously extended to me. Most Respectfully, BOBBY FISCHER{{'"}} Brady 2011, pp. 288–89.</ref> Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Althing (the Icelandic Parliament), at the behest of William Lombardy,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://timarit.is/files/8300516.pdf#navpanes=1&view=FitH&search=%22Lombardy%22 |title=Fangavist fáránleikans |publisher=Morgunbladid |date=February 2, 2005 |accessdate=October 7, 2015|language=is}}</ref><ref>"Then I asked him if he had given Bill Lombardy a call. A few weeks earlier his former second had written an article supporting his case that had been published in ''Morgunbladid''. 'Yeah, I phoned him from jail and told him to write an article', Bobby said. 'I told him that he was obliged to be of assistance. And he did it without asking any questions{{'"}}. Ólafsson 2014, p. 67.</ref> agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the United States and Japanese governments,<ref>[http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2275 ''Bobby Fischer: ich bin ein Icelander!'']. March 21, 2005.</ref> and also in recognition of his 1972 match, which had "put Iceland on the map".<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith-Spark |first=Laura |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4102367.stm |title=Fischer 'put Iceland on the map' |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=March 23, 2005 |accessdate=September 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>"The RJF [Robert James Fischer] members called virtually every member of parliament to lobby for citizenship: full, ''permanent'' citizenship... an Extraordinary Session of Parliament was called for Saturday, Match 21, 2005. Three rounds of discussion took place in the space of twelve minutes, and questions were posed regarding the extent of the emergency. The answers were succinct and forthcoming: Bobby Fischer's improper incarceration was a violation of his rights; all he was really guilty of was moving some wooden pieces across a chessboard; he'd been a friend of Iceland and had a historical connection to it, and now he needed the country's help". Act Respecting the Granting of Citizenship, no. 16/2005. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 293.</ref>

After arriving in [[Place:Reykjavík|Reykjavík]], Fischer gave a press conference.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090202092534/http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_332337.html Chess legend still intrigues people]. pittsburghlive.com. May 9, 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFischer-photos/slides/2005%20Bobby%20Fischer%20gestures%20is%20surrounded%20by%20members%20of%20the%20press%20while%20speaking%20to%20the%20media%20for%20the%20first%20time%20since%20landing%20in%20his%20hew%20home%20of%20Reykjavik%20Iceland%20Friday%20March%2025%202005.html Bobby Fischer - speaking to the media], echecs-photos.be, March 25, 2005; accessed May 22, 2018.</ref> He lived a reclusive life in Iceland, avoiding entrepreneurs and others who approached him with various proposals.<ref name="Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland">{{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4392 |title=Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland |publisher=chessbase.com |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref>

Fischer moved into an apartment in the same building as his close friend and spokesman, Garðar Sverrisson.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 305.</ref> Garðar's wife, Kristín Þórarinsdóttir, was a nurse and later looked after Fischer as a terminally ill patient. Garðar's two children, especially his son, were very close to Fischer.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 319.</ref> Fischer also developed a friendship with Magnús Skúlason, a psychiatrist and chess player who later recalled long discussions with him on a wide variety of subjects.<ref name=suntimes>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3751254.ece |title=Bobby Fischer's final manoeuvre |publisher=''The Sunday Times'' |date=April 20, 2008}}</ref>

On December 10, 2006, Fischer telephoned an Icelandic television station that had just broadcast a chess game in which one player blundered such that his opponent was able to mate on the next move. Although he tried to change his mind upon seeing the mate, the touch-move rule forced him to play the blunder.  Fischer pointed out a winning combination that could have been played instead of the blunder or the other attempted move, but had been missed by the player and commentators.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3546 |title=Bobby Fischer and the missed combination |publisher=chessbase.com |date=December 17, 2006 |accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref>

In 2005, some of Fischer's belongings were auctioned on [[Company:EBay|eBay]].{{Citation needed|reason=eBay is not noted in the following citation|date=January 2018}}  Fischer claimed, in 2006, that the belongings sold in the US without his permission were worth "hundreds of millions of [US] dollars; even billions of dollars."<ref name="Fischer on Icelandic Radio"/><ref>Böhm & Jongkind 2003, p. 118.</ref>  In the same interview, Fischer also said that [[Company:UBS|UBS]] Bank had closed an account of his and liquidated his assets against his wishes, transferring the funds to a bank in Iceland.<ref name="Interview on Útvarp Saga"/>

===Death, estate dispute, and exhumation===
{{multiple image |total_width = 300
 |image1 = Laugardælakirkja.JPG
 |width1 = 1932 |height1 = 2580
 |caption1 = Church of Laugardælir, Fischer's resting place
 |image2 = Bobby Fischer grave.JPG
 |width2 = 2688 |height2 = 3584
 |caption2 = Fischer's grave}}

On January 17, 2008, Fischer died at age 64 from renal failure at the Landspítali Hospital (National University Hospital of Iceland) in Reykjavík. He had been suffering from degenerative renal failure.<ref>[http://www.espn.com/espn/news/story?id=3202460 Death of Bobby Fischer], espn.com; accessed May 22, 2018.</ref><ref>Brady 2011, p. 317.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Batty |first=David|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jan/18/sport.davidbatty |title=Chess champion Bobby Fischer dies|publisher=The Guardian|date=January 18, 2008|accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/frett.html?nid=1315727 |title=''Dánarorsök Fischers var nýrnabilun'' |publisher=mbl.is |date=January 20, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |language=Icelandic}}</ref><ref>Death:
* {{cite web |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpjkKfonmIFJxdSyG535aNfW6rnQ |title=Chess genius Bobby Fischer, from American hero to paranoid fugitive |publisher=AFP |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002203233/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpjkKfonmIFJxdSyG535aNfW6rnQ |archivedate=October 2, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3900793.stm |title=Obituary: Bobby Fischer |publisher=''BBC News'' |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 }}
* {{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7195840.stm |title=Chess legend Fischer dies at 64 |publisher=''BBC News'' |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 }}
* {{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3211295.ece |title=Bobby Fischer: Obituary |publisher=''The Sunday Times'' |date=January 19, 2008 }}</ref><ref name=nyt>{{cite news |last=Weber|first=Bruce |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/crosswords/chess/19fischer.html?pagewanted=all |title=Bobby Fischer, Chess Master, Dies at 64 |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date = January 19, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> He originally had a urinary tract blockage but refused surgery or medication.<ref>"Bobby started to have urinary problems and thought it might simply be caused by an enlarged [[Biology:Prostate|prostate]] gland, at first denying that anything was seriously wrong with him. His lungs were also bothering him and he was having difficulty breathing. Since he had a lifelong distrust of doctors, he tolerated the discomfort until late September 2007, when his pain and inability to urinate became excruciating. He went to a doctor... [who conducted a blood test which showed that] he had a blocked urinary tract... [and that] his kidneys... were not functioning properly... Bobby refused to take any medicine, and the idea of being hooked up to a [[Engineering:Dialysis|dialysis]] machine to cleanse his blood every few days for the rest of his life was out of the question." Brady 2011, pp. 316–17.</ref><ref>"It's possible that Bobby was just giving up, letting go of his life, beginning a slow form of suicide". Interview of Pal Benko by author, summer 2008, New York. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 317.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dirda|first=Michael |title=A chess master who defeated himself |publisher=''The Washington Post'' |date=February 10, 2011}}</ref> Magnús Skúlason reported Fischer's response to leg massages: "Nothing soothes as much as the human touch."<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 318">Brady 2011, p. 318.</ref>

On January 21, Fischer was buried in the small Christian cemetery of Laugardælir church, outside the town of Selfoss, {{convert|60|km}} southeast of Reykjavík, after a Catholic funeral presided over by Fr. Jakob Rolland of the diocese of Reykjavík. In accordance with Fischer's wishes, only Miyoko Watai, Garðar Sverrisson, and Garðar's family were present.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/bobby-fischer-his-final-weeks |title=Bobby Fischer – his final weeks |publisher=chessbase.com |date=January 25, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>Burial:
* {{cite web |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/bobby-fischer-buried-in-iceland |title=Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland |publisher=chessbase.com|date=January 22, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Fischer&GSfn=Bobby&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=2008&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=24023886& |title=Find A Grave – Robert James Fischer |publisher=findagrave.com |date=January 18, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}
* {{cite web |url=http://ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item187254/ |archivedate=January 23, 2008 |archiveurl=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20080123153750/http://ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item187254/ |dead-url=yes|title=Útför Fischers í kyrrþey |date=January 21, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014|language=is}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.visir.is/article/20080119/FRETTIR01/80119030 |title=Unnustan ræður hvílustað Bobbys |publisher=visir.is |date=January 19, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014|language=is}}.
* {{cite news |last=Bragadottir|first=Kristin Arna |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSL2112613820080121 |title=Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland |date=January 21, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |work=Reuters}}
* {{cite news |first= Neil |last= Tweedie |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3635401/Bobby-Fischers-final-bizarre-act.html |title= Bobby Fischer's final bizarre act |work= The Telegraph |date= January 25, 2008 |accessdate= May 12, 2016 }}</ref>

