“All I want to do, ever, is to play chess”… true to his every word, Robert J. Fischer had invested all his life to pursue his passion for the game of chess. The legendary chess player, Fischer had an exceptional zeal to win. His moves were combination of brilliant combinations and strategic positions. His games were alive and interesting to the last move that he played. “All that matters on the chessboard is good moves” as said by him, Fischer had believed in playing intelligently and not aggressively, throughout his career.

Fischer was known for his universal style of playing. His excellent strategy and tactics were what made his game vivid. His technique was to be found in all the three phases of the game. The opening, middle game and the ending…all were equally brilliant. He was the only American to win an Official World Chess Championship.

Robert J. Fischer was born on the 9th of March 1943 at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. Robert was popularly known as Bobby Fischer all over the world. His mother Regina Wender, was an American citizen and was a physician by profession. His father Hans-Gerhardt Fischer was a German biophysicist. Fischer was just a kid of two when his parents got divorced and he lived with his mother and sister. They shifted to Arizona and then to Brooklyn, New York where his mother worked as a teacher at an elementary school. Fischer was 6 years old when he learned to play chess along with his sister. They played on a chessboard, which he and his sister found incidentally at a candy store below their apartment. They started playing by following the instructions on the chessboard but later on bought a chess book to learn the game properly. He was 7 years old when he joined the Brooklyn Chess Club and started playing chess seriously. He then shifted to Manhattan Chess Club, the strongest chess club of the time. The famous Grandmaster Arnold Denker guided him in his initial years. He was 13 when Master John W. Collins started giving him chess lessons. Bobby Fischer studied at the Erasmus Hall High School and also won a Gold Medal there for his achievements in the field of chess.

Fischer lived in many countries including Hungary, Philippines, Germany and Japan during his later life. Fischer was a patient of degenerative renal failure, which was a terminal illness and no treatment was available for his illness. Fischer died at the age of 64 in the year 2008 in Iceland. He was buried at the Christian cemetery of Laugarderlir church in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Early Career:

Fischer’s first notable win was at the United States Junior Chess Championship in the year 1956. He was the youngest junior champion of his time, which he won at the age of 13. His performance at the 1956 U.S. Open Chess Championship in Oklahoma City was notable as he scored 8.5 on12 to tie for 4-8th places. He scored at 7 on 10 at the Canadian Open Chess Championship held in Montreal 1956. Fischer’s one of the most famous performance was noted in the year 1956 at the 3rd Lessing Rosenwald Trophy tournament held at New York. He was awarded the title of National Master at the age of 13 for his brilliant performance in the tournament. Fischer successfully defended his title of US Junior Champion by scoring 8.5 on 9 at San Francisco. He won the U.S. Open Chess Championship against Arthur Bisguier. He became the youngest US Champion ever till date by winning with a score of 10.5 on 13 in the year 1958 at the age of 14. His next step was towards challenging the World Chess Championship by participating in the Portoroz Interzonal in the year 1958. He tied for the 5th and 6th place at the tournament finishing with a score of 12 on 20. This paved him the way for competing in the Candidates’ Tournament. He was also awarded the title of Grandmaster for his performance in the Portoroz Interzonal tournament. Though Fischer’s performance was good at the Candidates Tournament held in Yugoslavia in the year 1959, he was surpassed by Tal who won all the four games.

World Chess Championship:

It was in the year 1970 that Fischer competed for the title of World Chess Championship once again. He was a dominant chess player in the Candidates’ Tournament in the year 1971. Fischer defeated players like Mark Taimanov with a score of 6 to 0, Larsen with a score of 6 to 0 and Petrosian with a score of 6.5 to 2.5 to become the challenger for the title of World Chess Championship against the reigning Champion Boris Spassky. It was in the year 1972 that Fischer became the FIDE World Chess Champion beating Boris Spassky. He didn’t defend his title after that pertaining to the disagreement that he had with FIDE over the conditions for the match.