Robert James Fischer, 64

ahooNews today says Robert James Fischer has died.He’s one of the greatest chess players of all time. Learned to play chess at six, became the youngest national junior chess champion at thirteen, the youngest senior champion at fourteen. At age 20, he set a record nobody had done before: 11 wins in 11 games. At age 29, defeating the title holder Boris Spassky of the USSR, he became his country’s first world champion.

In 1975, another Russian, Anatoly Karpov, challenged him. Karpov wanted the title back for Russia. But it was a match that never came. Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title.

Dr. Max Euwe, Fide’s president, could not conceal his disappointment. “We have sent Karpov a telegram informing him that we have awarded him the title, and congratulating him.”

Karpov, who became a title holder by default, could not understand why Fisher refused to play the match. “I wanted this very much to take place. I think he was just not ready to play.” The truth is Fischer wanted to change the rules of chess games. For example, he objected to the rule that limited the championship matches to 24 games, to which Fide agreed. But Fischer demanded further concessions to which Fide would not agree. So Fischer refused to defend his title.

Back in Fischer’s village, his countrymen were equally disappointed. “It’s tragic,” said Col. Edmund Edmundson. “Tragic for Fischer, for world chess, for Karpov. Poor Fischer won’t have his title, Karpov will have a paper title (which won’t mean anything), and the world won’t have its match. We’re all losers” (The Times Report on the World Chess Champion, 1975, in Microsoft Encarta Premium Suite 2005).

Fischer’s reputation as a chess genius is eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies. “His extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess,” Kasparov was quoted as saying to the Associated Press. Fischer occasionally made erratic and often racist remarks against the Jews, although his mother was Jewish. Every now and then he would emerge on radio stations in Hungary, Iceland, the Philippines and Switzerland, ranting belligerently excessive remarks against his perceived enemies: the US and Israel. (Posted Ed Maquiling) Read more>>>