Fischer's estate was estimated at 140 million ISK (about 1 million GBP, or US$2 million). It quickly became the object of a legal battle involving claims from four parties, with Miyoko Watai ultimately inheriting what remained of Fischer's estate after government claims. The four parties were Fischer's Japanese wife Miyoko Watai; his alleged Filipino daughter Jinky Young and her mother Marilyn Young; his two American nephews Alexander and Nicholas Targ and their father [[Biography:Russell Targ|Russell Targ]]; and the US government (claiming unpaid taxes).<ref name="Four parties make claims"/><ref name=suntimes/><ref>Andrew Soltis,[http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/fi_cher_family_feud_dM7SQvHd1SmrWSYdxPq0EO Fi$cher Family Feud], ''New York Post'', November 15, 2009. Retrieved November 16, 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=McClain|first=Dylan Loeb |url=http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/bobby-fischer-is-exhumed/ |title=Bobby Fischer Is Exhumed |publisher=''The New York Times'' (Online Chess Blog) |date=July 5, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

Marilyn Young claimed that Jinky was Fischer's daughter, citing as evidence Jinky's birth and baptismal certificates, photographs, a transaction record dated December 4, 2007, of a bank remittance by Fischer to Jinky, and Jinky's DNA through her blood samples.<ref name=pdi_filheirs /><ref name=mb_lovechild>{{cite web |url=http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2009/12/jinky-in-iceland.html |title=Fischer's Pinay love child in Iceland to claim inheritance |publisher=Manila Bulletin |date=December 4, 2009 |accessdate=January 4, 2014}}</ref><ref name=chessbase_fischerchild>{{cite web|title=Fischer's daughter Jinky files claim to his estate |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5905 |publisher=chessbase.com |date=November 11, 2009 |accessdate=January 3, 2010}}</ref> On the other hand, Magnús Skúlason, a friend of Fischer's, said that he was certain that Fischer was not the girl's father.<ref name="Four parties make claims">{{cite web |url=http://www.ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item202726/ |title=4 gera kröfu í dánarbú Fischers (Four parties make claims) |publisher=RÚV |date=April 22, 2008 |accessdate=January 3, 2010 |archiveurl=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20080423000000/www.ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item202726/ |archivedate=April 23, 2008}}</ref>  In addition, the validity of Miyoko Watai's marriage to Fischer was challenged.<ref name =ChessbaseTBE>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6227 |title=Fischer's remains to be exhumed? |publisher=chessbase.com |date=April 1, 2010 |accessdate=January 27, 2014}}</ref><ref name=pdi_filheirs />

On June 16, 2010, Iceland's supreme court ruled in favor of a petition on behalf of Jinky Young to have Fischer's remains exhumed.<ref>{{cite news |last=McClain|first=Dylan Loeb |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/world/europe/18briefs-Iceland.html |title=Iceland: Bobby Fischer's Estate Dispute |publisher=''The New York Times Europe'' |date=June 17, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/17/court-rules-bobby-fischers-body-can-be-exhumed/?hpt=T2 |title=Court rules Bobby Fischer's body can be exhumed |publisher=''CNN.com'' |date=June 17, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> The exhumation was performed on July 5, 2010, in the presence of a doctor, a priest, and other officials. A DNA sample was taken and Fischer's body was then reburied.<ref>{{cite news |last=Helgason |first=Gudjon |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/5/chess-icon-fischers-body-exhumed-over-paternity |title=Chess icon Fischer's body exhumed over paternity |publisher=''Associated Press'' |date=July 5, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

On August 17, 2010, it was announced that results of DNA testing had ruled out Fischer as the father of Jinky Young.<ref name=ReutersNotDaughter>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/17/us-iceland-fischer-idUSTRE67G4TK20100817 |title=DNA tests on chess champion's corpse exclude paternity |publisher=Reuters |date=August 17, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref><ref name=CNNnotDaughter>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/18/iceland.bobby.fischer/index.html?hpt=T2 |title=DNA results settle Bobby Fischer paternity case |publisher=Cnn.com |date=August 18, 2010 |accessdate=November 12, 2011}}</ref> On March 3, 2011, an Icelandic district court ruled that Miyoko Watai and Fischer had married on September 6, 2004,<ref name="icelandreview">{{cite news |url=http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/Miyoko_Watai_Ruled_Bobby_Fischer%E2%80%99s_Legal_Heir_0_374804.news.aspx |title=Miyoko Watai Ruled Bobby Fischer's Legal Heir |date=March 3, 2011 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |publisher=''Iceland Review Online''}}</ref> and that, as Fischer's widow and heir, Watai was therefore entitled to inherit Fischer's estate.<ref>{{cite news |last=McClain|first=Dylan Loeb |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/world/europe/05chess.html |title=Iceland Court Hands Bobby Fischer Estate to Japanese Claimant |publisher=''The New York Times'' |date=March 4, 2011 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> Fischer's nephews were ordered to pay Watai's legal costs, amounting to ISK 6.6 million (approximately $57,000).<ref name=icelandreview/>

===Speculation on psychological condition===
While as far as is known Fischer was never formally diagnosed,<ref name=LifeGame /> there has been widespread comment and speculation concerning his psychological condition based on his extreme views and unusual behavior.<ref name=Ponterotto>{{cite web |last=Ponterotto |first=Joseph |url=https://psmag.com/social-justice/a-psychological-autopsy-of-bobby-fischer-25959 |title=A psychological autopsy of Bobby Fischer |work=Pacific Standard |date=December 10, 2010 |accessdate=February 13, 2016}}</ref> Reuben Fine, psychologist and chess player, who met Fischer many times, said that "Some of Bobby's behavior is so strange, unpredictable, odd and bizarre that even his most ardent apologists have had a hard time explaining what makes him tick" and described him as "a troubled human being" with "obvious personal problems".<ref>''Bobby Fischer's Conquest of the World's Chess Championship: The Psychology and Tactics of the Title Match'', 1973. {{ISBN|0-923891-47-1}}.</ref>

Valery Krylov, advisor to Anatoly Karpov and a specialist in the "psycho-physiological rehabilitation of sportsmen", believed Fischer suffered from [[Medicine:Schizophrenia|schizophrenia]].<ref name=Ponterotto/> Psychologist Joseph G. Ponterotto, from second-hand sources, concludes that "Bobby did not meet all the necessary criteria to reach diagnoses of schizophrenia or [[Medicine:Asperger syndrome|Asperger syndrome]]. The evidence is stronger for [[Medicine:Paranoid personality disorder|paranoid personality disorder]]."<ref name=Ponterotto/>  Magnús Skúlason, a chess player, psychiatrist and head doctor of Sogn Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane, befriended Fischer towards the end of Fischer's life. From ''Endgame'', Fischer's 2011 biography by Frank Brady:<ref name="Brady 2011, p. 318"/>

<blockquote>[...] Skulason was not "Bobby's psychiatrist", as has been implied in the general press, nor did he offer Bobby any analysis or psychotherapy. He was at Bobby's bedside as a friend, to try to do anything he could for him. Because of his training, however, he couldn't fail to take note of Bobby's mental condition. "He definitely was not schizophrenic", Skulason said. "He had problems, possibly certain childhood traumas that had affected him. He was misunderstood. Underneath I think he was a caring sensitive person."</blockquote>

==Contributions to chess==
===Opening theory===
Fischer's opening repertoire was narrow in some ways.  As White, Fischer almost exclusively played 1.e4 throughout his career.<ref>"Fischer's main and almost exclusive weapon with White is 1 e4. The range of stratagems that he employs after 1 e4 is extremely wide." Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 251.</ref> He played 1.d4 with White only once in a serious game, during a blitz tournament.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044304 |title=Fischer vs. Hort, Herceg Novi Blitz (1970) |website=Chessgames.com }}</ref>  In spite of this narrowness, he was notorious, particularly among his rivals, for being unpredictable in his opening play, and a difficult opponent to prepare for.<ref>"He employs a limited range of openings. Of course, this is not a sign of Fischer's limited creativity, since he compensates for this by a very profound and sound knowledge of the variations he favours [sic]." Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 270.</ref>

As Black, Fischer would usually play the Najdorf Sicilian against 1.e4, and the King's Indian Defense against 1.d4, only rarely venturing into the Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4), Benoni, Grünfeld or Neo-Grünfeld.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, pp. 251–62.</ref>  Fischer acknowledged difficulty playing against the Winawer Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4), but maintained that the Winawer was unsound because it exposed Black's kingside, and that, in his view, "Black was trading off his good bishop with 3...Bb4 and&nbsp;...Bxc3."<ref>Müller 2009, p. 31.</ref> Later on Fischer said: "I may yet be forced to admit that the Winawer is sound. But I doubt it! The defense is anti-positional and weakens the K-side."<ref>Fischer 1969, p. 151.</ref>

Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory.<ref name="Bisguier & Soltis 1974, p. 208">Bisguier & Soltis 1974, p. 208.</ref> He was one of the foremost experts on the Ruy Lopez.<ref>Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 322 (quoting March 20, 1972 letter from Paul Keres to the USSR Chess Federation).</ref> A line of the Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0) is sometimes called the "Fischer Variation" after he successfully resurrected it at the 1966 Havana Olympiad.<ref>"The Exchange Variation was a feared weapon in the hands of Bobby Fischer." Kasparov & Keene 1989, p. 382.</ref><ref>"The modern version of the Spanish Exchange variation, in which White moves 5.0-0 after the exchange on move 4, should be named after former World Champion Bobby Fischer." Fischer, after finding an improvement on a 1965 game Barendregt-Teschner, which Black won, "started to play the Exchange with the move 5.0-0, winning game after game with it, and continued to play it with success even in his 1992 rematch with Boris Spassky, his final formal chess event." Kaufman 2004, pp. 4–5.</ref> Fischer's lifetime score with the move 5.0-0 in tournament and match games was eight wins, three draws, and no losses (86.36%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=white&pid=19233&player=&pid2=&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=C68-69&result= |title=Robert James Fischer, Ruy Lopez, Exchange (C68–C69) |website=Chessgames.com |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

