- Wikipedia

{"parse":{"title":"Bobby Fischer","pageid":2073557,"text":{"*":"

For the English footballer, see Bobby Fisher (footballer). For other people with similar names, see Bob Fischer and Bob Fisher.

\n\n\n\n

Bobby Fischer
Fischer in 1972
Full name	Robert James Fischer
Country	United States
Born	(1943-03-09)March 9, 1943 Chicago, Illinois, US
Died	January 17, 2008(2008-01-17) (aged 64) Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland
Title	Grandmaster (1958)
World Champion	1972\u20131975
Peak rating	2785 (July 1972)^[1]
Peak ranking	No. 1 (July 1971)

Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 11\u20130 score, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Qualifying for the 1972 World Championship, Fischer swept matches with Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen by 6\u20130 scores. After winning another qualifying match against Tigran Petrosian, Fischer won the title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the US and USSR, the match attracted more worldwide interest than any chess championship before or since.\n

In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with FIDE, chess's international governing body, over the match conditions. Consequently, the Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov was named World Champion by default. Fischer subsequently disappeared from the public eye, though occasional reports of erratic behavior emerged. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held in Yugoslavia, which was under a 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 executive order imposing US sanctions on Yugoslavia. The US government ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest; subsequently, Fischer lived as an \u00e9migr\u00e9. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that the US government had revoked. Eventually, he was granted Icelandic citizenship by a special act of the Icelandic parliament, allowing him to live there until his death in 2008.\n

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

Fischer made numerous antisemitic statements, including Holocaust denial, despite his Jewish ancestry. His antisemitism was a major theme in his public and private remarks, and there has been speculation concerning his psychological condition based on his extreme views and eccentric behavior.\n

\n\n

US Champ.\n	Score\n	Place\n	Margin of victory\n	Percentage\n	Age\n
1957/58	10\u00bd/13 (+8\u22120=5)^[136]	First	1 point	81%	14\n
1958/59	8\u00bd/11 (+6\u22120=5)^[137]	First	1 point	77%	15\n
1959/60	9/11 (+7\u22120=4)^[138]	First	1 point	82%	16\n
1960/61	9/11 (+7\u22120=4)^[139]	First	2 points	82%	17\n
1962/63	8/11 (+6\u22121=4)^[140]	First	1 point	73%	19\n
1963/64	11/11 (+11\u22120=0)^[141]	First	3\u00bd points	100%	20\n
1965^[142]	8\u00bd/11 (+8\u22122=1)^[143]	First	1 point	77%	22\n
1966/67	9\u00bd/11 (+8\u22120=3)^[144]	First	2 points	86%	23\n

Olympiad\n	Individual result\n	Percentage\n	US team result\n	Percentage^[150]\n
Leipzig 1960	13/18^[151] (Bronze)	72.2%	Silver	72.5%\n
Varna 1962	11/17^[152] (Eighth)	64.7%	Fourth	68.1%\n
Havana 1966	15/17^[153] (Silver)	88.2%	Silver	68.4%\n
Siegen 1970	10/13^[154] (Silver)	76.9%	Fourth	67.8%\n

