Bobby Fischer. The Genius Who Walked Away
Bobby Fischer wanted the world title more than anyone, and when he finally won it, he walked away. This page follows his life through the games that made him famous, and takes an honest look at the harm that came later.
Published .
The thirteen year old who saw beyond the queen
Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago on 9 March 1943. He learned chess at the age of six and he became obsessed. At thirteen he was the United States Junior Champion, at fourteen he won the first of eight United States Championships, and at fifteen, in 1958, he became a grandmaster.
The game that made him famous was played on 17 October 1956 in New York, in the Third Rosenwald Trophy, against Donald Byrne. It is known as the Game of the Century. Fischer was thirteen, and he played Black.
The Game of the Century
The game began as a Grunfeld Defense. Byrne developed his pieces in the usual way and grabbed material. Then Fischer found the move that gave the game its name. On move 17 he played ...Be6, offering his queen. Byrne could take it, and he did take it, but every black piece suddenly attacked at once.
After 18.Bxb6 Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ the white king was driven back and forth, and Black's pieces collected material one after another. On move 41 Fischer finished the game with a checkmate. White still had a queen and a knight on the board, but they were far from the king.
The lesson is the same as in many great games. A sacrifice is only brave if every piece afterwards has a job.
Reykjavik, 1972
Fischer's road to the title was extraordinary. He destroyed the field in the Candidates matches, and in 1972 he faced the Soviet champion Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland. The Cold War turned a chess match into a world event, and millions watched.
Fischer won the match 12.5 to 8.5 over 21 games and became the eleventh world champion. One of the most admired games is the sixth, played on 23 July 1972. Fischer played White and began with 1.c4, an opening he rarely used, which took Spassky out of his preparation. It ended in a clean win in 75 moves, and Spassky is said to have joined the audience in applauding.
The man who walked away
After the match Fischer did not play a single official game as champion. In 1975 he did not defend his title, and Anatoly Karpov became world champion by forfeit. The player who had wanted the crown more than anyone refused to defend it.
His later life was troubled and public. He made hateful antisemitic and anti-American statements, and that harm is part of his story. We do not excuse it, and we do not let it erase what he did on the board. His chess legacy and his later rhetoric are two separate things. Fischer died in Reykjavik on 17 January 2008, at the age of 64, of kidney failure.
What his games teach
- Look beyond the queen. A sacrifice can open lines for every other piece, if you have counted what comes after.
- Preparation is a weapon. Fischer's famous work habits, and a surprise first move in game six, were part of his edge.
- Greatness has a cost. A single focus can make a champion, and it can also make a person hard to live with.
If you want to try a sacrifice of your own, practice with our chess puzzles, and for a game in a similar spirit, read about the Immortal Game.
Watch Bobby Fischer in motion
The same story as an animated video, with a one minute version.
The animated story. About ten minutes. Watch on YouTube
The one minute version. Watch on YouTube
Sources for Bobby Fischer
- Wikipedia, Bobby Fischer
- Wikipedia, World Chess Championship 1972
- Edward Winter, Chess Notes, on the Byrne v Fischer Game of the Century (chesshistory.com)
- Game scores checked move by move against a chess program, and against published records.