American chess player Bobby Fischer: biography, interesting facts, photos. American chess player Bobby Fischer: biography, interesting facts, photos Bobby Fischer chess player biography
Among the most famous players known throughout the world in the sport of chess, there are only a few people who have attracted attention with their extraordinary minds. Their geniuses brought many innovations and unique games to the world of sports. One of the most controversial is Bobby Fischer, the strongest chess player of all time. His IQ level was 186, one of the highest in the world.
Early years
Bobby Fischer was born on a beautiful March day into an international family. In 1933, the mother of the future champion, Regina Wender, fled from Germany to the Soviet Union when the Nazis came to power in her country. She lived for some time in a friendly country, where she met her future husband, Gerhard Fischer. In 1938, the couple formalized their marriage and after some time left for the USA.
Bobby Fischer was born in the states on March 9, 1943. After 2 years, the father left the family, returning to Germany. The mother raised the boy and his older sister Joan on her own. It was the girl who gave the first chess to her brother, after which the whole world changed for him. Joan and Robert (Bobby Fisher) began learning the rules and playing together. Over time, the boy began to immerse himself more and more in the world of chess.
At that time, the family lived in Brooklyn. Every day, young Bobby spent several hours completely alone, playing his favorite game with himself. This caused concern in the mother, and she decided to find a sparring partner for her son. Not knowing where to turn, she decided to place an ad in the newspaper. The Brooklyn Eagle employees, not quite understanding in which section to place such a text, decided to redirect it to a specialist in chess journalism. It turned out to be Herman Helms, who responded to the ad by writing to Bobby's mother about the Brooklyn Chess Club.
The first chess club and coach
Studying for long hours alone, the young chess player could not learn all the intricacies of the game. The Brooklyn club opened up new opportunities for him. Bobby Fischer, whose biography will soon become known to everyone, begins training with Carmine Nigro. This man was the president of the club at that time. Young Bobby spent almost all his free time in this place.
When the club was closed, the young chess player begged his mother to take him to Washington Square Park. At that time, all fans of this game gathered there - from young to old, from different social strata. Bobby Fischer was born to play chess, this was evident even in those years. A year later, he began studying at the Horton Club, and also studied the skill several times a month and trained visiting his home. At that time, many players and grandmasters came to him. It was in the house of an authoritative coach that Fischer began reading special literature related to the game.
First victories
While studying in various clubs, Robert participated in all competitions that were held there. His first victories can be considered winning matches in local competitions at the age of 10. He stood out significantly among his peers not only in his playing style, but also in his desire to be the best.
News of the brilliant player began to spread throughout the small chess community in America. Bobby began to attract attention, and at the age of 13 he was invited to many tournaments. He often participated in simultaneous games, where his opponents were several of the strongest participants at once. Once a similar tournament took place in Cuba, where he went with Regina Wender, his mother. Famous grandmasters invited the young prodigy to play a game, to which Robert always agreed, because this was a chance to learn something new and comprehend the wisdom of the masters.
At the age of 16, Fischer decided to leave secondary education to devote himself entirely to studying and playing chess. At home, he independently arranged several parallel games with himself. Having placed the boards in the rooms, he alternately moved from one to the other, calculating and thinking through the moves on both sides.
Tournaments
In the summer of 1956, the US Junior Tournament was held, in which young Bobby Fischer received his first championship and became the youngest winner of the competition. After this, a whole series of tournaments began that would lead him to the crown of a chess player, which the guy had dreamed of since childhood.
In 1958 he participated in Yugoslavia at the interzonal games. There he meets many leading grandmasters. Fischer spends all his free time developing new strategies and practically never leaves his room. Tournament participants said that the guy seems like a simpleton, but when he sits down at the table, the game speaks for him.
It was the Yugoslav victories that brought Robert the opportunity to participate in higher-level competitions. In 1959, the Candidates Tournament took place, where the young prodigy faced the strongest chess players in the world. Finding himself alone in a foreign country, he did not have an assistant, second or friend next to him. He made all decisions and actions independently. Every day in his free time, Bobby sat in his room and played chess, while his opponents had the right routine and took quiet walks. Fischer made many mistakes, but still took 5th place, which further strengthened his reputation and opened up broad prospects.