Year	Tournament	Location	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Games	Ranking	Players	%\n
1955	US Amateur Championship	Mohegan Lake, New York	unknown (6 games)	\u2264 3	6	below 32nd^[584]	75	\u2264 50%\n
US Junior Championship	Lincoln, Nebraska	2	6	2	5	10	11th\u201321st (20th on tie-break)	25	50%\n
Washington Square Park	New York	unknown (8 games)	5	8	15th	66^[585]	56%\n
1956	Greater New York City Open^[586]	Manhattan	5	0	2	5	7	5th\u20137th	52	71%\n
Manhattan Chess Club Tournament 'A'-Reserves	New York	unknown (10 games)	7\u00bd	10	1st\u20132nd^[587]	6^[588]	75%\n
Metropolitan League (team event)	New York	4	1	0	4\u00bd	5	Manhattan 'A'-Reserves Team top scorer^[589]	90%\n
US Amateur Championship	Asbury Park, New Jersey	3	2	1	4	6	21st	88	67%\n
US Junior Championship	Philadelphia	8	1	1	8\u00bd	10	1st	28	85%\n
US Open	Oklahoma City	5	7	0	8\u00bd	12	4th\u20138th	102	71%\n
Canadian Open	Montreal	6	2	2	7	10	8th\u201312th	88	70%\n
Rosenwald Trophy	New York	2	5	4	4\u00bd	11	8th\u201310th	12	41%\n
Eastern States Open	Washington, D.C.	4	3	0	5\u00bd	7	2nd\u20135th	56	79%\n
Manhattan Chess Club Championship semifinals	New York	2	1	2	2\u00bd	5	4th	6	50%\n
1957	Log Cabin Open	West Orange, New Jersey	4	0	2	4	6	6th\u201314th	61	67%\n
Log Cabin 50\u201350, fast chess	West Orange	3	2	0	4	5	unknown	80%\n
Metropolitan League (team event)	New York	5	0	0	5	5	Manhattan team, Fischer played at board 7.^[590]	100%\n
New Western Open	Milwaukee	5	2	1	6	8	6th\u201312th	122	75%\n
US Junior Championship	San Francisco	8	1	0	8\u00bd	9	1st	33	94%\n
US Open	Cleveland^[591]	7/ 8^[592]	4	0	9/ 10	11/ 12^[592]	1st (on tie-break)	176	82%/ 83%^[592]\n
New Jersey State Open	East Orange	6	1	0	6\u00bd	7	1st	81	93%\n
North Central Open	Milwaukee	4	2	1	5	7	5th\u201311th	93	71%\n
US Championship	New York	8	5	0	10\u00bd	13	1st	14	81%\n
1958	Interzonal	Portoro\u017e	6	12	2	12	20	5th\u20136th	21	60%\n
1958	US Championship	New York	6	5	0	8\u00bd	11	1st	12	77%\n
1959	Mar del Plata International	Mar del Plata	8	4	1	10	13	3rd\u20134th	14	71%\n
International	Santiago	7	1	4	7\u00bd	12	4th\u20137th	13	63%\n
Z\u00fcrich International	Z\u00fcrich	8	5	2	10\u00bd	15	3rd\u20134th	16	70%\n
Candidates	Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade	8	9	11	12\u00bd	28	5th\u20136th	8	45%\n
US Championship	New York	7	4	0	9	11	1st	12	82%\n
1960	Mar del Plata International	Mar del Plata	13	1	1	13\u00bd	15	1st\u20132nd	16	90%\n
Buenos Aires International	Buenos Aires	3	11	5	8\u00bd	19	13th\u201316th	20	45%\n
3-player double round-robin	Reykjav\u00edk	3	1	0	3\u00bd	4	1st	3	88%\n
US Championship	New York	7	4	0	9	11	1st	12	82%\n
1961	\"Tournament of the century\"	Bled	8	11	0	15	19	2nd	20	71%\n
1962	Interzonal	Stockholm	13	9	0	17\u00bd	22	1st	23	80%\n
Candidates	Cura\u00e7ao	8	12	7	14	27	4th	8	52%\n
US Championship	New York	6	4	1	8	11	1st	12	73%\n
1963	Western Open	Bay City, Michigan	7	1	0	7\u00bd	8	1st	161^[593]	94%\n
New York State Open	Poughkeepsie	7	0	0	7	7	1st	57	100%\n
US Championship	New York	11	0	0	11	11	1st	12	100%\n
1965	Capablanca Memorial	Havana	12	6	3	15	21	2nd\u20134th	22	71%\n
1965	US Championship	New York	8	1	2	8\u00bd	11	1st	12	77%\n
1966	Piatigorsky Cup	Santa Monica	7	8	3	11	18	2nd	10	61%\n
1966	US Championship	New York	8	3	0	9\u00bd	11	1st	12	86%\n
1967	Monaco International	Monte Carlo	6	2	1	7	9	1st	10	78%\n
International	Skopje	12	3	2	13\u00bd	17	1st	18	79%\n
Interzonal	Sousse	7	3	0	8\u00bd	10	withdrew	22	85%\n
1968	International	Netanya	10	3	0	11\u00bd	13	1st	14	88%\n
International	Vinkovci	9	4	0	11	13	1st	14	85%\n
Metropolitan League (team event)	New York	1	0	0	1	1	Manhattan team, Fischer played only one game.	100%\n
1970	Blitz (5-minute games)	Herceg Novi	17	4	1	19	22	1st	12	86%\n
Tournament of Peace	Rovinj & Zagreb	10	6	1	13	17	1st	18	76%\n
Buenos Aires International	Buenos Aires	13	4	0	15	17	1st	18	88%\n
Interzonal	Palma de Mallorca^[594]	15	7	1	18\u00bd	23	1st	24	80%\n
1971	Manhattan CC Blitz^[595]	New York	21	1	0	21\u00bd	22	1st	12	98%\n

