Bobby Fischer – RIP
Bobby Fischer has died. The one-time chess World Champion died in Iceland, scene of his stunning 1972 victory over former soviet World Champion, Boris Spasky.
Fischer was petulant, paranoid, and in his prime, quite possible the very best chess player to have ever lived. His audacious brilliance at a chess board first came to light in 1956, when the then-13 year old Fischer beat 26 year old former US Open Champion Donald Byrne in a game immediately labeled “The Game of the Century” by Chess Review editor Hans Kmoch. Fischer won on a 24 move combination which began with the incredible, deliberate, sacrifice of his Queen, the most powerful piece on the board.
His World Championship victory over Spasky was no less brilliant. He deliberately forfeited the second game of the match, leaving him down 2 games to none to Spasky, before he came roaring back to take the title from the Russian Champion,.
Fischer was always a troubled genius. There was even an episode of Law and Order, Criminal Intent in which the protagonist was loosely based on Fischer. He was an arrogant, suspicious bigot and anti-Semite, who made no attempt to hide his hatred of the Russians and the Jews, who he believed controlled the world, or his rampant, life-long paranoia.
Still, his bizarre brilliance brought thousands of new fans to the game of chess, and brought to himself the world-wide attention he both craved and reviled.
In my opinion, and that of many other chess players around the world, Bobby Fischer was the best ever.
R.I.P.
