Fischer, Bobby (1943-2008), became the first American to win the official world chess championship. He won the title in 1972 by defeating defending world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the most publicized chess match ever. In 1975, the World Chess Federation took away Fischer’s title after he refused to defend it by playing Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov under federation rules. Fischer never played another tournament game. He did not play again in public until 1992, when he defeated Spassky in an exhibition match in Yugoslavia. Fischer’s participation in the match violated United States sanctions against Yugoslavia, and the U.S. government issued an warrant for his arrest. Fischer eventually fled to Japan, where he was imprisoned for nine months in 2004 and 2005. He then left Japan for Iceland, which had granted him citizenship.
Robert James Fischer was born on March 9, 1943, in Chicago and raised in New York City. In 1958, at the age of 14, he won his first United States chess championship. Later in 1958, at the age of 15 years and 6 months, he became the youngest international grand master in chess history to that time. His My Sixty Memorable Games (1969) is regarded as a chess classic. Fischer died on Jan. 17, 2008.