In 1961, another tournament was held in the city of Bled. The matured and well-prepared American chess player Bobby Fischer wins almost all his games and takes second place in points. The young prodigy took the same position, slightly losing to Spassky, in 1966 at the Pyatigorsky Cup, which took place in Santa Monica.
Subsequent tournaments brought Robert more and more popularity in the world of chess. He won most of the matches and finished 1st or 2nd. His playing style became more and more confident and strong. With such preparation and an already established capricious, hot-tempered and evil character, the genius approached the main competitions of his life. At the age of 29, he had to fight with the strongest grandmaster of the USSR.
Game with Boris Spassky
In 1972, Bobby Fischer, the strongest chess player in the United States, had to win the fight to receive the championship title. His opponent was This game is considered the tournament of the century, it brought a lot of emotions not only to the countries of the players, but also to the whole world who watched the fight. This was the period of the Cold War, and many associated the party of Spassky and Fischer with the confrontation between the two major powers.
The match took place in Reykjavik. Already the first minutes of the game showed that anything can be expected from an American chess player. Everything was supposed to start at 5 pm, Spassky was ready and sat waiting for the start. The game has begun, the Soviet grandmaster makes the first move and presses the chess clock. Everyone is impatiently waiting for the second participant in the battle.
Minutes pass, and Bobby Fischer, the US champion, still does not appear. Spassky approaches the judge, apparently to consult on further actions, and then Robert enters the courtroom. This situation will be discussed by all the newspapers in the world for weeks to come. Already at that time, the American grandmaster attracted attention to himself and the game with his eccentric nature and unpredictable behavior. Therefore, the whole world watched the game, and besides, this confrontation went beyond the scope of an ordinary match.
Fischer came into the game through a series of victories. He prepared for this tournament for many years, losing to Spassky in competitions at an early age. The Soviet grandmaster, on the contrary, after receiving the champion title, began to pay less attention to training and playing. This subsequently affected the results.
Meanwhile, the first game began. Bobby Fischer, who was about 185 cm tall, towered over the table, sitting in his own chair, which was specially brought for this tournament. Everything bothered him: the light of the lamps, the noise of the camera shutters, and the people present, regardless of their rank and purpose.
Despite this, the game went well, but at one point Fischer makes a mistake that only a beginner could make and loses. This infuriated him, and he began to demand from the organizers that all paparazzi and their equipment be removed from the premises. Having received a refusal, the American grandmaster leaves, refusing to continue the fight. The match was disrupted, and Spassky was automatically awarded the victory in the second game.
After 1.5 months, Bobby Fischer still agreed to finish the match, but convinced the organizers to move the game to a more suitable place. It turned out to be a small table tennis room. The third game and all subsequent ones followed a different scenario. And in the end the American won. Bobby Fischer, the eleventh world champion, had been waiting for this title for 15 long years, since defeating all US players.
There was immediate hype around this match. Soviet representatives of the chess association demanded to check the air, lighting and chair where Spassky was, citing the fact that the player was influenced by chemicals or radio waves. After a thorough study by an international organization of all aspects, no evidence for this theory was found.
Last Stand
After receiving the title of world champion, Bobby Fischer, whose biography began to interest all aspiring chess players and professionals, leaves the screens and disappears for some time. In 1975, he had to appear at a game with Anatoly Karpov to confirm his title. But the grandmaster ignored this event too.
For a long time there was no information about it. This showed what a secretive person Bobby Fischer was. His personal life is also shrouded in mystery. Sometimes you could hear that he was seen in different parts of the world.
In 1992, the world association organized a rematch between Spassky and Fischer. There was a lot of money at stake, with a prize pool of over $3 million. This game was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Spassky-Fischer match, which went down in the history of world chess.
It was decided to hold the rematch in Yugoslavia. But America had difficult political relations with this country at that time, and the Treasury Department threatened Fischer with sanctions. But this did not stop the grandmaster, but, on the contrary, even spurred him on. After his retirement from major chess in 1975, he constantly criticized Washington's policies and the entire American government.
The game went well, the opponents played 30 games, and Bobby Fischer again emerged victorious. Despite this, all the experts unanimously insisted that the level of both players was no longer the same. But the grandmaster himself considered the match a championship and always said that he did not lose his crown as the winner, since he had never met an opponent stronger than himself.
