From The Times archive: Fischer-Spassky | The Times Obituary

Bobby Fischer, the tortured American chess genius who went from Cold War hero to anti-Semitic outcast, has died aged 64.

Friends said that Fischer died yesterday at his home in Reykjavik, the scene of his 1972 “match of the century” victory over Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.

Born in Chicago in March, 1943, Fischer was US junior champion at 13, US Open champion at 14, and the youngest international grandmaster ever at 15. Many consider him the greatest natural talent that chess has ever seen.

His 1972 victory over Spassky made him the first and only American world champion in a sport traditionally dominated by the Soviets. As he himself explained: "It's really the free world against the lying, cheating, hypocritical Russians."

But instead of going on to dominate the game for a generation, as many experts predicted, that victory at the age of 29 was the high point of his life. He refused to play again and was stripped of his title in 1975.

Fischer's recalcitrance grew in the following decades as personal eccentricities descended into madness.

From 1992, when he defied international sanctions against Yugoslavia through a rematch with Spassky in Belgrade - which he again won - he was in open conflict wit his own government.

His reputation hit rock bottom with a profane outburst on a Filipino radio station hours after the 9/11 attacks in which he welcomed the terrorist outrage and launched into a tirade against the Jews.

On July 13, 2004, Fischer was taken into custody at Tokyo’s Narita airport for travelling on a passport which Washington said had been revoked.

With Japan deliberating for months on whether to send him to the United States, Iceland came to his rescue, granting him citizenship in tribute to his role in making the small island - and the game of chess - famous in 1972.

Also coming to Fischer’s aid was Spassky, who in an open letter said he was ready to share a jail cell with him if Fischer was extradited to the United States. "Just let us play chess," Spassky said.

Spassky was quoted today as saying that he was "very sorry" to hear of his friend's death.

More forthcoming was Garry Kasparov, the former Russian chess champion, who said that Fischer's rise in the 1960s had been "a revolutionary breakthrough" for the game.

"The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Mr Kasparov said.

Raymond Keene, a British grandmaster and chess correspondent of The Times, added: "He was the pride and sorrow of chess. It’s tragic that such a great man descended into madness and anti-Semitism."

Times Recommends

• No apology for Germany’s own Nazi victims
• Intricate web of fear and hope tying down deal
• Victims remembered a year after Mumbai attacks