BOBBY FISCHER Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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BOBBY FISCHER

Name: Bobby James Fischer                                                                     
Born March 9, 1943 Chicago, Illinois, United States                                           
Died January 17, 2008 Reykjavík, Iceland                                                     
Title Grandmaster                                                                             
World Champion 1972–1975 (FIDE)                                                             
Peak rating 2785 (July 1972)                                                                   
                                                                                               
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American-born         
chess Grandmaster, an Icelandic citizen at the time of his death, who became                   
famous as a teenager for his chess-playing ability. In 1972, he became the first,             
and so far the only, American to win the official World Chess Championship,                   
defeating defending champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland.             
The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as               
one of the greatest chess players of all time.                                                 
                                                                                               
In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when FIDE, the international chess               
federation, would not accept all his conditions. He was stripped of his title as               
a result, after which he became more reclusive. He played no more competitive                 
chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with Spassky. The competition was held                 
in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo. This led to               
a conflict with the US government, and he never returned to his native country.               
                                                                                               
In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and Japan.             
During this time he made increasingly anti-American and antisemitic statements,               
despite the fact that his mother and likely biological father were both Jewish.               
In 2004–2005, after his US passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese                 
authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. He was then granted                   
Icelandic citizenship and released to Iceland by the Japanese authorities. He                 
lived in Iceland from 2005 until his death in 2008.