Fischer was a recognized expert in the black side of the Najdorf Sicilian and the King's Indian Defense.<ref>Andrew Soltis, in Müller 2009, pp. 29, 32–33.</ref> He used the Grünfeld Defense and Neo-Grünfeld Defense to win his celebrated games against Donald and Robert Byrne, and played a theoretical novelty in the Grünfeld against reigning world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, refuting Botvinnik's prepared analysis {{chessgloss|over the board}}.<ref>L.S. Blackstock, in Wade & O'Connell 1973, p. 36.</ref><ref>Andrew Soltis, in Müller 2009, p. 25.</ref> In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 was named after him.<ref>Hansen 2002, p. 132.</ref><ref>Pliester 1995, p. 272.</ref><ref>Gligorić 1985, p. 65.</ref>

Fischer established the viability of the so-called Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6). This bold queen sortie, to snatch a pawn at the expense of development, had been considered dubious,<ref>Watson observed that 7...Qb6 "is an astonishing move that those raised with classical chess principles would simply reject as a typical beginner's mistake. Black goes running after a pawn when he is undeveloped and already under attack." Watson 2006, p. 199.</ref><ref>"Referring to the Poisoned Pawn Variation&nbsp;... the brilliant, classically oriented grandmaster Salo Flohr commented, even as late as 1972: 'In chess, there is an old rule: in the opening, one must make haste to develop the pieces, and must not move the same piece several times, particularly the queen. This ancient law holds good even for Bobby Fischer.{{'"}} Watson 1998, p. 18.</ref><ref>The Poisoned Pawn Variation "was considered dubious by certain GMs and crazy by Bent Larsen". Polugaevsky, Piket & Guéneau 1995, p. 83.</ref> but Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness.<ref name="Soltis, in Müller 2009, p. 30">Andrew Soltis, in Müller 2009, p. 30.</ref> Out of ten tournament and match games as Black in the Poisoned Pawn, Fischer scored 70%, winning five, drawing four, and losing only one: the 11th game of his 1972 match against Spassky.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=black&pid=&player=Fischer&pid2=&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=B97&result= |title=Robert James Fischer, Sicilian, Najdorf (B97) |website=Chessgames.com |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> Following Fischer's use, the Poisoned Pawn Variation became a respected line, utilized by many of the world's leading players.<ref>Georgiev & Kolev 2007, p. 6.</ref>  Fischer's 10.f5 in this line against Efim Geller quickly became the main line of the Poisoned Pawn.

On the white side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advances to the theory of the line beginning 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 (or e6) 6.Bc4,<ref name="Soltis, in Müller 2009, p. 30"/><ref>Mednis 1997, pp. 56, 146.</ref> which has sometimes been named after him.<ref>Mednis calls 6.Bc4 against the Najdorf Variation "Fischer's 6 B-QB4". Mednis 1997, pp. 56, 74, 80, 88.</ref>

In 1961, prompted by a loss the year before to Spassky,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1080046 |title=Boris Spassky vs. Robert James Fischer, Mar del Plata (1960), King's Gambit: Accepted. Kieseritsky Gambit Rubinstein Variation (C39) |website=Chessgames.com |accessdate=January 29, 2014 }}</ref> Fischer wrote an article entitled "A {{chessgloss|bust|Bust}} to the King's Gambit" for the first issue of the ''American Chess Quarterly'', in which he stated, "In my opinion, the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force."<ref>Fischer 1961, p. 4.</ref> Fischer recommended 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6,<ref>Fischer 1961, pp. 4–9.</ref> which has since become known as the Fischer Defense, as a refutation to the King's Gambit.<ref>Estrin & Glaskov 1982, p. 115.</ref><ref>Korchnoi & Zak 1975, p. 39.</ref><ref>Andrew Soltis, in Müller 2009, p. 29.</ref> Fischer later played the King's Gambit as White in three tournament games, winning them all.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1973, pp. 27, 76–77, 253, 256.</ref>

===Endgame===
Fischer had excellent endgame technique.<ref>Bisguier & Soltis 1974, p. 214.</ref> International Master Jeremy Silman listed him as one of the five best endgame players (along with [[Biography:Emanuel Lasker|Emanuel Lasker]], Akiba Rubinstein, José Raúl Capablanca and Vasily Smyslov), calling Fischer a "master of bishop endings".<ref>Silman 2007, pp. 510–23.</ref> The endgame of a rook, bishop, and pawns against a rook, knight, and pawns has sometimes been called the "Fischer Endgame" because of several instructive wins by Fischer (with the bishop), including three against Mark Taimanov in 1970 and 1971.<ref>Müller & Lamprecht 2001, p. 304.</ref><ref>Mayer 1997, p. 201.</ref><ref>Steve Giddins, 2012, ''The Greatest Ever chess endgames'', p. 68.</ref>

===Fischer clock===
In 1988, Fischer filed for {{US patent|4,884,255}} for a new type of chess clock, which gave each player a fixed period at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move.<ref>"With the advent of electronic clocks new possibilities arose and in 1990 the recluse Fischer emerged to publicize a chess clock which he had patented. The basis of its novelty is the ability to add available time whenever a player makes a move. He suggested that each player should begin with one hour on the clock and that two minutes be added each time the clock is pressed, thus avoiding the worst features of a time scramble". Hooper & Whyld 1992, p. 422.</ref>

Used in the 1992 rematch between Fischer and Spassky,<ref>"Bobby's invention of a new chess clock that operated differently from those traditionally used in tournaments had to be specially manufactured for the match, and [Jezdimir] Vasiljevic had it made. Bobby insisted that it be used in the match. The game would start with each player having ninety minutes, and upon his making a move, two minutes would be added to each player's time. Bobby's theory was that in this new system, players would never be left to scramble to make their moves at the end of the time allotment with only seconds to spare, thereby reducing the number of blunders under time pressure. The pride of the game was the depth of its conceptions, Fischer contended, not triumph by mechanical means". Brady 2011, p. 246.</ref><ref>"In the 1992 match both players start with one hour and fifty-one minutes. Each move played earns a one-minute bonus. After 40 moves, both players get a 40-minute gift, after 60 moves, 30 minutes and after 80 and each succeeding 20 moves, 20 minutes. The gifts are in addition to the regular bonus of one minute a move. The time controls correspond with the older competition limits of 40 moves in two and a half hours". Müller 2009, p. 382.</ref> the "Fischer clock" soon became standard in most major chess tournaments.<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 307.</ref> Fischer would later often complain that he was cheated out of the royalties for this invention.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,870785,00.html|title=The madness of King Bobby|last=Chun|first=Rene|date=12 January 2003|work=The Observer}}</ref>

===Fischerandom===
Fischer heavily disparaged chess as it was currently being played (at the highest levels).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chess960.net/files/audio/fischer_20022701_iceland.mp3 |title=Audio clip of Bobby Fischer |publisher=chess960.net |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129072620/http://chess960.net/files/audio/fischer_20022701_iceland.mp3 |archivedate=November 29, 2007}}</ref> As a result, on June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fischer announced and advocated a variant of chess called Fischerandom Chess (later known as Chess960). The goal of Fischerandom Chess was to ensure that a game between two players is a contest between their understandings of chess, rather than their abilities to prepare opening strategies or memorize opening lines.<ref>Brady 2011, p. 260.</ref><ref>"At the beginning of the 21st century, grandmasters have been slowly but surely expressing interest in Fischerandom Chess". Gligorić 2002, p. 132.</ref>

In a 2006 Icelandic Radio interview, Fischer explained his dissatisfaction with the current chess:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3468 |title=Speaking about Fischer... |date=November 4, 2006 |accessdate=February 6, 2014}}</ref>

<blockquote>[In] chess, so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century didn't know nearly as much as, say, I do and other players know about opening theory. So if you just brought them back from the dead they might not do too well, because they'd get bad openings. You cannot compare the playing strength, you can only talk about natural ability, because now there is so much more opening theory, so much more memorization. Memorization is enormously powerful. Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get the opening advantage against Capablanca, or especially against the players of the previous century, like Morphy and Steinitz, easily. Maybe they'd still be able to outplay the young kid of today, but maybe not. Because nowadays when you get the opening advantage, not only do you get the opening advantage, but you know how to ''play'' the opening advantage – they have so many examples of what to do from this position. So it's really deadly, it is very deadly... that's why I don't like chess anymore... It's all just memorization and prearrangement, it's a terrible game now. A very ''un''-creative game now.</blockquote>

===Legacy===
Kasparov calls Fischer "perhaps the most mythologically shrouded figure in chess".<ref name="Kasparov 2004, p. 207">Kasparov 2004, p. 207.</ref><ref>Brady 2011, p. 328.</ref><ref name="Müller 2009, p. 23">Müller 2009, p. 23.</ref><ref>Wolff 2001, p. 273.</ref> Some leading players and some of Fischer's biographers have ranked him as the greatest player who ever lived.<ref name=greatest /> Other writers have said that he was arguably the greatest player ever, without reaching a definitive conclusion.<ref name=arguably /> Leonard Barden wrote, "Most experts place him the second or third best ever, behind Kasparov but probably ahead of Karpov."<ref name=lbobt/>