Personal life
Bobby Fischer, whose personal life is shrouded in mystery, devoted all his time to the game. He was almost never seen with girls. In an interview during the 1962 Olympics, he shared some nuances with reporters. When asked about women, he said that he was looking for a worthy match. But he chose not to choose from American women, since, in his opinion, they are too independent and willful. His gaze was directed at the girls from the East.
Once, when 17-year-old Fischer was participating in a tournament, his competitors sent him a woman who was able to captivate the child prodigy. He played poorly throughout the entire competition period, as he spent all his free time with his new lover. The result was that the brilliant player found himself in low positions in the rating table. This served as a good lesson for young Robert, and from then on his only love was playing chess.
Bobby Fischer: interesting facts
During his life, the famous chess player was able to stand out not only for his brilliant game. After he received the champion title, his demands and whims increased significantly. For example, he started playing no earlier than 4 o’clock in the afternoon, as he liked to sleep. And before the tournament I had to swim in the pool or play tennis on the court.
American chess player Bobby Fischer is considered not only a brilliant player, but also the most famous paranoid of that time. After receiving the title, he becomes interested in it and reads many books and articles about it. After some time, his harsh statements against Jews, Americans and Africans appeared in the press.
After defeating Boris Spassky in 1972, Bobby Fischer became a national hero. Many eminent companies wanted to sign contracts with him, but they were refused almost immediately. Celebrities tried to lure him to their parties and holidays. A large line lined up to learn the game from him. But after some time, the famous champion Bobby Fischer, whose photo was published in all publications, will be called a traitor and deserter.
Robert was jealous of the game and believed that little attention was paid to chess in sports. Therefore, he demanded inflated fees for participation in the tournament, arguing that chess players should not receive less than boxers or other athletes from more popular disciplines. This attitude of the famous player brought results, and the championships began to attract more spectators and fans to the screens.
One of the developers of chess theories and the author of many articles on the game is Bobby Fischer, whose photo can be found in publications on this topic. He carefully studied the games of men's and women's tournaments and looked at them from different angles, identifying the necessary criteria and steps for future victories.
One of the grandmaster's characteristics was his lack of a sense of humor, which led him to purchase 157 suits. The reason for this was that in one of the games with an opponent, Bobby Fischer asked about his handsome and elegant appearance and asked how many suits he had. He replied that it was 150 pieces, but this was a joke that Robert did not understand. But the champion had to be a winner in everything, and he replenished his wardrobe with 157 suits.
Fischer stood out for his genius not only in the game of chess. He was a polyglot and could speak 5 languages. He was fond of literature and always read books in the original. In terms of money, he was always calm. We can say that Fischer did not need them, he did not collect art or expensive things, and was indifferent to haute cuisine and all the delights of rich people. But, despite this, he had a special price for the public, fans and journalists.
With the advent of computer technology and the Internet everywhere, many chess masters began to start tournaments in electronic spaces. In this way they could find a worthy opponent, develop new strategies and give newcomers the opportunity to learn from professionals. One day, high-class English chess player Nigel Short announced that he was playing on the Internet with Fischer. Of course, the great grandmaster did not sign his name, but from the style of play it was clear that it was him.
Radical views
Bobby Fischer, whose birth date fell during World War II, became interested in conspiracy theories and political literature from his youth. After receiving the championship title, he repeatedly spoke out against the American government. But his hostility towards Jews, communists and sexual minorities began back in the 60s. At this time, his mother was in the Soviet Union meeting with Nina Khrushcheva and regularly appeared on the radio. This infuriated Fischer and inflamed his hatred even more.
He also believed that Jews control everything in the world, they are in all leadership positions and in all organizations. He believed that they urgently needed to be removed and America cleaned of unnecessary people. And this despite the fact that their blood flows in him! In his homeland, he began to be considered a traitor, a deserter. His loudest confession was his approval of the actions of terrorists against the United States on September 11, 2001. He said that it was high time to give America a kick, and that he wanted to witness how this country disappears from the face of the planet.
Recent years
After the game with Boris Spassky, Fischer had to hide from justice. The reason for this is the American government’s ban on the participation of the great chess player in a tournament in this country. At that time, sanctions were imposed against Yugoslavia due to the war in the Balkans. But Fischer did not care about this, but he could not return to his homeland, since he was facing trial and 10 years in prison.
