Robert Fischer
Biography (1943–2008)
The youngest-ever participant of the Candidates Tournament, Robert (Bobby) James Fischer (1943-2008), came down into history as a person who single-handedly disrupted Soviet dominance in chess. Fisher made his debut in Candidates in 1959 at the tender age of 16, but he was not mature enough to compete with the top Soviet Grandmasters. After winning the Interzonal in Stockholm three years later, Fischer entered the Candidates in Curacao (1962) as one of the favorites, but it turned sour for him as he finished only fourth. Robert James voluntarily missed two championship cycles only to return strong, winning the Interzonal in Palma de Majorca (1970). After pummeling Taimanov (6-0), Larsen (6-0) and Petrosian (6½-2½), he earned the right to play a title match with the reigning champion Boris Spassky (Reykjavik, 1972). Fischer won by a score of 12½–8½ and became the 11th World Champion. He was expected to defend his title in 1975 against Karpov but refused and lost by default. In 1973–1991 Fischer did not play in official chess competitions. He agreed to play a match against Spassky in 1992, claiming he was still the World Champion, won 10–5, and then retired from chess.
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On Fischer
Boris Spassky
Bobby is a tragic personality... He is an honest and good natured man. Absolutely not social. He is not adaptable to everybody’s standards of life. He has a very high sense of justice and is unwilling to compromise as well as with his own conscience as with surrounding people. When you play Bobby, it is not a question if you win or lose. It is a question if you survive. He and I were friends, and he really didn’t like it when his friends said anything about him. And in the last two years he was not just a close friend to me, but almost a brother. For me, he was a very honest and pure person inside. I still remember our conversations about chess; they are of great interest and value to me to this day
Anatoly Karpov
His path to the World Championship title was impressive. To win 6:0 against Taimanov and Larsen, one of the strongest grandmasters of the 70s, is a fantastic result. And then his confident victory over Spassky… He was fighting for the best conditions for the chess players
Garry Kasparov
Fischer’s beautiful chess and his immortal games will stand forever as a central pillar in the history of our game In his play, Fischer was amazingly objective, long before computers stripped away so many of the dogmas and assumptions humans have used to navigate the game for centuries… … Despite the ugliness of his decline, Fischer deserves to be remembered for his chess and for what he did for chess
Vladimir Kramnik
There was a feeling, that this person is destined to become the world champion and nothing can stop him. There was a feeling of predefinition. No sooner had he appeared when everybody knew everything about him! In my opinion, it was absolutely clear that he will become the world champion already 5 years before he became the champion. Such force!
Magnus Carlsen
What I admired most about him [Bobby Fischer] was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him
Want more?
Read
Fischer, Bobby. My 60 Memorable Games
1969
Brady, Frank. Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall
2012