Some grandmasters compared Fischer's play to that of a computer;<ref>"William Lombardy characterized Fischer's game as machinelike, with 'terrifically accurate positional play but never boring... His opening repertory is encompassing... His end game is practically flawless. Bobby is the most complete player I've ever seen.{{'"}} Schonberg 1972, p. 270.</ref><ref>"Referring to the future chess computer, Jim Sherwin [aka: James Sherwin<nowiki>]</nowiki>, an American [chess] player who knew Fischer well, described him as 'a prototype Deep Blue.' The Soviet analysis showed that even when faced with an unexpected position, Fischer took not longer than fifteen or twenty minutes to make his move; other grandmasters might take twice as long. Nor did Fischer appear to be governed by any psychologically predetermined system or technique". Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 22.</ref> a player without noticeable weaknesses.<ref>"[Fischer's] play approached so close to perfection that it seemed to transcend style". Winter 1981, p. 118.</ref>

Although international ratings were introduced only in 1970, Chessmetrics (a website that uses algorithms to rank performances retrospectively and uniformly throughout chess history) determined that Fischer's peak rating was 2895 in October 1971—the highest in history. His one-year peak (1971) average was 2881, the highest of all time. His three-year peak average was 2867, from January 1971 to December 1973—the second highest ever, just behind Garry Kasparov. Fischer was ranked as the number one player in the world for a total of 109 different months, running (not consecutively) from February 1964 until July 1974.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS1S038178000000111000000000000010100 |title=Player Profile: Bobby Fischer |publisher=chessmetrics.com |date=March 26, 2005 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

Fischer's great rival Mikhail Tal praised him as "the greatest genius to have descended from the chess heavens".<ref>Saidy & Lessing 1974, p. 226.</ref> American grandmaster Arthur Bisguier wrote "Robert James Fischer is one of the few people in any sphere of endeavour who has been accorded the accolade of being called a legend in his own time."<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 43.</ref> Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian stated that Fischer put more time into chess than the entire Soviet team.<ref>"'''Petrosian:''' 'Fischer is exceptionally hard-working. Without fear of over-exaggerating, I am prepared to compare the amount of time spent by him at the board between competitions with the hours devoted to chess by all the members of the Soviet national team taken together.{{'"}} Plisetsky & Voronkov 2005, p. 143.</ref>

Biographers David Edmonds and John Eidinow wrote:<ref>Edmonds & Eidinow 2004, p. 23.</ref>

<blockquote>Faced with Fischer's extraordinary coolness, his opponents [sic] assurance would begin to disintegrate. A Fischer move, which at first glances looked weak, would be reassessed. It must have a deep master plan behind it, undetectable by mere mortals (more often than not they were right, it did). The US grandmaster Robert Byrne labeled the phenomenon "Fischer-fear". Grandmasters would wilt, their suits would crumple, sweat would glisten on their brows, panic would overwhelm their nervous systems. Errors would creep in. Calculations would go awry. There was talk among grandmasters that Fischer hypnotized his opponents, that he undermined their intellectual powers with a dark, mystic, insidious force.</blockquote>

Kasparov wrote that Fischer "became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress".<ref name=kasp>{{Cite news |last=Kasparov|first=Garry |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1707222,00.html |title=The Chessman |publisher=''TIME'' |date=January 26, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> In January 2009, reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand described him as "the greatest chess player who ever lived".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090116/jsp/sports/story_10397969.jsp |title=Fischer is greatest ever, says Anand |work=Telegraphindia.com |date=January 16, 2009 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |location=Calcutta, India}}</ref> Serbian grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojević called Fischer, "A man without frontiers. He didn't divide the East and the West, he brought them together in their admiration of him."<ref name="Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland"/>

German grandmaster Karsten Müller wrote:<ref name="Müller 2009, p. 23"/>

<blockquote>Fischer, who had taken the highest crown almost singlehandedly from the mighty, almost invincible Soviet chess empire, shook the whole world, not only the chess world, to its core. He started a chess boom not only in the United States and in the Western hemisphere, but worldwide. Teaching chess or playing chess as a career had truly become a respectable profession. After Bobby, the game was simply not the same.</blockquote>

Fischer won the Chess Oscar (an award, started in 1967, given to the best chess player, determined through votes from chess media and leading players) for 1970, 1971, and 1972.

Fischer was a charter inductee into the US Chess Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. in 1985. After routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian in 1971, Fischer achieved a then-record Elo rating of 2785.<ref name="Informant14ratinglist"/><ref name="AllTimeRankings"/> After beating Spassky by the score 12½–8½ in their 1972 match, his rating dropped to 2780.<ref name="AllTimeRankings"/>

St. Louis philanthropist Rex Sinquefield offered a $64,000 ''Fischer Memorial Prize'' for any player who could win all nine of their games at the 2009 US Chess Championship. By the fifth day of the championship, all 24 participants became ineligible for the prize, having drawn or lost at least one game.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saintlouischessclub.org/ALL-PARTICIPANTS-AT-US-CHESS-CHAMPIONSHIP-NOW-OFFICIALLY-INELIGIBLE-FOR-FISCHER-PRIZE.html |title=All participants at U.S. Chess Championship now officially ineligible for $64,000 Fischer memorial prize for a 'sweep' |publisher=saintlouischessclub.org |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

===Head-to-head record versus selected grandmasters===
(Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins −losses =draws.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com |title=chess games |work=chessgames.com |date=September 22, 2015 |accessdate=September 22, 2015}}</ref><br>
<small>''Players who have been World Champions in boldface''</small>
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* Pal Benko (US) +8−3=7
* '''[[Biography:Mikhail Botvinnik|Mikhail Botvinnik]]''' (USSR) +0−0=1
* David Bronstein (USSR) +0−0=2
* '''Max Euwe''' (Netherlands) +1−1=1
* Efim Geller (USSR) +3−5=2
* Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia) +7−4=8
* Paul Keres (USSR) +4−3=3
* Victor Korchnoi (USSR) +2−2=4
* Bent Larsen (Denmark) +9−2=1
* Miguel Najdorf (Argentina) +4−1=4
* '''Tigran Petrosian''' (USSR) +8−4=15
* Lev Polugaevsky (USSR) +0−0=1
* Samuel Reshevsky (US) +9−4=13
* '''Vasily Smyslov''' (USSR) +3−1=5
* '''Boris Spassky''' (USSR) +17−11=28
* Mark Taimanov (USSR) +7−0=1
* '''Mikhail Tal''' (USSR) +2−4=5
{{div col end}}

===Internet Bobby Fischer theory===
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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Allerson|first=Andrew |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1339982/Bobby-Fischer-takes-on-all-comers-in-cyberspace.html |title=Bobby Fischer takes on all comers – in cyberspace |publisher=''The Telegraph'' |date=September 9, 2001 |accessdate=January 29, 2014 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-third-coming-of-bobby-fischer- |title=The third coming of Bobby Fischer? |publisher=chessbase.com |date=September 18, 2001 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> Subsequently others claimed to have played Fischer as well.<ref>{{cite web |last=Shabazz|first=Daaim |url=http://www.thechessdrum.net/blog/2008/02/24/did-ro-mitchell-meet-bobby-fischer/ |title=Did R.O. Mitchell meet Bobby Fischer? |publisher=thechessdrum.net |date=February 24, 2008 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>
Fischer denied ownership of the account.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chess960frc.blogspot.com/2013/12/fischer-and-wild-variant-22.html|title=Chess960 (FRC): Fischer and 'Wild Variant 22'|website=chess960frc.blogspot.com|access-date=June 14, 2016}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* The musical ''Chess'', with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, tells the story of two chess champions. The musical is loosely based on the 1972 World Championship match between Fischer and Spassky, and in later stage productions the American player is named "Freddie Trumper", a reference to Fischer.<ref>William Hartston, ''Chess: The Making of the Musical'', Pavilion Books, 1986, p. 10. {{ISBN|1-85145-006-8}}.</ref>
* 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 [[Social:Catchphrase|catchphrase]]s in Russian culture.<ref>{{cite web |last=Zhaskyran|first=Musin |url=http://www.kulichki.com/vv/ovys/articles/0018.html |title=Chess Problems (about chess songs of Vladimir Vysotsky) |date=January 2001 |accessdate=January 29, 2014|language=ru}}</ref>
* 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".<ref>{{cite web|title=Spartan Cheerleaders at a Chess Tournament|url=http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/spartan-cheerleaders-at-a-chess-tournament/3505907?snl=1|website=nbc.com|accessdate=September 20, 2017}}</ref>
*In episode 6 of season 3 of Drunk History, titled 'Games', comedian and author Rich Fulcher retold the story of the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Fischer and Spassky. In the episode, Tarran Killam plays Fischer, and Jake Johnson plays Spassky.