Having won the anniversary tournament, he took his fee and left for Switzerland. After a short stay in this country, he moved to Hungary. The US Federal Bureau issued an arrest warrant for the grandmaster. This led to Fischer going into hiding, first in the Philippines, then in Japan, and periodically moving from place to place.
Since the grandmaster could not return to America, he decided to seek refuge in the homeland of his parents. Bobby, whose photo was published by the most famous publications in the world, now needed a new home. He applies for citizenship in Germany, but is refused. In mid-summer 2004, he was arrested at a Japanese airport while trying to leave the country. The United States, under an extradition treaty, demands the extradition of Fischer.
In the meantime, the former champion's lawyers recommend applying for citizenship in Iceland, where his unforgettable and victorious tournament took place. In the spring of 2005 the decision was made. officially becomes a citizen of this country, receives a passport and leaves Japan for his new homeland.
The last years of the great grandmaster are taking place in Reykjavik. In 2007, Fischer was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of liver failure. The treatment did not help, and in January 2008, the great and extraordinary player of all time passed away. He introduced a large number of innovations to the game and brought it to a new level.
For many years before his death, Bobby Fischer lived in complete solitude and received royalties from his books, in which he described his matches and taught the art of playing chess. A few friends periodically visited him and supported him.
11th world chess champion Bobby Fischer called the most brilliant chess player of all time - and the most famous paranoid of the 21st century, a national hero of America and at the same time - a deserter and traitor. Perhaps this is one of the most scandalous, paradoxical and mysterious figures of recent times. And perhaps a confirmation of the fact that genius and madness are always somewhere nearby.
Robert James Fisher inherited the best qualities from his mathematician father and polyglot mother: he spoke 5 languages, had a phenomenal memory, his IQ was 186. Ever since his older sister gave him chess for his 6th birthday, he became so interested in it that they soon replaced the entire world around him. At the age of 10, Bobby took part in his first tournament and won it, at 14 he became the youngest US champion, and at 15 he became the youngest international grandmaster in the world. Chess was his main, but far from his only hobby. All his life he was interested in history, philosophy, music, literature, and studied foreign languages (German, Russian, Spanish, Serbian, Croatian).
Even at a young age, he puzzled journalists during interviews: “I like not just winning, but crushing the egos of my opponents. According to the horoscope, I was born under the constellation Pisces. I am a big fish, I will swallow all the grandmasters and become the world champion.” From 1960 to 1970 Bobby Fischer played 65 games, of which he won 40. But when he became famous, his demands and whims began to irritate the organizers: a hotel room of at least luxury class, the start of the game no earlier than 16.00, since he liked to wake up late, before the game - tennis court or swimming pool.
In 1972, Bobby Fischer achieved a legendary victory over Russian chess player Boris Spassky in the world championship match. This was his last official game. At the top of his career, he decided to take a break from chess for a while, became interested in books about world conspiracies and racist theories, despite his Jewish origin, complained that the Jews had seized all the power in the world and suggested that blacks return to Africa and give American lands to the Indians .
In 1975, he was stripped of his championship title because he refused to defend it. In 1992, Bobby Fischer agreed to participate in the fatal tournament for him - it was an unofficial commercial rematch with Spassky. The match took place in Yugoslavia, which the United States had boycotted at that time. The chess player knew that violating the ban would threaten him with 10 years in prison, but did not give up his intentions. As a result, he was unable to return to the United States. Since then, he has never missed an opportunity to express contempt for the American government, and after the terrible terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, he publicly declared his support for terrorists: “I applaud this operation and want to witness how America disappears from the world map.”
Among juniors, and at the age of 14 he became the US champion - the youngest in history.
From a very young age, Fischer attracted attention not only for his phenomenal chess successes. He also became known for his extraordinary, often scandalous actions and public statements. For example, a teenager spoke about school as follows: “There is nothing to learn at school. Teachers are stupid. Women should not be allowed to work as teachers. At my school, only the physical education teacher was not stupid - he played chess well.”
At the age of 15, Fischer left school to devote himself entirely to chess. “All I ever want to do is play chess,” he said.
