Former teenage chess prodigy Bobby Fischer dies
18 Jan 2008
Former world chess champion Robert James "Bobby" Fischer passed away yesterday in his adopted country, Iceland,at the age of 64. His death was announced today by Icelandic TV and radio.
Fischer was regarded as one of the most gifted chess players of all time. Born 9 March 1943, he won the World Chess Championship on 1 September 1972 against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland's capital.
He lost the title when he refused to defend it on 3 April 1975 in protest against the World Chess Federation refusing to accept all his conditions for a title defense.
Fischer achieved recognition as a teenage chess prodigy and became the only US-born chess player to become the official world chess champion. At 13 he became the United States Junior Chess Championship in July 1956, the youngest-ever junior champion, a record which still stands.
In 2005 he renounced his US citizenship and was arrested in Japan where he was detained after his US passport was revoked. He was granted Icelandic citizenship and lived in Iceland until his death.
Grandmaster Garry Kasparov said of Fischer, "I regard Bobby Fischer as a mythological combination of sorts, a centaur if you will, a synthesis between man and chess."
"Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind." Bobby Fischer once said.
