Robert James Fischer
Bobby Fischer 1943-2008 was an American chess prodigy who became the youngest Grandmaster in history at age 15 in 1958. He defeated Boris Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship, a Cold War proxy battle. His later years were marked by anti-Semitic statements and exile in Iceland.
Bobby Fischer by the numbers โ life, work, and family.
The relatives of Bobby Fischer โ parents, partners, children, and siblings.
Bobby Fischer โ early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
His older sister Joan bought a chess set when he was six, igniting a monomaniacal passion for the game. Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 1943, to Regina Wender Fischer and likely biological father Paul Nemenyi. He grew up without a father in Brooklyn, New York. With an estimated IQ of 181 and a retentive memory, he became a National Master at age 12 and won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship at 13, making him the youngest Junior Champion in history.
At age 13 in 1956, Fischer defeated 26-year-old Donald Byrne in a game later hailed as The Game of the Century, showcasing his improvisation and innovation. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 1958 at 14, earning the International Master title, and later that year broke Boris Spassky’s record to become the youngest World Chess Federation Grandmaster at 15. After a sabbatical in 1968-1969, Fischer returned to win 20 straight international games in 1971, defeating former world champion Tigran Petrosian to challenge Spassky. The 1972 World Championship in Reykjavik saw Fischer lose the first two games but come back to win 12.5 to 8.5, becoming the first American world chess champion. He forfeited his title in 1975 when FIDE did not meet his demands, and played only one more match, a 1992 rematch with Spassky in defiance of UN sanctions.
Bobby Fischer married Miyoko Watai on August 17, 2004, and they remained married until his death. He had a daughter, Jinky Ong, born in 2000 in Manila, Philippines, with his partner Justine Ong. Fischer renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2004 after being arrested in Japan for traveling on a revoked passport, and was granted Icelandic citizenship in March 2005, moving to Reykjavik. In his later years, he made virulent anti-Semitic and anti-American statements, including praise for the 9/11 attacks.
Bobby Fischer remains the only American to win the FIDE World Chess Championship, a feat he achieved in 1972. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1985 and the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2001 as a charter inductee. His 1972 match with Boris Spassky boosted chess’s popularity worldwide, and his innovative play influenced generations. The 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer and the 2014 film Pawn Sacrifice depict his life. He is remembered as a genius whose career was both brilliant and tragic.
Browse the complete filmography of Bobby Fischer โ every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Bobby Fischer's bibliography โ every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Bobby Fischer โ Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Bobby Fischer โ lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
All That Matters on the Chessboard Is Good Moves.
Chess Is Life.
Chess Requires Full Concentration
Nothing Heals Like Human Warmth
There Is Nothing to Learn at School. Teachers Are Stupid. Women Should Not Be Allowed to Work as Teachers. at My School, Only the Physical Education Teacher Was Not Stupid He Played Chess Well
I Will Ensure That Chess Is Treated with No Less Respect Than Boxing. No Matter How Much Muhammad Ali Charges for His Next Performance, I Will Demand More
Little-known facts about Bobby Fischer โ origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
The United States wanted Fischer for violating economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992. He fled to Japan and was arrested in July 2004 for trying to leave on a revoked U.S. passport. He renounced his U.S. citizenship and tried to become a German citizen, but was denied. In March 2005, Iceland’s parliament voted to grant him Icelandic citizenship. He remained a fugitive in the U.S. until his death.
Fischer became a controversial figure in his final decades because of his anti-American and anti-Semitic statements. In 1984 he asked the editors of Encyclopedia Judaica to remove his name because he was not Jewish, and he denied the Holocaust in several interviews. On a radio show shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he proclaimed them a wonderful news 2001.
Fischer is the only American to win the FIDE World Chess Championship, which he did on September 1, 1972.
He attended Erasmus Hall High School together with Barbra Streisand.
Fischer was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2001 as one of five charter inductees.
Regina Wender, his mother, was a naturalized American citizen of German Jewish descent. He was considered the son of her first husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, but some sources claim his biological father was Hungarian physicist Paul Nemenyi.
He developed a fear of flying because he feared Russian authorities might try to hide booby traps on planes.
He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1985 as one of two charter inductees.
Fischer became a citizen of Iceland.
Despite a high IQ, he was a poor student in high school and dropped out at fifteen.
He reportedly had an IQ of 181.
The last movie Fischer saw before his death was Ridley Scott’s American Gangster 2007.
He was awarded the title of Chess Grandmaster in 1958.
In 1953, at age ten, he played his first chess tournament at the Brooklyn Chess Club Championship, coming in fifth place.
The episode Gone 2005 was inspired by his biography 2004.
He faced deportation to the U.S. for violating U.N. sanctions.
He was homeless for a period when he lived in Los Angeles and would spend his days riding the bus between there and Pasadena.
He and his sister Joan learned chess at age six using instructions from a set bought at a candy store.
He died at age 64, the number of fields on a chessboard.
He had an older sister named Joan.
He had a daughter named Jinky Ong, born in 2000, with his partner Justine Ong in Manila, Philippines. His daughter is his only immediate surviving relative.
He moved to Iceland on March 24, 2005.
He came to Japan in 2000 to develop a new chess clock with Seiko Inc.
The 1984 musical Chess features an American grandmaster called Freddie Trumper, whose abrasive personality and lonely childhood raised by a single mother were based on Fischer. Murray Head, who first played the character, understood it had been based on Fischer.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Bobby Fischer.