Robert James "Bobby" Fischer
(March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008)
Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius became a Cold War hero by dethroning the ultimate Soviet Boris Spassky, winning the World Chess Championship on September 1, 1972. He was the first American born player to do so.
He is considered to be one of the most gifted chess players of all time and, despite his prolonged absence from competitive play, is still among the best known of all chess players.
Some Fischer facts from BobbyFisher.net
* Born: March 9, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois
* Died: January 17, 2008 in Reykjavik, Iceland
* Learned the rules of chess at age 6!: 1949
* First recorded tournament game: July 1955
* International Grandmaster title: 1958
* U.S. Champion eight times in eight attempts!: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966
* Winner of: every tournament and match in which he participated from December, 1962 through World Championship match 1972 with the exceptions of Capablanca Memorial, 1965, (2nd place - ½ point behind Smyslov), and Piatigorsky Cup, 1966, (2nd place - ½ point behind Spassky).
* Bobby Fischer's tournament and match results: 415 wins, 248 draws and 85 losses out of 748 games played from 1955 through 1992 for a performance average of .721 or 72.1%
* Fischer's highest achieved rating: 2785 ELO.
Bobby’s games are so full of ideas, from opening adventures to the themes of composed endings that they are in themselves the best introduction to the pleasures of the game. As Bobby Fischer said, "You can get good only if you love the game."
Bobby also said, "Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind." Here is a game where he did just that;
Robert Eugene Byrne - Robert James Fischer
US Championship, 1963
1. d4 {Notes from various sources.}
1…Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 d5 5. cxd5 {5.Qb3 maintains more tension. -- Fischer}
5…cxd5 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. Nge2 Nc6 9. O-O b6 10. b3 {It's hard for either side to introduce an imbalance into this essentially symmetrical variation. Deadeye equality also ensues after 10.Nf4 e6 11.b3 Ba6 12.Re1 Rc8 13.Ba3 Re8 14.Rc1 Stahlberg-Flohr, Kemeri 1937 -- Fischer}
10…Ba6 11. Ba3
{After White's 11th move I should adjudicate this position as slightly superior, and at worst completely safe. To turn this into a mating position in eleven more moves is more witchcraft than chess! Quite honestly, I do not see the man who can stop Bobby at this time. -- K.F. Kirby, South African Chess Quarterly}
11… Re8 12. Qd2 e5! {I was a bit worried about weakening my QP, but felt that the tremendous activity obtained by my minor pieces would permit White no time to exploit it. 12...e6 would probably lead to a draw. -- Fischer}
13. dxe5 Nxe5 14. Rfd1 {"Add another to those melancholy case histories entitled: The Wrong Rook." -- Fischer ~ "This is very much a case of 'the wrong rook'. One can understand Byrne's desire to break the pin on the e2-knight, but this turns out to be less important than other considerations. Fischer spends a lot of time and energy analyzing the superior 14. Rad1!, but still comes to the conclusion that Black can keep the advantage." -- John Nunn}
14…Nd3
{Now it's all systems go for the Fischer rocket. -- Robert Wade}
15. Qc2 {There is hardly any other defense to the threat of ...Ne5. -- Fischer}
15… Nxf2!
{The key to Black's previous play. The complete justification for this sac does not become apparent until White resigns! --Fischer}
16. Kxf2 Ng4+ 17. Kg1 Nxe3 18. Qd2 {Byrne: As I sat pondering why Fischer would choose such a line, because it was so obviously lost for Black, there suddenly comes...}
18…Nxg2!!
{This dazzling move came as the shocker... the culminating combination is of such depth that, even at the very moment at which I resigned, both grandmasters who were commenting on the play for the spectators in a separate room believed I had a won game! -- Robert Byrne}
19. Kxg2 d4! 20. Nxd4 Bb7+ {The King is at Black's mercy. -- Fischer}
21. Kf1 {In a room set aside for commentaries on the games in progress, two grandmasters were stating, for the benefit of the spectators, that Byrne had a won game. Byrne's reply to Fischer's next move must have been draw dropping! -- Wade}
21…Qd7
{And White resigns. Fischer writes: "A bitter disappointment. I'd hoped for 22.Qf2 Qh3+ 23.Kg1 Re1+!! 24.Rxe1 Bxd4 with mate to follow shortly."} 0-1
Downlaodable .pgn file of Fisher's games
I wanted to give them something to think about when they prepare for me in future tournaments." -- Bobby Fischer