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January 18, 2008

Chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, 64, dies in Iceland

AP
Then-15-year-old chess star Bobby Fischer, left, and Russian grand master Tigran Petrosian play a practice game at Moscow's Central Chess Club, June 30, 1958.

BBC: Chess legend Fischer dies at 64. From the BBC's obituary, "The reclusive player - who had renounced his US citizenship - had lived undetected in Japan for a number of years before moving to Iceland."

AP says the Chicago native's cause of death was kidney failure after a long illness.

In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.
Instead, he championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

More at fan sites: The Bobby Fischer Unofficial Home Page, BobbyFischer.net

More from AP:

"Chess is war on a board," he once said. "The object is to crush the other man's mind."

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion from Russia, said Fischer's ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was "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," Kasparov told The Associated Press.

Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, emerging occasionally to make erratic and often anti-Semitic comments, although his mother was Jewish.

A strange, ugly page that claims to be "the ONLY authentic Bobby Fischer website" -- and probably is -- more than explains why he is vilified. (Warning: There is much to be offended by here.)

The AP thumbnail photo is Fischer in Reyjkavik on March 25, 2005.

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 10:00 AM | Permalink