Year	Opponent	Location	Match	Wins	Draws	Losses	Result	Score	Percentage\n
1957	Max Euwe	New York	2-game exhibition match	0	1	1	lost	\u00bd\u20131\u00bd	25%\n
1957	Dan Jacobo Beninson	New York	5-game training match	2	3	0^[598]	won	3\u00bd\u20131\u00bd	70%^[599]\n
1957	Rodolfo Tan Cardoso	New York		5	2	1	won	6\u20132	75%\n
1958	Dragoljub Jano\u0161evi\u0107	Belgrade	2-game training match	0	2	0	tied	1\u20131	50%\n
1958	Milan Matulovi\u0107	Belgrade		2	1	1	won	2\u00bd\u20131\u00bd	63%\n
1961	Samuel Reshevsky	New York & Los Angeles	16-game match	2	7	2	unfinished	5\u00bd\u20135\u00bd	50%\n
1970	Tigran Petrosian	Belgrade	USSR vs. World Match	2	2	0	won	3\u20131	75%\n
1971	Mark Taimanov	Vancouver	Candidates quarterfinal	6	0	0	won	6\u20130	100%\n
Bent Larsen	Denver	Candidates semifinal	6	0	0	won	6\u20130	100%\n
Tigran Petrosian	Buenos Aires	Candidates final	5	3	1	won	6\u00bd\u20132\u00bd	72%\n
1972	Boris Spassky	Reykjav\u00edk	World Championship^[600]	7	11	3	won	12\u00bd\u20138\u00bd	60%^[601] /63%^[602]\n
1992	Svetozar Gligori\u0107	Sveti Stefan	training match^[603]	6	3	1	won	7\u00bd\u20132\u00bd	75%\n
Boris Spassky	Sveti Stefan & Belgrade	Unofficial rematch	10	15	5	won	10\u20135^[604]	58%^[605] /67%^[604]\n

Year	Event	Location	Board	Opponents	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Games	Individual ranking	Team ranking	Individual percentage\n
1960	14th Olympiad	Leipzig	1	various	10	6	2	13	18	Bronze	Silver	72%\n
1960	Berlin vs USA Match	Berlin	1	Klaus Darga^[606]	1	0	0	1	1	Game won	Team won	100% (1 game)\n
1962	Poland vs USA Match	Warsaw	1	Bogdan Sliwa	1	0	0	1	1	Game won	Team won\n
1962	15th Olympiad	Varna	1	various	8	6	3	11	17	Eighth	Fourth	65%\n
1966	17th Olympiad	Havana	1	various	14	2	1	15	17	Silver	Silver	88%\n
1970	USSR vs. World Match	Belgrade	2	Tigran Petrosian	2	2	0	3	4	best world team result	Team lost	75%\n
1970	19th Olympiad	Siegen	1	various	8	4	1	10	13	Silver	Fourth	77%\n

	h	g	f	e	d	c	b	a
1	$\"f1$ $\"a1$ $\"h2$ $\"g2$ $\"e2$ $\"b2$ $\"a2$ $\"g3$ $\"f3$ $\"d3$ $\"e4$ $\"d4$ $\"c4$ $\"d5$ $\"c5$ $\"h6$ $\"g6$ $\"d6$ $\"a6$ $\"d7$ $\"b7$ $\"g8$ $\"f8$ $\"c8$ $\"a8$	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
	h	g	f	e	d	c	b	a

	h	g	f	e	d	c	b	a
1	$\"g1$ $\"d1$ $\"a1$ $\"h2$ $\"g2$ $\"e2$ $\"d2$ $\"a2$ $\"g3$ $\"e3$ $\"c3$ $\"b3$ $\"a3$ $\"d5$ $\"g6$ $\"b6$ $\"a6$ $\"h7$ $\"g7$ $\"f7$ $\"a7$ $\"g8$ $\"e8$ $\"d8$ $\"a8$	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
	h	g	f	e	d	c	b	a

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	$\"h8$ $\"b7$ $\"d7$ $\"f7$ $\"g7$ $\"a6$ $\"f6$ $\"h6$ $\"c5$ $\"e4$ $\"f4$ $\"g3$ $\"a2$ $\"b2$ $\"c2$ $\"g2$ $\"h2$ $\"g1$	8
7	7
6	6
5	5
4	4
3	3
2	2
1	1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	$\"a8$ $\"f8$ $\"a7$ $\"d7$ $\"f7$ $\"g7$ $\"h7$ $\"a6$ $\"f6$ $\"c5$ $\"d5$ $\"e5$ $\"b4$ $\"d3$ $\"f3$ $\"a2$ $\"g2$ $\"h2$ $\"a1$ $\"g1$	8
7	7
6	6
5	5
4	4
3	3
2	2
1	1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Awards\n
Preceded by Boris Spassky \n	World Chess Champion 1972\u20131975\n	Succeeded by Anatoly Karpov \n
Preceded by Arthur Bisguier \n	United States Chess Champion 1958\u20131960\n	Succeeded by Larry Evans \n
Preceded by Larry Evans \n	United States Chess Champion 1962\u20131966\n	Succeeded by Larry Evans \n
Achievements\n
Preceded by None \n	FIDE world No. 1 July 1, 1971 \u2013 December 31, 1975\n	Succeeded by Anatoly Karpov \n
Preceded by Boris Spassky \n	Youngest chess grandmaster ever 1958\u20131991\n	Succeeded by Judit Polg\u00e1r \n

