Most of us don't pick our time of death, and most of us would like to get their four score, but it doesn't always work out the way we would like. I don't have the details of Fischers last days, nor do I think there is any significance to the fact that he died at age 64 the number of squares on the chessboard he loved. But it is somehow fitting that 64 is how it turned out. He was always eccentric, but his games, oh those games. I'll be spending some time today playing through some of his best. and here are his games from the 1972 World Championship . We owe Bobby a great deal, he was, and still is an inspiration for many who play the game. He brought the World Championship title to the United States and spawned a whole new generation of chessplayers. He'll be missed. World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer Dies at 64 Bobby Fischer, the chess genius who careened during his life from Cold War hero to eccentric international exile, died yesterday in Iceland, where he had lived since 2005. He was 64. Fischer's spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, told wire services that the former world chess champion died at a Reykjavik hospital. No cause of death was given. A solitary and combative figure, Fischer was born in Chicago, grew up in Brooklyn, and by age 15 had attained the rank of grandmaster. He thrilled Americans in 1972 when, at age 29, he dethroned Russian grandmaster and world champion Boris Spassky in a 24-game match in the Icelandic capital. He was the only American to ever hold the title....
Continue reading "Bobby Fischer" »