For a sport that has been described as “everything - Art, Science, and Sport”, is it any surprise that one of chess’ greatest players was a troubled, eccentric genius? As audiences flock to see Tobey Maguire’s depiction of Bobby Fischer, an American World Chess Champion who won his title by defeating Soviet player Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War in the just-released Pawn Sacrifice, it is a good time to look back at the life of one of the most remarkable and controversial chess players of all time.

Born in 1943 to Reginda Wender Fischer, a US citizen with Jewish ancestry, Fischer’s virulent anti-Semitism that he displayed in the later stages is just one of many contradictions of his troubled, yet brilliant life. As a self-taught child who took recourse to learning foreign languages so he could study foreign chess periodicals, Fischer was a child prodigy like no other, breaking then-traditional norms of chess and confounding the world. Though the movie focuses on Fischer’s victory over Spassky and its implications on US-Soviet relations, Fischer’s arguably greatest achievement came much earlier – at the age of 13.

Game of the Century

On October 17, 1956, Fischer faced off against one of the leading American chess masters of that time, Donald Byrne. The occasion was the Lessing J. Rosenwald Tropy, a tournament limited to the 12 best players in the country where Fischer’s entry was only due to special considerations. No one gave Fischer much of a chance – after all, it was a 13-year-old boy playing against the world’s best and he duly finished in ninth place. But yet, in his game against Byrne, Fischer demonstrated an unconventional brilliance, taking advantage of a minor mistake by Bryne and ramming the advantage home to defeat one of America’s then-greatest chess players. Fischer received the “Brilliancy” prize for his tactics – an award for a game that features sacrificial and unexpected attacks. That encounter has gone down in history as the “Game of the Century”.

His 1972 triumph at the World Chess Championships came in the backdrop of unrelenting expectations. Fischer came into the tournament on the back of an unprecedented 12-0 streak, defeating two Grand Masters Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen, six nil each. At first it was unclear whether the match would even be held – Fischer was not agreeable to the location (Reykjavik, Iceland) and was finally convinced to participate after a phone call from Henry Kissinger. Having lost the first two games, Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, to become the 11th World Chess Champion.

For the United States, a new hero had been born – a hero who had taken on the Soviets at their own game and had defeated them comprehensively. Fischer’s achievement was celebrated all over the US, he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and his triumph precipitated the rise of chess’ popularity in the country.

A reclusive figure

That would prove to be his last major achievement in the world of chess. Fischer refused to defend his title at the 1975 World Chess Championships after a dispute with the World Chess Federation and became something of a recluse, only turning up once in 1992 to play a rematch with Spassky, which he duly won. He became an increasingly controversial figure, making anti-Semitic and anti-American statements. In an ironic twist, the United States became increasingly antagonistic towards him, warning him not to play in Yugoslavia in 1992 (as it was under economic sanctions at that time) and then revoking his passport. Unaware of his passport’s revocation, Fischer was arrested and detained by Japanese authorities when he was trying to fly to the Philippines. After almost eight months of detention, he finally found refuge in Iceland, a country grateful to him for his achievements in 1972 which had finally put the country in the forefront of world gaze.  Fischer spent the last few years of his life in Iceland, dying from renal failure in 2008.

Such was his legacy that in the early 2000s, rumours circulated that Fischer was anonymously playing against other chess players on an online chess platform. Though the rumours were never substantiated, British Grand Master Nigel Short swore that he was “99 percent sure” that he was playing against the American legend. His death in 2008 marked the end of an enigma – in the sterilised world of international sport, there may probably never be someone as enigmatic as Robert James Fischer.