v t e American grandmasters
Chess players for the United States with the FIDE title of grandmaster (GM) by title decade
1950\u20131959	\n Benko \n Bisguier \n Evans \n Fine \n Fischer \n Kashdan \n Reshevsky \n Rossolimo \n
1960\u20131969	\n Byrne \n Kavalek \n Lombardy \n
1970\u20131979	\n Alburt \n Biyiasas \n Christiansen \n Dzindzichashvili \n Gulko \n Palatnik \n Rogoff \n Tarjan \n
1980\u20131989	\n Benjamin \n D. Gurevich \n Dake \n De Firmian \n Denker \n Dlugy \n Ehlvest \n Fedorowicz \n Goldin \n Henley \n Kaidanov \n Kudrin \n Mednis \n Rohde \n Seirawan \n Soltis \n Wilder \n Zaichik \n
1990\u20131999	\n Akopian \n Annakov \n Becerra \n Bruz\u00f3n \n Fishbein \n I. Gurevich \n Ivanov \n Kamsky \n Novikov \n Onischuk \n Sagalchik \n Schwartzman \n Serper \n Shabalov \n Shaked \n Sher \n Sherzer \n Shulman \n Stripunsky \n Wolff \n Yermolinsky \n
2000\u20132009	\n Akobian \n Aronian \n Ashley \n Bhat \n Caruana \n Dom\u00ednguez \n Erenburg \n Finegold \n Friedel \n Gareyev \n Gonz\u00e1lez \n Hern\u00e1ndez \n Hess \n Izoria \n Jimenez \n Kaufman \n Khachiyan \n Kraai \n Kreiman \n Moradi \n Nakamura \n Perelshteyn \n Quesada \n Ram\u00edrez \n So \n \u015awiercz \n Zherebukh \n Ziatdinov \n
2010\u20132019	\n Antipov \n Arnold \n Brown \n Burke \n Chandra \n Checa \n Holt \n Hungaski \n Krush \n Lenderman \n Li \n Liang \n Molner \n Naroditsky \n Oparin \n Robson \n Sevian \n Sevillano \n Shankland \n Smith \n Tang \n Troff \n Xiong \n Yang \n Zierk \n
2020\u20132029	\n Balakrishnan \n Bora \n Brodsky \n Daggupati \n Fernandez \n Ghazarian \n Guo \n Hardaway \n Hong \n Jacobson \n Mishra \n Niemann \n Sheng \n Sturt \n Tiglon \n Woodward \n Yoo \n
\n See also: List of chess grandmasters \n Category:American chess players \n

v t e Bobby Fischer
\n Bibliography \n
Chess games	\n The Game of the Century \n World Chess Championship 1972 \n World Chess Championship 1975 \n Fischer\u2013Spassky (1992 match) \n
Chess innovations	\n Fischer random chess \n King's Gambit, Fischer Defense \n Fischer clock \n
Books	\n Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (1966) \n My 60 Memorable Games (1969) \n
Works about	\n The Great Chess Movie (1982 documentary) \n Me and Bobby Fischer (2009 documentary) \n Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011 documentary) \n Pawn Sacrifice (2014 drama film) \n
Miscellaneous	\n Bobby Fischer Center \n Chess \n Searching for Bobby Fischer \n Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (video game) \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Australia Czech Republic Russia Spain 2 Netherlands Norway Latvia Croatia Chile Sweden Poland Israel Catalonia Belgium
Academics	CiNii
Artists	MusicBrainz
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	IdRef SNAC

Early life

Paul Nem\u00e9nyi as Fischer's father

Chess beginnings

The Hawthorne Chess Club

Young champion

Wins first US title

Grandmaster, candidate, and author

Drops out of school

US Championships

Olympiads

1960\u201361

1962: success, setback, accusations of Soviet collusion

Accuses Soviets of collusion

Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s

Successful return

Withdrawal while leading Interzonal

Second semi-retirement

1969\u20131972: Road to World Champion

Road to the World Championship

World Championship match

Forfeiture of title

Sudden obscurity

1992 Spassky rematch

Later life and death

Life as an \u00e9migr\u00e9

Comments on September 11 attacks

Detention in Japan

Citizenship and residency in Iceland

Death, estate dispute, and exhumation

Personal life

Religious affiliation

Antisemitism

Psychological perspectives on Fischer

Contributions to chess

Writings

Opening theory

Endgame

Fischer clock

Fischer Random

Legacy

Head-to-head record versus selected grandmasters

Internet chess playing speculation

In popular culture

In film

Other media

Tournament, match, and team event summaries

Tournaments

Matches

International Team events

Notable games

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

Bobby Fischer

Media collections