Bobby Fischer Biography

Let us start with the basic question - who was Bobby Fischer. In his entire history, Bobby Fischer is said to be the first and only American world chess champion in his entire history. Many people consider him to be among the greatest chess players of all time and the most famous as well. Fischer sparked the whole generation of chess players, especially in Iceland and the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s, his victory over the Russian chess empire was the most spectacular individual performance by any other chess player. Of his most famous quotes and also perhaps, one of his simplest statements shows the most fundamental and important truth about the game read, "Chess demands total concentration."

Bobby Fischer Biography

Let us start Bobby Fischer biography with his early career.

Early Chess Career And U.S. Champion

In the year 1949, the family of Fischer moved to New York City when he was 6 years old. Fischer started playing the competitive games at "Brooklyn and Hawthorne Chess Clubs," and he started drawing attention from the nationwide chess players. Fischer won the United States Junior Chess Championships in 1956, making him the youngest player to ever win the championship at the time. The tournament win earned him a powerful spot in the 1957 United States Chess Championships. 

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An image of Bobby Fischer

Prior to his United States Championship debut in the year 1957, Fischer would win the United States Open Championship by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the whole tournament. After defending his title - U.S. Fischer has become the youngest National Master in American history after winning the Junior Championship and the New Jersey Open Championship. Around the end of 1956, he played one of the most famous all-time chess games, which is known today as the "Game of the Century" or someones also called the match of the century.

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Fig: Young Bobby Fischer with Jack Collins and William Lombardy.

Grandmaster and World Championship Candidate

As per the Bobby Fischer biography book, Fischer played a few matches in Yugoslavia to prepare for the Interzonal in 1958 after winning a round trip to Russia to perform on a game show. Fischer qualified for the Candidates tournament by finishing in the top six, making him the youngest player to ever reach this stage of the world championship cycle, at only 15 years old. For the qualified Candidates, the tournament earned Fischer with the grandmaster title. He, at that time, would be the youngest player ever to earn the title until G.M. Judit Polgar broke the record in the year 1991.

Fischer finished fifth in the 1959 Candidates tournament and skipped out of high school on many occasions to focus on chess. When Fischer became the first non-Soviet to win an Interzonal event and qualify for the Candidates tournament the following year, he made history. After falling short, Fischer famously accused the Soviet players of planning draws ahead of time to preserve energy throughout the event.

After that, Fischer won the 1963/1964 U.S. Championship with a score of 11/11, taking a break from the Candidates qualification. And, it was the only perfect score in the tournament history. Fischer won his 8th U.S. Championship in 1966/1967. In 1968, this American took a break from the tournament chess and wrote a book, "My 60 Memorable Games," which is still considered as one of the all-time best chess books. People, especially the ones who play chess are still interested in the Bobby Fischer biography book or the Bobby Fischer books.

World Champion 

Fischer returned to chess in 1970, and after a seven-game winning streak, he won the Interzonal tournament by only 3.5 points. Fischer qualified for the 1971 Candidates tournament as a result of his victory in the competition. Fischer beat GM Mark Taimanov with a score of 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Then, in the semifinals, he replicated the feat against GM Bent Larsen. This twelve-game stretch is considered by several to be the best individual performance by a chess player ever before.

According to G.M. Tigran Petrosian, in his final Candidate match against previous world champion Fischer won the first game by amassing 20 straight wins against superior opponents. With the next game, Petrosian would break the run, but he would lose the match with a score of 612–212, ensuring Fischer's place in the "1972 World Championship Match."

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Fig: Fischer vs. Spassky 1972.

In the year 1972, Fischer faced the World Champion GM Boris Spassky in a match, which is publicized as the Cold War confrontation, which attracted more worldwide interest compared to any chess championship since or before. After the match starts down 0-2 (even, he did not show up to play the next game), he won an electrifying game (the third one) with an early novelty in the Benoni Defense. 

Eventually, Fischer defeated Spassky with a score of 12.5-8.5 to become the 11th champion of the world. Fischer, the mysterious world champion, chose not to defend his title in 1975, making him the only world champion to do so. After that, Fischer went into isolation and was completely absent from the chess arena for 17 years. In the year 1992, Fischer won an unofficial rematch in Yugoslavia against Spassky.

Bobby Fischer's Cold War

Bobby Fischer was due to face the Soviets, a group of some of the world's best chess players, on the stage, or the board. Fischer's mother, who had always been proud of her son's accomplishments, wrote to Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev in 1958, inviting him to compete in the World Youth and Student Festival.

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Fig: 16-year-old Bobby Fischer goes on head-to-head with U.S.S.R. chess champion named Mikhail Tal, on Nov 1, 1960.

But the invitation of Fischer arrived much late for the event. And his mother could not afford tickets. However, the wish of Fischer to play there was granted the following year, when the producers of the game show named "I've Got A Secret" gave him 2 round-trip tickets to Russia.

Fischer ordered that he be escorted to Moscow's Central Chess Club, where he fought two of the Soviet Union's young masters and defeated them in each game. Though Fischer was not satisfied with only beating people his own age, he had his eyes on the bigger prize. He wanted to take on the World Champion with Mikhail Botvinnik.

Legacy

Despite a few of the incomprehensible decisions of Fischer after becoming the world champion, his legacy still lives on today. Various generations of chess players were either greatly inspired by his play or learned the game because of him. Fischer is the subject of two of Chess.com's top-10 chess books, and three of Chess.com's Chess Movies, including "You Do Not Want To Miss," are either about Fischer or are related to him.

Although Fischer was known for his theoretical novelties and intelligent opening play on the biggest stages, and his fantastic middlegame play as well, his endgame play was exceptional and well worth studying that Fischer was a complete player. 

Death

Fischer, the most famous player of all time, died on January 17, 2008, at the age of 64, the same number of squares on a chessboard. He also won many greater matches, where one is said as the match of the century.

Fischer competed in his first United States Chess Championship when he was only 14 years old. Faced with the greatest players in the country, Fischer won the tournament with a score of +8 and became the youngest international master and U.S. champion. He would go on to win 7 consecutive titles by winning each one by at least a one-point margin.