Chess career
Young Fisher plays against John Collins
Among chess players, Fischer was highly respected for his outstanding successes, although he was condemned for his extravagance. Commentators noted that Fischer, while demanding ideal conditions and increased fees, actually did a lot to improve tournament life and increase the well-being of leading chess players. For example, thanks to Fischer's requests, the size of the prize fund for the World Chess Championship match has increased significantly. On this occasion, Boris Spassky joked: “Fischer is our trade union.” Fischer himself said: “I will ensure that chess is treated with no less respect than boxing. No matter how much Muhammad Ali asks for his next performance, I will demand more.”
World Champion
It was reported that for some time Fischer was a member of the religious sect “Worldwide Church of the Creator,” but after the end of the world predicted by its leaders did not take place, he left the sect. In an interview, he spoke of the leaders of the sect as “terrible hypocrites” and called them “dishonest people who only think about how to take money.”
After winning the match, Fischer was not allowed to return to the United States. In addition to being accused of violating the Yugoslav embargo, he was also charged by the tax department; for non-payment of taxes since 1976, including the tax on the fee of the last match, he was threatened with a fine of 250 thousand dollars. For some time Fischer lived in Hungary, in Budapest. In 1994, he broke up with Zita Rajcsani, but he met and became a friend of the family of sisters Judit and Zsuzsa Polgar, also young chess players. In 1996, Fischer presented to the public the chess 960 he had invented. Then significant changes occurred in Fischer’s life again: he unexpectedly broke up with his Hungarian acquaintances and moved to live in the East. In the Philippines, he met a 20-year-old local woman, who in 2000 gave birth to his daughter, Jinkee Ong (however, Fischer subsequently did not communicate with either this woman or his daughter). Fischer lived mainly in Japan with his old friend Miyoko Watai, a Japanese chess player whom he met back in the 1970s. In 2000, Fischer was even in America; he came there illegally, through Canada, for his sister’s funeral. Although all the previous charges remained against him, the special services did nothing, or simply did not know about his arrival.
After 2000
The matter dragged on. Fischer spent 8 months in prison, during which time he managed to propose to Miyoko to marry him and enter into a prenuptial agreement with her. Montenegro, Germany and Iceland declared their willingness to grant Fischer citizenship, and he was deported to Iceland on 24 March 2005. Before flying out of Japan, Fischer told reporters he believed his arrest was a kidnapping, repeated accusations against Bush and Koizumi and said they "should be hanged as war criminals."
Last years of life
After being deported from Japan, Fischer lived in Iceland, in Reykjavik. In November 2007, he was hospitalized with kidney failure. Fischer was offered surgery, but he refused. This illness, apparently, was the cause of the death of the legendary and most mysterious chess player of the 20th century on January 17, 2008. He was buried in Iceland, in the cemetery of the Catholic parish of the town of Selfoss, 50 km from Reykjavik. The funeral, according to Fischer's own wishes, was modest, attended only by a few of his Icelandic friends and Miyoko Watai.
Characteristics of creative manner
He was distinguished by his extraordinary capacity for work, fanatical devotion to chess, and encyclopedic knowledge. Fischer was an outstanding researcher of the opening and enriched chess theory with many developments. Fischer began the vast majority of his games with the king's pawn move 1.e4, brilliantly playing both open openings (including the King's Gambit!) and half-closed openings. Known so-called "Fischer Defense" in the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef 3.Kf3 d6). Fischer's successes in the exchange variation of the Spanish game made this branch of the popular opening fashionable for a long time. With Black, Fischer fought for the initiative, playing in response to 1.e4 most often the Sicilian Defense (most often the Najdorf Variation), and to 1.d4 the King's Indian Defense and the Grunfeld Defense. In the match with Spassky (1972), Fischer appeared transformed - his opening arsenal was enriched with new, thoroughly developed principles.
Fischer managed to follow not only the men's competitions, he also studied games from women's tournaments, trying to find a “fresh” idea there too. He read specialized literature in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and German. In his youth, Fischer called himself a follower of the Soviet chess school, from which he took the best achievements.
Grandmaster A. Suetin characterized Fischer’s creative style as follows:
A distinctive feature of Fischer's playing is its remarkable clarity, concreteness, and rationality of thinking. Even the strongest grandmasters are no strangers to hobbies in search of the board: tempting, unrealistic; but fantastic continuations may prevent them from calculating their options correctly. But when you study Fischer’s game (even in blitz games!), you get the impression that he coldly, without hesitation, automatically discards all these beauties. But he directs all his efforts to finding the truth.
