Masterclass

 Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World
Chess Champion. Many consider him to be the greatest chess player of all time.[2][3]
 Fischer showed great skill in chess from an early age; at 13, he won a brilliancy known as "The Game of the Century". At
age 14, he became the US Chess Champion, and at 15, he became both the youngest grandmaster (GM) up to that
time and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963/64 US Championship
with 11 wins in 11 games, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. His book My 60 Memorable Games,
published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading. He won the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point
margin, and won 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps, in the Candidates Matches. In July
1971, he became the first official FIDE number-one-rated player.
 Fischer won the World Chess Championship in 1972, defeating Boris Spassky of the USSR, in a match held in Reykjavík,
Iceland. Publicized as a Cold War confrontation between the USA and USSR, it attracted more worldwide interest than
any chess championship before or since. In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be
reached with FIDE, chess's international governing body, over one of the conditions for the match. Under FIDE rules, this
resulted in Soviet GM Anatoly Karpov, who had won the qualifying Candidates' cycle, being named the new world
champion by default.
 After forfeiting his title as World Champion, Fischer became reclusive and sometimes erratic, disappearing from both
competitive chess and the public eye. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held
in Yugoslavia, which was under a United Nations embargo at the time. His participation led to a conflict with the US
government, which warned Fischer that his participation in the match would violate an executive order imposing
US sanctions on Yugoslavia. The US government ultimately issued a warrant for his arrest. After that, Fischer lived his
life as an émigré. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that had been
revoked by the US government. Eventually, he was granted an Icelandic passport and citizenship by a special act of the
Icelandic Althing, allowing him to live in Iceland until his death in 2008.
 Fischer made numerous lasting contributions to chess. In the 1990s, he patented a modified chess timing system that
added a time increment after each move, now a standard practice in top tournament and match play. He also
invented Fischerandom, a new variant of chess known today as Chess960.
 Early years[edit]
 Bobby Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on March 9,
1943.[4] His birth certificate listed his father as Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, also known as
Gerardo Liebscher,[5] a German biophysicist. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer, was a
US citizen,[6][7] born in Switzerland; her parents were Polish Jews.[8][9] Raised in St. Louis,
Missouri,[4] Regina became a teacher, registered nurse, and later a physician.[10]
 After graduating from college in her teens, Regina traveled to Germany to visit her
brother. It was there she met geneticist and future Nobel Prize winner Hermann Joseph
Muller, who persuaded her to move to Moscow to study medicine. She enrolled at I.M.
Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, where she met Hans-Gerhardt, whom
she married in November 1933.[11] In 1938, Hans-Gerhardt and Regina had a
daughter, Joan Fischer. The reemergence of anti-Semitism under Stalin prompted Regina
to go with Joan to Paris, where Regina became an English teacher. The threat of a
German invasion led her and Joan to go to the United States in 1939. Regina and Hans-
Gerhardt had separated in Moscow, although they did not officially divorce until
1945.[11]
 At the time of her son's birth, Regina was homeless[12] and shuttled to different jobs and
schools around the country to support her family. She engaged in political activism, and
raised both Bobby and Joan as a single parent.[13][14][15]
 In 1949, the family moved to Manhattan[16] and the following year to Brooklyn, New
York City, where she studied for her master's degree in nursing and subsequently began
working in that field.[14]
 Paul Nemenyi as Fischer's father[edit]
 In 2002, Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia
Inquirer published an investigative report backed by detailed and
compelling evidence that indicated that Bobby Fischer's biological
father was actually Paul Nemenyi.[15][17][18] Nemenyi, a
Hungarian mathematician and physicist of Jewish heritage, was
considered an expert in fluid and applied mechanics. Benson and
Nicholas continued their work and gathered additional evidence in court
records, personal interviews, and even a summary of the FBI
investigation written by J. Edgar Hoover.[19]
 Throughout the 1950s, the FBI investigated Regina and her circle for
her alleged communist sympathies, as well as her time living in
Moscow.[20] FBI files note that Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the
United States, while recording that Nemenyi took a keen interest in
Fischer's upbringing.[17][21][22] Not only were Regina and Nemenyi
reported to have had an affair in 1942, but Nemenyi made monthly child
support payments to Regina and paid for Bobby's schooling until his own
death in 1952.[23] In addition, Nicholas and Benson found letters by
Nemenyi's first son, Peter, identifying Bobby Fischer as his brother.
 Chess beginnings[edit]
 In March 1949, 6-year-old Bobby and his sister Joan learned how to play chess using the instructions from a set bought at
a candy store.[24] When Joan lost interest in chess and Regina did not have time to play, Fischer was left to play many of
his first games against himself.[25] When the family vacationed at Patchogue, Long Island, New York, that summer,
Bobby found a book of old chess games and studied it intensely.[26]
 In 1950, the family moved to Brooklyn, first to an apartment at the corner of Union Street and Franklin Avenue, and later
to a two-bedroom apartment at 560 Lincoln Place.[27] It was there that "Fischer soon became so engrossed in the game
that Regina feared he was spending too much time alone".[14] As a result, on November 14, 1950, Regina sent a postcard
to the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, seeking to place an ad inquiring whether other children of Bobby's age might be
interested in playing chess with him. The paper rejected her ad, because no one could figure out how to classify it, but
forwarded her inquiry to Hermann Helms, the "Dean of American Chess", who told her that Master Max Pavey, former
Scottish champion, would be giving a simultaneous exhibition on January 17, 1951.[28][29] Fischer played in the exhibition.
Although he held on for 15 minutes, drawing a crowd of onlookers, he eventually lost to the chess master.[30]
 One of the spectators was Brooklyn Chess Club President,[31] Carmine Nigro, an American chess expert of near master
strength and an instructor.[32] Nigro was so impressed with Fischer's play[31] that he introduced him to the club and
began teaching him.[33][34][35] Fischer noted of his time with Nigro:[36] "Mr. Nigro was possibly not the best player in the
world, but he was a very good teacher. Meeting him was probably a decisive factor in my going ahead with chess."
 William Lombardy and Fischer analyzing, with Jack Collins looking on
 Nigro hosted Fischer's first chess tournament at his home in 1952.[37] In the summer of 1955, Fischer, then 12 years old,
joined the Manhattan Chess Club.[38][39] Fischer's relationship with Nigro lasted until 1956, when Nigro moved
away.[40][41]
 The Hawthorne Chess Club[edit]
 In June 1956, Fischer began attending the Hawthorne Chess Club, based in master John "Jack" W. Collins'
home.[42] Collins taught chess to children, and has been described as Fischer's teacher,[43][44] but Collins himself suggested
that he did not actually teach Fischer,[45] and the relationship might be more accurately described as one of
mentorship.[46]
 Fischer played thousands of blitz and offhand games with Collins and other strong players, studied the books in Collins'
large chess library, and ate almost as many dinners at Collins' home as his own.[47][48][49]