Robert Fischer: the unsurpassed chess player of the 20th century

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

Robert "Bobby" Fischer (1943-09-03 - 2008-17-01) - American chess grandmaster, 11th holder of the world chess crown, creator of an alternative version of chess - "960", owner of the patent of a new chess clock "Fischer's clock" with time control. Many consider him the greatest and unsurpassed chess player of all time. Bobby Fischer - three-time Chess Oscar winner (from 1970 to 1972 inclusive). The maximum rating was recorded in July 1972 - 2785 points.

Bobby Fischer's childhood and youth

In March 1949, 6-year-old Bobby was first introduced to chess. The first parties were with older sister Joan. Young Fischer quickly began to fall in love with the game, it was impossible to keep him from addicting to chess. When Joan lost interest in the game, Bobby had no choice but to play against himself.

Sitting at the chessboard for hours on end, Robert did not want to make friends at all, human communication simply disgusted him. He could communicate only with those children who know how to play chess, but there were no such children at all among his peers. The circumstances were very disturbing to his mother, Regina Fisher, she turned to psychologists to explain such a strange development of the child, but Robert did not want to change.

First titles

Soon, Robert enrolled in the local chess section, and at the age of 10 he had his first serious chess tournament, which he won. A phenomenal gift and a good memory allowed Robert to make the right decisions at the chessboard with maximum speed. Fischer constantly honed his skill and even easily learned several foreign languages, he was able to read chess literature in Spanish, German and Serbo-Croatian fluently. In 1957, Robert Fischer became the official chess champion of the United States of America. This kind of achievement was not observed before at all, the 14-year-old guy became the youngest chess champion of the country.

Chess battle of the 20th century

In the final stage of the 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, representatives of the two leading powers in the world met - Boris Spassky (USSR) and Robert Fischer (USA). The prize fund of the match amounted to 250 thousand dollars, at the time of 1972 this amount was a record in competitions of this kind. It was a fundamental battle not only for the world chess crown, but also for the political ideology inthe height of the Cold War. The first meeting took place on July 11, in which Boris Spassky won, but there were still twenty playing games ahead. The final stage was completed on 31 August with a total score of (12½): (8½) in favor of the American. Robert Fischer presents the chess crown to the United States of America.

Robert Fischer returns home a winner

Now Robert Fischer is a chess player with a capital letter, he has become a national hero! After winning the World Championship, chess interest in the US reached its peak. Upon returning to his homeland, US President Richard Nixon invited the chess player to a social dinner at the White House, but was refused. Fischer responded rather defiantly: "I hate it when someone looks into my mouth when I eat."

This behavior surprised the world community, but the press and media continued to speak flatteringly in the direction of the new champion. Fischer's reaction to what was happening was very calm, he remained impudent and uncompromising. Robert Fisher was still the same independent person who was skeptical about any conversation with the press. He was offered advertising contracts for millions of dollars, but he always turned them down.

Comprehensive popularization of chess in the West grew rapidly. The games of Robert Fischer were studied not only by America, but by the whole world! The secular public wanted to start a conversation with him, and the rest named their children after his name.