Other commentators also noted in Fischer's game amazing clarity, concrete thinking and rare sportsmanship: he strived only for victory, but did not violate the principles of positional struggle. If his games ended in a draw, it meant that all resources to achieve victory were truly exhausted. Fischer was not a modernist in chess, like Tal or Larsen, he gravitated towards “pure”, clear chess, but this did not make his game dry and boring. Anatoly Karpov, characterizing Fischer’s contribution to chess, said: “I don’t know anyone else in the history of chess to whom our game would owe so much.”
Sports achievements
| Year | Tournament | + | - | = | Result | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | New York, Brooklyn Chess Club Championship | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4½ out of 7 | 3-5 |
| New Jersey US Amateur Championship | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2½ out of 6 | 32 | |
| New York, Washington Park Championships | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4½ out of 8 | 15-60 | |
| Lincoln, Nebraska, US Junior Championships | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 out of 10 | 11-21 | |
| 1956 | New York, New York Championship | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 5-7 |
| New York, Manhattan Chess Club, tournament "A" | 7 | 1 | 4 | 9 out of 12 | 1 | |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 4½ out of 5 | - | ||
| Asburn Park, New Jersey, US Amateur Championship | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 out of 6 | 12 | |
| Philadelphia, US Youth Championships | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8½ out of 10 | 1 | |
| Oklahoma City, LVII US Open | 5 | 0 | 7 | 8½ out of 13 | 4-8 | |
| Montreal, Canadian Open | 6 | 2 | 2 | 7 out of 10 | 8-12 | |
| New York, III Rosenwald Prize Tournament | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4½ out of 11 | 8-9 | |
| Washington, Eastern States Open | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5½ out of 7 | 2-5 | |
| 1956/57 | New York, Manhattan Chess Club semi-final | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2½ out of 5 | 4 |
| 1957 | West Orange, New Jersey Long Cabin Open | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 out of 6 | 6-11 |
| Long Cabin, 50-50 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 4 out of 5 | ||
| New York Metropolitan League Team Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 out of 5 | - | |
| New York, match with M. Euwe | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ out of 2 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wiscontin, Western States Open | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | 7 | |
| San Francisco, US Junior Championships | 8 | 0 | 1 | 8½ out of 9 | 1 | |
| Cleveland, Ohio, LVIII US Open | 8 | 0 | 4 | 10 out of 12 | 1-2 | |
| East Orange, New Jersey, New Jersey State Championship | 6 | 0 | 1 | 6½ out of 7 | 1 | |
| New York, match with D. Bennison | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | ||
| New York, match with R. Cardoso (8 games) | 5 | 1 | 2 | 6 out of 8 | ||
| Milwaukee, Wis., Mid-North Open | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 out of 7 | 6-16 | |
| 1957/58 | New York, XII USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 5 | 10½ out of 13 | 1 |
| 1958 | Belgrade, match against D. Janosevic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 of 2 | |
| Belgrade, match against M. Matulovic | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ out of 4 | ||
| Portorož, interzonal tournament | 6 | 2 | 12 | 12 out of 20 | 5-6 | |
| 1958/59 | New York, XIII US Championship | 6 | 0 | 5 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1959 | Mar del Plata | 8 | 2 | 4 | 10 out of 14 | 3-4 |
| Santiago, Memorial A. Palma | 7 | 4 | 1 | 7½ out of 12 | 4-6 | |
| Zurich | 8 | 2 | 5 | 10½ out of 15 | 3-4 | |
| Bled - Zagreb - Belgrade, Candidates Tournament | 8 | 11 | 9 | 12½ out of 28 | 5-6 | |
| 1959/60 | New York, XIV US Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1960 | Mar del Plata | 13 | 1 | 1 | 13½ out of 15 | 1-2 |
| Buenos Aires | 3 | 5 | 11 | 8½ out of 19 | 13-16 | |