===In film===
* The 1993 film ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'' uses Fischer's name in the title, even though the film is about the life of chess prodigy Joshua Waitzkin.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert|first=Roger |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19930811/REVIEWS/308110301/1023 |title=Searching for Bobby Fischer review |publisher=''Chicago Sun-Times'' |date=August 11, 1993 |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> Outside of the United States, it was released as ''Innocent Moves''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108065/releaseinfo#akas |title=Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) |publisher=imdb.com |accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref> The title refers to the search for Fischer's successor after his disappearance from competitive chess. The author feels that his son could be that successor. Fischer never saw the film and complained bitterly that it was an invasion of his privacy by using his name without his permission.<ref>"Bobby was indignant and then irate when he heard about it, proclaiming the film a misrepresentation of his name and, therefore, an invasion of his privacy". Brady 2011, p. 267.</ref> Fischer never received any compensation from the film, calling it "a monumental swindle".<ref>"Bobby Fischer Moves to a Satisfying Peace," ''Chicago Sun-Times'', September 26, 1993. Quoted in Brady 2011, p. 268.</ref>
* In April 2009, the film ''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, was 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''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1407053/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1|title=Bobby Fischer Live (2009)|author=ppantazis|date=October 1, 2009|work=imdb|accessdate=August 5, 2015}}</ref> was released, with Damien Chapa directing and starring as Fischer.
* In 2011, documentary film-maker Liz Garbus released ''Bobby Fischer Against the World'', which explores the life of Fischer, with interviews from Garry Kasparov, Anthony Saidy, and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14013115|title=Bobby Fischer: Chess's beguiling eccentric genius|first=David|last=Edmonds|publisher=BBC News|date=July 4, 2011|accessdate=January 4, 2016}}</ref>
* On September 16, 2015 the American biographical film ''Pawn Sacrifice'' was released, starring [[Biography:Tobey Maguire|Tobey Maguire]] as Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596345/?ref_=nv_sr_1|title=Pawn Sacrifice|publisher=The Internet Movie Database|accessdate=September 16, 2015}}</ref>

==Writings==
* ''Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess'' (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1959). {{ISBN|0-923891-46-3}}. An early collection of 34 lightly annotated games, including "The Game of the Century" against Donald Byrne.
* "A Bust to the King's Gambit" (''American Chess Quarterly'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (Summer 1961), pp.&nbsp;3–9).
* "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess" (''Sports Illustrated'' magazine, August 20, 1962). This is the controversial article in which Fischer asserted that several of the Soviet players in the 1962 Curaçao Candidates' tournament had colluded with one another to prevent him [Fischer] from winning the tournament.
* "The Ten Greatest Masters in History" (''Chessworld'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (January–February 1964), pp.&nbsp;56–61). An article in which Fischer named Paul Morphy, Howard Staunton, Wilhelm Steinitz, Siegbert Tarrasch, Mikhail Chigorin, Alexander Alekhine, José Raúl Capablanca, Boris Spassky, Mikhail Tal, and Samuel Reshevsky as the greatest players of all time. Fischer's criteria for inclusion on his list was his own subjective appreciation of their games rather than their achievements.<ref>Brady 1973, p. 78.</ref>
* ''Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess'' (1966), co-written with Donn Mosenfelder and Stuart Margulies.<ref>Bantam Books, May 1972, {{ISBN|0-553-26315-3}}.</ref> The extent of Fischer's contribution has been questioned.<ref>Soltis writes that Fischer "contributed some ideas, but chiefly his name, to ''Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess''". Soltis 2003, p. 10.</ref>
* "Checkmate" column from December 1966 to December 1969 in ''Boys' Life'', later assumed by Larry Evans.
* ''My 60 Memorable Games'' (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1969, and Faber and Faber, London, 1969; Batsford 2008 (algebraic notation)). Studied by Kasparov at a young age;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2011/03/10/bobby-fischer-defense/?pagination=false|title=The Bobby Fischer Defense|first=Gary|last=Kasparov|publisher=The New York Review of Books|date=March 10, 2011|accessdate=January 4, 2016}}</ref> "A classic of painstaking and objective analysis that modestly includes three of his losses."<ref>Hooper & Whyld 1992, pp. 138–39.</ref>
* ''I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!'' (1982) a self-published "essay in a fourteen-page booklet" on Fischer's time in a Pasadena jail—he was "booked for vagrancy".<ref>Brady 2011, pp. 227–28.</ref>

==Tournament, match, and team event summaries==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Tournament record<ref name="Müller 2009, pp. 399-400"/><ref>Verwer 2010, pp. 116–18.</ref>
|-
!Year!!width="200px"|Tournament!!Location!!Wins!!Draws!!Losses!!Points!!Games!!Ranking!!Players!!Percentage
|-
|1955||US Amateur Championship|| Lake Mohegan || ? || ? || ? || ≤ 3 || 6 || below 32nd<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 92</ref>||75||≤ 50%
|-
|1955||US Junior Championship||Lincoln||2||6||2||5||10 || 20th||25||50%
|-
|1955||Washington Square Park||New York||?||?||?||5||8 || 15th||60||56%
|-
|1956||Greater New York City Open||Manhattan||5<ref name=GNYO/>||0<ref name=GNYO/>||2<ref name=GNYO>[http://www.atomicpatzer.com/acn/ACN-AprilSept2010.pdf Atlantic Chess News] Sept 2010</ref>||5||7 || 5th-7th||52||71%
|-
|1956||Manhattan Chess Club Championship 'A'-Reserves ||New York||?||?||?||7.5 ||10 || 1st-2nd<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 97</ref> || 11 || 75%
|-
|1956||Metropolitan League<br/> (team event)||New York||4||1||0||4.5||5 || colspan=2|Manhattan 'A'-Reserves<br/>Team top scorer<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 98</ref> ||90%
|-
|1956||US Amateur Championship||Asbury Park||3||2||1||4||6 || 21st||88||67%
|-
|1956||US Junior Championship||Philadelphia||8||1||1||8.5||10 || 1st ||28||85%
|-
|1956||US Open||Oklahoma City||5||7||0||8.5||12 || 4th–8th||102||71%
|-
|1956||Canadian Open||Montreal||6||2||2||7||10 || 8th–12th||88||70%
|-
|1956||Rosenwald Trophy||New York||2||5||4||4.5||11 || 8th–10th||12||41%
|-
|1956||Eastern States Open||Washington, D.C.||4||3||0||5.5||7 || 2nd–5th||56 ||79%
|-
|1956||Manhattan Chess Club Championship semifinals||New York||2||1||2||2.5||5 || 4th||6||50%
|-
|1957||Log Cabin Open||West Orange||4||0||2||4||6 || 6th-14th||61||67%
|-
|1957||Log Cabin 50–50||West Orange||3||2||0||4||5 || colspan=2|unknown ||80%
|-
|1957||Metropolitan League<br/> (team event)||New York||5||0||0||5||5 || colspan=2| Manhattan team, Fischer<br/> played at board 7.<ref>Wade & O'Connell 1972, p. 122</ref> ||100%
|-
|1957||New Western Open||Milwaukee||5||2||1||6||8 || 6th–12th||122 ||75%
|-
|1957||US Junior Championship||San Francisco||8||1||0||8.5||9 || 1st||33 ||94%
|-
|1957||US Open||Cleveland||7<ref>Fischer won first game on forfeit.</ref>||4||0||9||11 ||1st|| 176||82%<ref>Includes one forfeit: 9/11</ref>
|-
|1957||New Jersey State Open||East Orange||6||1||0||6.5||7 || 1st||81 ||93%
|-
|1957||North Central Open||Milwaukee||4||2||1||5||7 || 5th–11th||93 ||71%
|-
|1957||US Championship||New York||8||5||0||10.5||13 || 1st||14||81%
|-
|1958||Interzonal||Portorož||6||12||2||12||20 || 5th–6th||21||60%
|-
|1958||US Championship||New York||6||5||0||8.5||11 || 1st||12||77%
|-
|1959||Mar del Plata|| ||8||4||1||10||13 || 3rd–4th||14||71%
|-
|1959||Santiago|| ||7||1||4||7.5||12 || 4th–7th||13||63%
|-
|1959||Zürich International||Zürich ||8||5||2||10.5||15 || 3rd–4th||16||70%
|-
|1959||Candidates||Bled, Zagreb<br/> & Belgrade||8||9||11||12.5||28 || 5th–6th||8||45%
|-
|1959||US Championship||New York||7||4||0||9||11 || 1st||12||82%
|-
|1960||Mar del Plata|| ||13||1||1||13.5||15 || 1st–2nd||16||90%
|-
|1960||Buenos Aires International||Buenos Aires ||3||11||5||8.5||19 || 13th–16th||20||45%
|-
|1960||Reykjavík|| ||3||1||0||3.5||4 || 1st||3||88%
|-
|1960||US Championship||New York||7||4||0||9||11 || 1st||12||82%
|-
|1961||Bled|| ||8||11||0||15||19 || 2nd||20||71%
|-
|1962||Interzonal||Stockholm ||13||9||0||17.5||22 || 1st||23||80%
|-
|1962||Candidates||Curaçao ||8||12||7||14||27 || 4th||8||52%
|-
|1962||US Championship||New York||6||4||1||8||11 || 1st||12||73%
|-
|1963||Western Open||Bay City||7||1||0||7.5|| 8 || 1st|| 161<ref>''Chess Life'', 1963, p. 196-199.</ref> ||94%
|-
|1963||New York State Open||Poughkeepsie||7||0||0||7||7 || 1st||57 ||100%
|-
|1963||US Championship||New York||11||0|||0|||11||11 || 1st||12||100%
|-
|1965||Capablanca Memorial||Havana||12||6||3||15||21 ||  2nd–4th||22||71%
|-
|1965||US Championship||New York||8||1||2||8.5||11 ||  1st||12||77%
|-
|1966||Piatigorsky Cup||Santa Monica||7||8||3||11||18 || 2nd||10||61%
|-
|1966||US Championship||New York||8||3||0||9.5||11 || 1st||12||86%
|-
|1967||Monaco|| ||6||2||1||7||9 || 1st||10||78%
|-
|1967||Skopje|| ||12||3||2||13.5||17 || 1st||18||79%
|-
|1967||Interzonal||Sousse ||7||3||0||8.5||10 || withdrew||22 ||85%
|-
|1968||Netanya|| ||10||3||0||10.5||13 || 1st||14||88%
|-
|1968||Vinkovci|| ||9||4||0||11||13 || 1st||14||85%
|-
|1968||Metropolitan League<br/> (team event)||New York||1||0||0||1||1 || colspan=2|Manhattan team, Fischer<br/>played only one game. ||100%
|-
|1970||Blitz (5-minute games)|| Herceg Novi ||17||4||1||19||22 || 1st||12||86%
|-
|1970||Tournament of peace ||Rovinj/Zagreb ||10||6||1||13||17 || 1st||18||76%
|-
|1970||Buenos Aires International||Buenos Aires ||13||4||0||15||17 || 1st||18||88%
|-
|1970||Interzonal||Palma de Mallorca ||15<ref name=IZ70>includes one game where opponent refused to play and resigned on the first move</ref>||7||1||18.5||23<ref name=IZ70/> || 1st||24||80%<ref>Includes one forfeit: 18.5/23</ref>
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Match record<ref>Verwer 2010, p. 118.</ref><ref>Wade & O'Connell ''BFCG'' Doubleday 1972, p. 11.</ref><ref>Müller 2009, p. 400.</ref>
|-
!Year!!Opponent!!Location!!Tournament!!Wins!!Draws!!Losses!!Result!!Percentage
|-
|1957||Max Euwe||New York||match||0||1||1||lost||25%
|-
|1957||Dan Jacobo Beninson||New York||training match||?||?||?||won||70%<ref>Donaldson & Tangborn 1999, pp. 51–52.</ref>
|-
|1957||Rodolfo Tan Cardoso||New York||match||5||2||1||won||75%
|-
|1958||Dragoljub Janošević||Belgrade||training match||0||2||0||tied||50%
|-
|1958||Milan Matulović||Belgrade||match||2||1||1||won||63%
|-
|1961||Samuel Reshevsky||New York & Los Angeles||match||2||7||2||unfinished||50%
|-
|1971||Mark Taimanov||Vancouver||Candidates||6||0||0||won||100%
|-
|1971||Bent Larsen||Denver||Candidates||6||0||0||won||100%
|-
|1971||Tigran Petrosian||Buenos Aires||Candidates||5||3||1||won||72%
|-
|1972||Boris Spassky||Reykjavík||World Championship||7||11||3<ref>Fischer lost second game on forfeit</ref>||won||60%<ref>Includes one forfeit : 12.5/21</ref>/63%<ref>Only played games counted: 12.5/20</ref>
|-
|1992||Boris Spassky||Sveti Stefan & Belgrade||match||10||15||5||won||58%<ref>Includes all games</ref>/67%<ref>Only decisive games counted; percentage = won ÷ (won+lost).</ref>
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+International Team events<ref>Verwer 2010, p. 116.</ref>
|-
!Year!!Event!!Location!!Wins!!Draws!!Losses!!Opponent!!Board!!Individual<br/> ranking!!Team<br/> ranking!!Individual <br/>percentage
|-
|1960||14th Olympiad||Leipzig||10||6||2||various||1||Bronze||Silver||72%
|-
|1962||15th Olympiad||Varna||8||6||3||various||1||Eighth||Fourth||65%
|-
|1962||Poland vs USA Match||[[Place:Warsaw|Warsaw]]||1||0||0||Bogdan Sliwa||1||Game won||Team won||100%
|-
|1966||17th Olympiad||Havana||14||2||1||various||1||Silver||Silver||88%
|-
|1970||USSR vs. World Match||Belgrade||2||2||0||Tigran Petrosian||2|| best world<br/> team result||Team lost||75%
|-
|1970||19th Olympiad||Siegen||8||4||1||various||1||Silver||Fourth||77%
|}

