Bobby Fischer

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (born March 9, 1943) is a former world chess champion, who on September 1, 1972 became the only American to win the FIDE World Chess Championship. He lost the title when he refused to defend it on April 3, 1975. Garry Kasparov wrote that of all world champions of chess, the skill gap between Fischer and his contemporaries was the largest in history {{ref|Kasparov}}. Fischer is also well known for his eccentricity, unconventional behavior, and outspoken, anti-Semitic political views. Despite his prolonged absence from competitive play, or perhaps because of it, Fischer is still among the best known of all chess players.

Further reading

• Bobby Fischer, Profile of a Prodigy by Frank Brady, McKay 1973. Fischer, in one of his radio interviews, said this book was "full of lies".
• Bobby Fischer Rediscovered by Andy Soltis, Batsford 2003. ISBN 0713488468
• Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow, Faber and Faber 2004. ISBN 0571214118
• My Great Predecessors, Part IV: On Fischer by Garry Kasparov, London 2004
• Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games by Irving Chernev, Dover; August 1995. ISBN 0486286746
• The World's Great Chess Games by Reuben Fine, Dover; 1983. ISBN 0486245128
• World chess champions by Edward G. Winter, editor. 19981 ISBN 0080249041
• World Champion Fischer (Chessbase, CD-ROM) - includes all Fischer's games (around half annotated), biographical notes, and an examination by Robert Huebner of Fischer's annotations in My Sixty Memorable Games.