| Reykjavik | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3½ out of 4 | 1 | |
| Berlin, match USA - Germany (game with Darga) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Leinzig, XIV Olympiad | 10 | 2 | 6 | 13 of 18 | ||
| 1960/61 | New York, XV USA Championship | 7 | 0 | 4 | 9 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1961 | New York - Los Angeles, match with Samuel Reshevsky (out of 16 games) | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5½ out of 11 | |
| Bled, A. Alekhine memorial | 8 | 0 | 11 | 13½ out of 19 | 2 | |
| Radio consultation party with London | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ out of 1 | ||
| 1962 | Stockholm, interzonal tournament | 13 | 0 | 9 | 17½ out of 22 | 1 |
| Copenhagen, game with B. Larsen | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Curacao Candidates Tournament | 8 | 7 | 12 | 14 of 27 | 4 | |
| Varna, XV Olympiad | 8 | 3 | 6 | 11 of 17 | ||
| Match USA - Poland (game with B. Sliwa) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| 1962/63 | New York, XVII US Championship | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 out of 11 | 1 |
| 1963 | Bay City, Michigan Western States Open | 7 | 0 | 1 | 7½ out of 8 | 1 |
| Pougskipje, New York, New York State Open | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 out of 7 | 1 | |
| 1963/64 | New York, XVIII US Championship | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 of 11 | 1 |
| 1965 | Havana, IV Capablanca Memorial ((by telephone and teletype) | 12 | 3 | 6 | 15 out of 21 | 2-4 |
| 1965/66 | New York, XX USA Championship | 8 | 2 | 1 | 8½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1966 | Los Angeles, Pyatigorsky Cup tournament | 7 | 3 | 8 | 11 of 18 | 2 |
| Havana, XVII Olympiad | 14 | 1 | 2 | 15 of 17 | ||
| 1966/67 | New York, XXI USA Championship | 8 | 0 | 3 | 9½ out of 11 | 1 |
| 1967 | Monaco | 6 | 1 | 2 | 7 of 9 | 1 |
| Skopje | 12 | 2 | 3 | 13½ out of 17 | 1 | |
| Sousse, interzonal tournament | 7 | 0 | 3 | 8½ out of 10 | ||
| 1968 | Netanya, Israel | 10 | 0 | 3 | 11½ out of 13 | 1 |
| Vinkovci, Yugoslavia | 9 | 0 | 4 | 11 of 13 | 1 | |
| 1969 | New York Metropolitan League (game with Sadie) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | |
| 1970 | “Match of the Century” (match between the national teams of the USSR and the rest of the world), 2nd board against T. Petrosyan |
2 | 0 | 2 | 3 of 4 | |
| Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, international blitz tournament | 17 | 1 | 4 | 19 of 22 | 1 | |
| Zagreb | 10 | 1 | 6 | 13 of 17 | 1 | |
| Buenos Aires | 13 | 0 | 4 | 15 of 17 | 1 | |
| Siegen, XIX Olympiad | 8 | 1 | 4 | 10 out of 13 | ||
| Siegen, game with Andersson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 of 1 | ||
| Palma de Mallorca, interzonal tournament | 15 | 1 | 7 | 18½ out of 23 | 1 | |
| 1971 | Vancouver, quarter-final candidates match against M. Taimanov | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | |
| Denver, semi-final candidates match against B. Larsen | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 out of 6 | ||
| Buenos Aires, final candidates match against T. Petrosyan | 5 | 1 | 3 | 6½ out of 9 | ||
| 1972 | Reykjavik, world championship match with Boris Spassky | 7 | 3 | 11 | 12½ out of 21 | |
| 1992 | Sveti Stefan, Belgrade, Match with Boris Spassky | 10 | 5 | 15 | 17½ out of 30 |
Personal accounts
|
|
Robert Fisher was born in Chicago on March 9, 1943. His father, Hans-Gerhard Fischer, was a German biologist and ideological communist living in the USSR. Mother, Regina Wender, was a Swiss Jew. Bobby's parents met at Moscow Medical University, where Regina studied. In 1939, they left the USSR, but their paths diverged: Gerhard moved to Chile, and Regina settled in Brooklyn, USA.
The fact that the couple lived separately haunted Fischer’s biographers for a long time and gave rise to the version that the real father of the chess player was Paul Nemenyi, a mathematician who fled from Germany to the USA during the war. This version is supported by the fact that Nemenyi took an active part in raising the boy, paid for his studies and helped him financially in every possible way.
