Geplaatst: 8 feb 2008 15:29 - Gewijzigd: 8 feb 2008 15:29

Game over

REYKJAVIK - Bobby Fischer once said: „Chess is life.” He was dead wrong.

Bobby Fischer has died at 64 in Iceland last month. Chess wasn’t enough to save him. It was, however, enough to make him famous.

Perhaps ”notorious” is a better word. „He was the pride -and sorrow- of chess”, says British grandmaster Raymond Keene.

The ”pride” part began when Bobby Fischer, an American, won the U.S. Junior Championship of chess. He was 13 years old. Then at only 14, he won the United States Open Championship - the adult contest. He went on to win it seven more times.

At age 15, he became an international grandmaster - the youngest in the history of chess.

Perhaps Bobby Fischer’s most famous win was his 1972 defeat of Russian world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The victory at the 21-game tournament in Reykjavik made him the first-ever American world champion of chess.

„It’s the free world against the lying, cheating, hypocritical Russians”, Bobby Fischer said at the time. And although most Americans probably agreed, they were also probably ashamed of his behavior.

That’s where the ”sorrow” part comes in. Bobby Fischer was frequently rude, obnoxious, arrogant, demanding, intolerant, and offensive. His behavior was also bizarre. He even ”disappeared” for decades. „For some, he was a genius”, says French chess expert Jerome Maufras. „For others, he was a crazy man.”

Bobby Fischer did surface in 1992 to play a tournament in Yugoslavia - in defiance of a U.S. ban on travel there. He became a wanted man and turned viciously anti-American - and anti-Semitic. In 2001, he even praised the 9/11 terrorist attacks. „I want to see the U.S. wiped out”, he said.

In spite of his character flaws, chess experts around the world have called Bobby Fischer „brilliant”, „a giant of the chess world”, „a genius.” The president of the World Chess Federation says he was „an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein.” (World)