==Notable games==
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008361 Donald Byrne vs. Fischer, New York 1956, Grünfeld, 5.Bf4 (D92), 0–1] 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."<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 213.</ref> It was dubbed "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch in ''Chess Review''.<ref>''Chess Review'', December 1956, p. 374.</ref>
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044007 Svetozar Gligoric vs. Fischer, Bled 1961, King's Indian Defense: Orthodox Variation. Classical System Misc. Lines (E98), ½–½] "A genuine drawn masterpiece" according to Garry Kasparov.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 281</ref> Andrew Soltis rated it as one of "The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century".<ref>''The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked'', 2006, McFarland & Company, {{ISBN|0-7864-2741-8}}</ref>
{{Chess diagram small
 |tright 
 | 
 |rd|  |bd|  |  |rd|kd|
 |  |pd|  |qd|  |  |  |
 |pd|  |  |nl|  |  |pd|pd
 |  |  |pd|pl|  |  |  |
 |  |  |pl|bd|nl|  |  |
 |  |  |  |ql|  |pl|nd|
 |pl|pl|  |  |bl|  |kl|pl
 |rl|  |  |  |  |rl|  |
 |Position after 22...Nxg3
}}
{{block indent |1=1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.exf5 Nxf5 12.f3 Nf6 13.Nf2 Nd4 14.Nfe4 Nh5 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.g3 h6 17.Be3 c5 18.Bxd4 exd4 19.Nb5 a6 20.Nbxd6 d3 21.Qxd3 Bd4+ 22.Kg2 Nxg3 (''diagram'') 23.Nxc8 Nxf1 24.Nb6 Qc7 25.Rxf1 Qxb6 26.b4 Qxb4 27.Rb1 Qa5 28.Nxc5 Qxc5 29.Qxg6+ Bg7 30.Rxb7 Qd4 31.Bd3 Rf4 32.Qe6+ Kh8 33.Qg6 {{chessAN|½–½}} }}
{{clear right}}

*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008419 Robert Byrne vs. Fischer, 1963–64 US Championship, Neo-Grünfeld, 0–1] [http://www.lifemasteraj.com/old_af-dl/byrfisrpg0.html annotated] From an almost symmetrical position, Fischer beats a strong grandmaster in {{chessgloss|miniature|just 21 moves}}—"a game that was immediately recognized as an all-time classic".<ref>Brady 1973, p. 74.</ref>
{{Chess diagram small
 |tright 
 | 
 |rd|  |  |qd|rd|  |kd|
 |pd|  |  |  |  |pd|bd|pd
 |bd|pd|  |  |  |  |pd|
 |  |  |  |pd|  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |bl|pl|nl|  |nd|  |pl|
 |pl|  |  |ql|nl|  |bl|pl
 |rl|  |  |rl|  |  |kl|
 |Position after 18.Qd2
}} 
{{block indent |1=1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.e3 0-0 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.0-0 b6 10.b3 Ba6 11.Ba3 Re8 12.Qd2 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Rfd1 Nd3 15.Qc2 Nxf2 16.Kxf2 Ng4+ 17.Kg1 Nxe3 18.Qd2 (''diagram'') Nxg2 19.Kxg2 d4 20.Nxd4 Bb7+ 21.Kf1 Qd7 {{chessAN|0–1}} }}
{{clear right}}

*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044361 Fischer vs. Mark Taimanov, Vancouver Candidates Final 1971, 4th match game, Sicilian Defense: Paulsen. Bastrikov Variation (B47), 1–0] Fischer's patient and accurate handling of bishop vs. knight, first in the rook and minor piece endgame, and then after rooks were exchanged, has become a staple of endgame instructional literature.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Kopec, IM | first1=Dr. Danny | last2=Kostovetsky | first2=Daniel | date=March 2014 | title=The Fischer Ending | journal=Chess Life | pages=39–43}}</ref> 
{{Chess diagram small
 |tright
 |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |rd
 |  |pd|  |kd|  |pd|pd|
 |pd|  |  |  |  |nd|  |pd
 |  |  |pd|  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |rl|pl|  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |pl|
 |pl|pl|pl|  |  |  |bl|pl
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |kl|
 |Position after 23...Kxd7
}}
{{block indent |1=1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e6 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0-0 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Bc5 10.Bf4 d6 11.Qd2 h6 12.Rad1 e5 13.Be3 Bg4 14.Bxc5 dxc5 15.f3 Be6 16.f4 Rd8 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 e4 19.Rfe1 Rxd5 20.Rxe4+ Kd8 21.Qe2 Rxd1+ 22.Qxd1+ Qd7 23.Qxd7+ Kxd7 (''diagram'') 24.Re5 b6 25.Bf1 a5 26.Bc4 Rf8 27.Kg2 Kd6 28.Kf3 Nd7 29.Re3 Nb8 30.Rd3+ Kc7 31.c3 Nc6 32.Re3 Kd6 33.a4 Ne7 34.h3 Nc6 35.h4 h5 36.Rd3+ Kc7 37.Rd5 f5 38.Rd2 Rf6 39.Re2 Kd7 40.Re3 g6 41.Bb5 Rd6 42.Ke2 Kd8 43.Rd3 Kc7 44.Rxd6 Kxd6 45.Kd3 Ne7 46.Be8 Kd5 47.Bf7+ Kd6 48.Kc4 Kc6 49.Be8+ Kb7 50.Kb5 Nc8 51.Bc6+ Kc7 52.Bd5 Ne7 53.Bf7 Kb7 54.Bb3 Ka7 55.Bd1 Kb7 56.Bf3+ Kc7 57.Ka6 Ng8 58.Bd5 Ne7 59.Bc4 Nc6 60.Bf7 Ne7 61.Be8 Kd8 62.Bxg6 Nxg6 63.Kxb6 Kd7 64.Kxc5 Ne7 65.b4 axb4 66.cxb4 Nc8 67.a5 Nd6 68.b5 Ne4+ 69.Kb6 Kc8 70.Kc6 Kb8 71.b6 {{chessAN|1–0}} }}
{{clear right}}

