Bobby Fischer: Genius Chess Master And Not a Very Good Person.

Robert James Fischer

"All I want to do, ever, is play chess." 

He was born on March 9th, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. Bobby was brought up in Brooklyn by his mom, Regina, after she moved there following her divorce in 1945. His mom was under FBI surveillance starting in 1942 due to her leftist beliefs as well as her being of Russian and German origin.

Along with his sister Joan, Bobby learned to play chess at the age of 6 using the instructions from a set bought at a candy store. At the age of 13 he became the youngest national junior chess champion in the USA and at the age of 14 he became the youngest senior US Champion. In 1958, at the age of 15, he became the youngest Grandmaster in the history of chess.

Despite having a IQ of 181,  in school Bobby was terrible student who routinely got Ds and was socially awkward. He was a loner with few friends at school and was essentially isolated. In 1960, he decided to drop out of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, NY.

In 1972, Bobby became the first American to win the title of World Champion in chess by defeating Boris Spassky of the USSR in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

After Becoming World Champion, Bobby became of recluse. He was stripped of the title after he refused to accede to chess officials' rules for an upcoming defense against challenger Anatoly Karpov, who was eventually awarded the title by forfeit. After this, Bobby turned down endorsements and became more publicly erratic. He was even arrested.

After 20 years, Bobby made a comeback into the chess world in 1992. A Yugoslavian business man and crony of Slobodan Milosevic put up a $5 million to sponsor a Spassky-Fischer rematch in what was left of Yugoslavia. Bobby easily defeated Spassky. He earned over $3 million and incurred the wrath of the US government. He was subsequently indicted, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in the US. Yugoslavia was heavily sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations as a result of genocidal violence related to the breakup of the country. Bobby publicly spat on the the US Treasury letter warning him of the consequences of participating in the match.

It has been alleged that Bobby kept boxes of Nazi propaganda, and on 9/11 he took this to the airwaves, via a public broadcast in the Philippines: "I say death to President Bush! I say death to the United States! Fuck the Jews! The Jews are a criminal people. They mutilate their children. They're murderous, criminal, thieving, lying bastards. They made up the Holocaust. There's not a word of truth to it... This is a wonderful day. Fuck the United States. Cry, you crybabies! Whine, you bastards! Now, your time is coming."

The US then canceled Bobby's passport after he traveled to Japan. When he attempted to leave, he was detained by Japanese officials at the request of the US government. The Icelandic parliament granted citizenship to Bobby to extricate him from a Japanese prison.

Bobby died in Iceland of kidney failure in 2008 at age 64.