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.

World Champion (1972-1975)

The outcome of the Match of the Century cemented two milestones in Fischer's career--the ambition of being the World Chess Champion, and being the highest rated player ever according to the Elo rating system (a rating of 2780 after the Spassky match, although he had been as high as 2795 in 1971).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The win over Spassky was also considered something of a Cold War propaganda victory for the United States, confirming as it did that the strongest player in the world, in a sport dominated by the Soviets since World War II, was now an iconoclastic American who defeated the mighty Soviet chess establishment almost single-handedly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the same interview with Len Zola, Bill Hughes asked Bobby Fischer about the money that he won in 1972 and what he had done with it. Fischer said that he had given the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 out of the $200,000 that he made that year. However, 1972 was also the key year in the climax of prophecies both broadcast and written by Herbert W. Armstrong and those prophecies had failed to come true. Meanwhile Garner Ted Armstrong was exposed as having engaged in a series of sex scandals and he was subsequently removed as the main speaker on The World Tomorrow program. Fischer became disillusioned with the organization and left it, subsequently publicly denouncing it.

Related Topics:
1972

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All of these events had a tremendous impact on Fischer, who felt betrayed and swindled by a church that kept the seventh day Sabbath, did not keep Easter or Christmas, but celebrated many of the days that are holy to Jews, while claiming that the Anglo-Saxon peoples constituted the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. (However, unlike other groups who believed variations on this same theory, the Worldwide Church of God held that Jews were brothers within the same family of Israel.) This may have catalyzed Fischer's extreme anti-Semitism and beliefs in a worldwide conspiracy against him.

Related Topics:
Sabbath - Easter - Christmas - Jew - Anglo-Saxon - Lost Ten Tribes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Publicity of chess in the United States

Fischer's winning of the title brought both him and chess tremendous publicity in the United States. The U.S. public went wild over Fischer's victory against Spassky. Fischer became an instant celebrity whose name became known by people who knew nothing about chess. He received countless product endorsement offers, had his picture featured on the cover of Life magazine, and even made an appearance on national TV. Membership in the United States Chess Federation tripled, creating what is commonly called the "Fischer Boom" years. The last time chess had been so topical among the general American public had been when Paul Morphy returned to the U.S. after beating Europe's greatest masters. More recently, his name appeared in the title of the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, about a young chess prodigy. Fischer cited this film as an attempt to make money off his name, since he has received no royalties from it.

Related Topics:
Life magazine - Paul Morphy - Searching for Bobby Fischer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fischer authored two best-selling books on chess during this time: My 60 Memorable Games (ISBN 0671214837) and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess (ISBN 0553263153).

Related Topics:
My 60 Memorable Games - Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fischer - Karpov 1975

In 1975 the time came for Fischer to defend his title, against the winning challenger Anatoly Karpov. Fischer had not played any tournament games since winning the title, and he laid down numerous conditions for the match. FIDE agreed to all of his demands but two, rejecting Fischer's demands on how the match would be won. Fischer claimed the usual system (24 games with the first player to get 12.5 points winning) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which was not good for chess. He instead wanted a match of an unlimited number of games, with the first player to score ten wins winning the match, draws not counting. Most controversially, in the event of each player winning nine games, the champion (Fischer) would retain his title. This meant that Fischer only needed to win nine games to retain the championship, while Karpov had to win by a score of ten to eight. FIDE set a deadline of April 1st for Fischer to accept FIDE's scoring approach, or he would forfeit his championship. Fischer refused to accept and was held to have resigned his title.

Related Topics:
1975 - Anatoly Karpov

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fischer disappeared and did not play competitive chess for nearly twenty years.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~