*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044351 Fischer vs. Tigran Petrosian, Buenos Aires Candidates Final 1971, 7th match game, Sicilian Defense: Kan. Modern Variation (B42), 1–0] This game includes "22.Nxd7+{{chesspunc|!!}}" which is "perhaps Fischer's most famous and instructive move and is still being cited today".<ref>"Annotating a Short–Svidler game from the 2002 Russia-World match, the magazine ''64'' commented that even a superbly placed Black knight on an open file will interfere with heavy pieces and therefore should be removed in 'the classic example of the seventh game of the Fischer–Petrosian match.{{'"}} Soltis 2003, p. 264.</ref>
{{Chess diagram small
 |tright 
 | 
 |rd|  |  |  |  |kd|  |
 |rd|  |  |bd|  |pd|pd|pd
 |pd|  |  |  |  |nd|  |
 |  |  |nl|pd|rl|  |  |
 |  |pl|  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |bl|  |pl|  |
 |pl|  |  |  |  |  |pl|pl
 |rl|  |  |  |  |  |kl|
 |Position after 21...Bd7
}} 
{{block indent |1=1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.0-0 d5 8.c4 Nf6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.exd5 exd5 11.Nc3 Be7 12.Qa4+ Qd7 13.Re1 Qxa4 14.Nxa4 Be6 15.Be3 0-0 16.Bc5 Rfe8 17.Bxe7 Rxe7 18.b4 Kf8 19.Nc5 Bc8 20.f3 Rea7 21.Re5 Bd7 (''diagram'') 22.Nxd7+ Rxd7 23.Rc1 Rd6 24.Rc7 Nd7 25.Re2 g6 26.Kf2 h5 27.f4 h4 28.Kf3 f5 29.Ke3 d4+ 30.Kd2 Nb6 31.Ree7 Nd5 32.Rf7+ Ke8 33.Rb7 Nxf4 34.Bc4 1–0 }}
{{clear right}}

*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044366 Fischer vs. Boris Spassky, World Chess Championship 1972, 6th match game, Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (D59), 1–0] Further analysis on the 1972 match page Fischer called this game his best of the match.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 438.</ref>
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128889 Boris Spassky vs. Fischer, World Chess Championship 1972, 13th match game, Alekhine Defense: Modern, Alburt Variation (B04), 0–1] Further analysis 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."<ref>Soltis 2003, p. 271.</ref>
*[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1129672 Fischer vs. Boris Spassky, 1992, 1st match game, Spanish Game: Morphy Defense. Breyer Defense Zaitsev Hybrid (C95), 1–0] Further analysis 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.<ref>Kasparov 2004, p. 488.</ref>