When Robert was 6 years old, his sister taught him to play chess. He became so carried away by this game that he gradually began to withdraw into himself. Bobby stopped communicating with his classmates, and at some point his worried mother turned to doctors. They advised not to hinder their son’s passion, but rather to encourage it. At the age of 10, his mother sent him to a chess club, and he won the first tournament in his life.
At school, Robert also showed unusual abilities. Possessing a phenomenal memory, he independently learned German, Spanish, Russian and Serbo-Croatian. Already at an early age he freely read foreign chess literature. Bobby said more than once that there was nothing to learn at school, and that all the teachers were “stupid.” The only intelligent person at school, according to Fisher, was the physical education teacher. He played chess well, so he was almost Robert's only friend.
Ultimately, Fischer dropped out of school and devoted his life entirely to his favorite sport. According to Robert, all he wanted to do was play chess. He quarreled with his mother, and she left him the apartment and left. From that moment on, Bobby was left to his own devices.
Path to glory
Robert Fischer's goal was the world championship, and for this he did everything possible. To maintain his health, he played not only chess, but also other sports: tennis, skating, swimming, skiing.
Best of the day
At the age of 14, Robert won the US Championship, and at 15 he became an international grandmaster. Most famous chess players saw him as just a child with an unusual mentality, but when they started playing, they encountered a mature master, ready to do anything to win.
By the way, Fischer was called a “cold-blooded killer.” He never spared his opponent and, if possible, crushed him with amazing ruthlessness. One of the most significant cases occurred in 1971, when Robert set a record of 12:0 in candidate matches with Larsen and Taimanov. No professional chess player had ever experienced such defeat before.
However, all this was later, when Fischer reached the peak of his skills. And at first he studied a lot and often made mistakes. So, in 1959, at his first international tournament, which took place in Yugoslavia, he lost to Mikhail Tal with a dry score of 0:4. In games with top-class grandmasters, Bobby's inexperience was visible: he overestimated his chances and neglected tournament tactics.
However, failures only spurred Fischer to improve himself. Over time, he began to win brilliant victories, and in 1971, in a fight against contenders, he reached the final, where he beat Tigran Petrosyan with a score of 6.5:2.5. This gave him the right to fight the current world champion Boris Spassky. In 1972, one of the most exciting and passionate games in the history of chess took place in Reykjavik. And Fischer confidently won, becoming world champion.
Scandals, scandals...
Perhaps Robert Fisher would not have gained such fame if not for the constant scandals that accompanied him. In addition, he was a manic person, and possibly mentally ill. He constantly violated regulations, demanded privileges and special treatment. For example, in 1967, at a tournament in Sousse, he called the chief judge a communist because he refused to comply with his demands and violate the regulations. But this case is one of the most innocent. As a rule, if Fischer could not agree on “special” conditions for his stay at the tournament, he did not participate in it at all.
At some point, Robert's strangeness reached its climax. In 1975, he refused the match for the world championship, and FIDE declared Karpov the new champion. After this, Fischer stopped playing in official tournaments. Until the 90s, he lived secludedly in the Californian town of Pasadena, where for some time he even spent time in the religious sect “Worldwide Church of the Creator.” And then he met eighteen-year-old chess player Zita Rajcsani by correspondence and moved to Hungary.
The story of the brilliant grandmaster did not end there. In 1992, he unexpectedly agreed to an offer from a Yugoslav banker to play a rematch with Spassky. Fischer won confidently, but never returned to the USA. In America, he faced a huge fine and 10 years in prison for violating international law, since the United States at that time declared a boycott of Yugoslavia.
Fischer left for the East. He first lived in the Philippines with Marilyn Young, and then in Japan with his old friend Mieko Watai. In 2000, he secretly moved to America, but three years later his passport was revoked, and soon he was arrested at one of the Japanese airports. A serious international scandal broke out. The United States demanded that the criminal Fischer be handed over to them, but famous grandmasters stood up for him. Crazy Bobby called his arrest a kidnapping, accused George Bush and the Japanese Prime Minister of conspiracy, and also did not forget to mention the ubiquitous Jews, once again blaming them for all the world's ills.
Iceland granted Fischer citizenship and he was deported in 2005. He lived his last years in Reykjavik. On January 17, 2008, the genius and madman Robert Fisher died of kidney failure. He was buried in the Selfoss cemetery near Reykjavik.