==See also==
*List of books and documentaries by or about Bobby Fischer

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book
|title=Fischer v. Spassky
|year=1972
|publisher=Vintage
|isbn=0-394-71830-5
}}
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|year=2006
|publisher=HarperCollins
|isbn=978-0-06-056256-4
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions
|year=2003
|publisher=Siles Press
|isbn=1-890085-08-1
}}
* {{cite book
|title=American Chess Masters from Morphy to Fischer
|year=1974
|publisher=Macmillan
|isbn=0-02-511050-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Böhm|first=Hans
|last2=Jongkind|first2=Kees
|title=Bobby Fischer: The Wandering King
|year=2003
|publisher=Batsford
|isbn=0-7134-8935-9
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Profile of a Prodigy
|year=1965
|edition=1st
|publisher=David McKay
|id=OCLC 2574422
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Brady|first=Frank
|title=Profile of a Prodigy
|year=1973
|edition=2nd
|publisher=David McKay
|id=OCLC 724113
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Brady
|first=Frank
|title=Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall – from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness
|publisher=Crown
|year=2011
|edition=1st
|isbn=0-307-46390-7}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Fürstenberg|first2=Tom
|title=The Sorcerer's Apprentice
|year=2009 |origyear=1995
|edition=2nd
|publisher=New in Chess
|isbn=978-90-5691-272-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Nei|first2=Ivo
|title=Both Sides of the Chessboard
|year=1974
|publisher=Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company
|isbn=0-8129-0379-X
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Byrne|first=Robert
|title=Anatoly Karpov: The Road to the World Chess Championship
|year=1976
|publisher=Bantam Books
|isbn=0-553-02876-6
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Candidates Matches 1971
|year=1972
|publisher=The Chess Player
|asin=B0007APXZK
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*{{Cite book
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|year=1995 
|publisher=Dover 
|isbn=0-486-28674-6 
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Chess Digest
|title=Bobby Fischer: His Games and His Openings 1969 through 1971
|year=1971
|publisher=Chess Digest
}}
* {{cite book
|title=My Seven Chess Prodigies
|year=1974
|publisher=Simon and Schuster
|isbn=0-671-21941-3
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Bobby Fischer vs. the Rest of the World
|year=1974
|publisher=Stein & Day
|isbn=0-8128-1618-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last=DeLucia|first=David
|title=David DeLucia's Chess Library: A Few Old Friends
|year=2007 |origyear=1997
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|ref = {{sfnRef|DeLucia|2007}}
}}
* {{cite book
|last=DeLucia|first=David
|last2=DeLucia|first2=Alessandra
|title=Bobby Fischer Uncensored
|year=2009
|ref = {{sfnRef|DeLucia|2009}}
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories
|year=1995
|publisher=Hypermodern Press
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Di Felice|first=Gino
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|year=2010
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|isbn=0-7864-4803-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Di Felice|first=Gino
|title=Chess Results, 1961–1963: A Comprehensive Record with 938 Tournament Crosstables and 108 Match Scores, with Sources
|year=2013a
|publisher=McFarland
|isbn=0-7864-7572-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Di Felice|first=Gino
|title=Chess Results, 1964–1967: A Comprehensive Record with 1,204 Tournament Crosstables and 158 Match Scores, with Sources
|publisher=McFarland
|year=2013b
|isbn=0-7864-7573-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Di Felice|first=Gino
|title=Chess Results, 1968–1970: A Comprehensive Record with 854 Tournament Crosstables and 161 Match Scores, with Sources
|publisher=McFarland
|year=2013c
|isbn=0-7864-7574-9
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Di Felice|first=Gino
|title=Chess Results, 1971–1974: A Comprehensive Record with 966 Tournament Crosstables and 148 Match Scores, with Sources
|publisher=McFarland 
|year=2014
|isbn=1-4766-1891-7
}}
* {{cite book
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|year=1990
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}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Tangborn|first2=Eric
|title=The Unknown Bobby Fischer
|year=1999
|publisher=International Chess Enterprises
|isbn=1-879479-85-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Donaldson|first=John
|title=A Legend on the Road: Bobby Fischer's 1964 Simul Tour
|year=2005
|publisher=International Chess Enterprises
|isbn=1-888690-25-9
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The King: Chess Pieces
|year=2006
|publisher=New in Chess
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=Chess For Dummies
|year=2011 |origyear=1996
|edition=3rd
|publisher=For Dummies
|isbn=1-118-01695-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Eidinow|first2=John
|title=Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time
|year=2004
|publisher=HarperCollins
|isbn=978-0-06-051025-1
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Rating of Chess Players, Past and Present
|year=1978
|publisher=Batsford
|isbn=978-0-668-04721-0
}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Glaskov|first2=I.B.
|title=Play the King's Gambit, Volume 1: King's Gambit Accepted
|year=1982
|edition=1st
|publisher=Pergamon Press
|isbn=0-08-026872-2
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Bobby Fischer-The Greatest?
|year=1979
|publisher=Sterling Publishing Co.
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Fischer|first=Bobby
|title=Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess
|year=2008 |origyear=1959
|publisher=Simon and Schuster, Ishi Press
|isbn=978-0-923891-46-6
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Fischer|first=Bobby
|title=A Bust to the King's Gambit
|work=American Chess Quarterly
|date=Summer 1961
|pages=3–9
}}
*{{cite web
|url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/bust.pdf
|author=Fischer, Bobby
|title=A Bust to the King's Gambit
|year=1961
|format=PDF
|accessdate=November 8, 2009
|publisher=ChessCafe.com
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Fischer|first=Bobby
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|year=2008 |origyear=1969
|publisher=Simon and Schuster, Faber and Faber, Batsford
|isbn=1-906388-30-X
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Fischer|first=Bobby
|title=I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse!
|year=1982
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}}
* {{cite book
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|year=1992
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}}
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|title=The Sharpest Sicilian: A Black Repertoire with 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6
|year=2007
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=Greatest Ever Chess Endgames
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|date=2012
|page=68
|isbn=978-1-85744-694-4
}}
* {{cite magazine
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|pages=49–55
}}
* {{cite book
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|year=2012 |origyear=1972
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}}
* {{cite book
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|title=Play the Nimzo-Indian Defense
|year=1985
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Gligorić
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|year=2002
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* {{cite book
|title=Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess
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}}
* {{cite book
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|year=2003
|publisher=Gambit Publications
|isbn=978-1-901983-58-6
}}
* {{cite book
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|year=1967
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Kings of Chess
|year=1985
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}}
* {{cite book
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|year=1992 |origyear=1984
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=The World Chess Championship: A History
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* {{cite book
|last=Johnson|first=Daniel
|title=White King and Red Queen: How the Cold War Was Fought on the Chessboard
|year=2007
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Karpov|first=Anatoly
|title=Karpov on Karpov: Memoirs of a Chess World Champion
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=Second Piatigorsky Cup: International Grandmaster Tournament held in Santa Monica, California August 1966
|year=1977 |origyear=1968
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}}
* {{cite book
|title=Batsford Chess Openings 2
|year=1989
|publisher=Collier Books
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Kasparov|first=Garry
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|publisher=Gloucester Publishers
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}}
* {{cite book
|last=Kasparov|first=Garry
|title=My Great Predecessors, Volume V
|year=2006
|publisher=Gloucester Publishers
|isbn=1-85744-404-3
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Chess Advantage in Black and White
|year=2004
|publisher=David McKay
|isbn=0-8129-3571-3
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Kažić
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|year=1974
|title=International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events
|publisher=Pitman
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}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Zak|first2=Vladimir
|title=The King's Gambit
|year=1975
|publisher=Chess Digest
|isbn=
}}
* {{cite book
|title=How Fischer Plays Chess
|year=1975
|publisher=R.H.M. Press
|isbn=0-89058-011-1
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Linder|first=I.M.
|last2=Linder|first2=V.I.
|title=Dve zhizni Grossmeistera Alatortseva (The Two Lives of Grandmaster Alatortsev)
|year=1994
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Understanding Chess: My System, My Games, My Life
|year=2011
|publisher=Russell Enterprises
|isbn=978-1-936490-22-6
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Mayer|first=Steve
|title=Bishop versus Knight: The Verdict
|year=1997
|publisher=Batsford
|isbn=1-879479-73-7
}}
* {{cite book
|title=How to Beat Bobby Fischer
|year=1997 |origyear=1997
|edition=2nd
|publisher=Dover
|isbn=0-486-29844-2
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Fundamental Chess Endings
|year=2001
|publisher=Gambit Publications
|isbn=1-901983-53-6
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Müller|first=Karsten
|title=Bobby Fischer: The Career and Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion
|year=2009
|publisher=Russell Enterprises, Inc.
|isbn=978-1-888690-68-2
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Bobby Fischer Comes Home: The Final Years in Iceland, a Saga of Friendship and Lost Illusions
|year=2014
|publisher=New in Chess
|asin=B00IEOZ2N4
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Pachman's Decisive Games
|year=1975
|publisher=Pitman
|isbn=0-273-31812-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Pliester|first=Leon
|title=Rubinstein Complex of the Nimzo-Indian Defense
|year=1995
|publisher=International Chess Enterprises
|isbn=978-1-879479-25-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Plisetsky|first=Dmitry
|last2=Voronkov|first2=Sergey
|title=Russians versus Fischer
|edition=2nd
|year=2005
|publisher=Everyman Chess
|isbn=1-85744-380-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last3=Guéneau|first3=Christophe
|title=Sicilian Love: Lev Polugaevsky Chess Tournament, Buenos Aires 1994
|year=1995
|publisher=New in Chess
|isbn=90-71689-99-9
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Ponterotto|first=Joseph G.
|title=A Psychobiography of Bobby Fischer
|year=2012
|publisher=Charles C. Thomas
|isbn=978-0-398-08742-5
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Pozner|first=Vladmir
|title=Parting With Illusions
|year=1990
|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press
|isbn=0-87113-287-7
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Roberts|first=Richard
|title=Fischer/Spassky: The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century
|year=1972
|publisher=Bantam Books
|isbn=978-0-553-07667-7
}}
*{{cite book
|title=The World of Chess
|year=1974
|publisher=Random House
|isbn=0-394-48777-X
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Grandmasters of Chess
|year=1973
|publisher=J.B. Lippincott
|isbn=0-397-01004-4
}}
* {{cite book
|last2=Stefanovic|first2=George
|title=No Regrets: Fischer-Spassky 1992
|year=1992
|publisher=International Chess Enterprises
|isbn=1-879479-09-5
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Silman's Complete Endgame Course: From Beginner to Master
|year=2007
|publisher=Siles Press
|isbn=1-890085-10-3
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Sloan|first=Peter Julius Aravena
|last2=Aravena|first2=Anda
|title=NY Chess Since 1972: A Guide Book Of Places To Go And People You Will See Around NY Chess (Volume 1)
|year=2012
|publisher=CreateSpace
|isbn=1-4609-6141-2
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Book of Chess Lists
|year=1984
|edition=1st
|publisher=McFarland and Company
|isbn=0-89950-096-X
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Soltis|first=Andrew
|title=Chess Lists
|year=2002
|edition=2nd
|publisher=McFarland and Company
|isbn=0-7864-1296-8
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Soltis|first=Andrew
|title=Bobby Fischer Rediscovered
|year=2003
|publisher=Batsford
|isbn=0-7134-8846-8
}}
*{{cite book
|year=1976 |origyear=1970
|title=The Encyclopaedia of Chess
|edition=2nd
|publisher=St. Martin's Press
|isbn=978-0-7091-4697-1
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Fields of Force
|year=1974 |origyear=1973
|publisher=Viking
|isbn=978-0-670-31178-1
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Verwer|first=Renzo
|title=Bobby Fischer for Beginners
|year=2010
|publisher=New In Chess
|isbn=978-90-5691-315-1
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Bobby Fischer's Chess Games
|year=1973 |origyear=1972
|edition=2nd
|publisher=Doubleday
|isbn=0-385-08627-X
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Mortal Games: The Turbulent Genius of Garry Kasparov
|year=1993
|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons
|isbn=0-399-13827-7
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances since Nimzowitsch
|year=1998
|publisher=Gambit Publications
|isbn=1-901983-07-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Watson|first=John
|title=Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 1
|year=2006
|publisher=Gambit Publications
|isbn=978-1-904600-60-2
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Wilson|first=Fred
|title=A Picture History of Chess
|year=1981
|publisher=Dover
|isbn=0-486-23856-3
}}
* {{cite book
|title=World Chess Champions
|year=1981
|publisher=Pergamon
|isbn=0-08-024117-4
}}
* {{cite web
|last=Winter|first=Edward
|year=1993
|title=''Instant Fischer''
|url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/instant.html
|publisher=chesshistory.com
|accessdate=June 24, 2009
}}
* {{cite web
|last=Winter|first=Edward
|year=2009
|title=''Chess Note'' 6189. ''Bobby Fischer Uncensored''
|url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter59.html
|publisher=chesshistory.com
|accessdate=January 20, 2014
}}
* {{cite book
|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess
|year=2001 |origyear=1997
|edition=2nd
|publisher=Macmillan
|asin=B00AR16QPU
}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
|last=Agur|first=Elie
|title=Bobby Fischer: A Study of His Approach to Chess
|year=1992
|publisher=Cadogan
|isbn=1-85744-001-3
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Dautov|first=Petra
|title=Bobby Fischer&nbsp;– wie er wirklich ist: Ein Jahr mit dem Schachgenie
|year=1995
|publisher=P. Dautov California-Verlag
|isbn=3-9804281-3-3
}}
* {{cite book
|title=Chessbase Monograph: World Champion Fischer
|year=2008
|publisher=Chessbase
|asin=B007J8Z8E4
}}
* {{cite book
|last=Verwer|first=Renzo
|title=World Chess Champions
|year=2010
|publisher=New in Chess
|isbn=978-90-5691-315-1
}}

==External links==
* {{chessgames player|19233}}
* [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fischerkasparov.html A list of books about Fischer and Kasparov] compiled by Edward Winter
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080121125138/http://www.fischer.jp/ Archive of Fischer's personal homepage]
* [http://bobbyfischerpage.tripod.com/ Bobby Fischer Live Radio Interviews (1999–2006)]
* [http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFischer-photos/index.html Extensive collection of Fischer photographs, Echecs-photos online]
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200212/chun/ "Bobby Fischer's Pathetic Endgame"], Rene Chun, The Atlantic, December 2002

{{S-start}}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{Succession box
 | before= Boris Spassky
 | title= World Chess Champion
 | years= 1972–1975
 | after= Anatoly Karpov
}}
{{Succession box
 | before=Arthur Bisguier
 | title=United States Chess Champion
 | years=1958–1960
 | after=Larry Evans
}}
{{Succession box
 | before=Larry Evans
 | title=United States Chess Champion
 | years=1962–1966
 | after=Larry Evans
}}
{{s-ach|ach}}
{{Succession box
 |before = None
 |after = Anatoly Karpov
 |title = FIDE world No. 1
 |years = July 1, 1971 – December 31, 1975
|}}
{{succession box
 |before= Boris Spassky
 |title= Youngest chess grandmaster ever
 |years= 1958–1991
 |after= Judit Polgár
}}
{{S-end}}


{{Historical revisionism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Bobby}}
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Bobby Fischer|1}}