Lably
Skip to content

Bobby Fischer

American chess grandmaster (1943–2008)

  • 65 min read
  • 18 chapters
Bobby Fischer
Bert Verhoeff for Anefo · CC0

Related on Lably

Through Soviet Union, Cold War and United Nations

In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when an agreement could not be reached with FIDE, chess's international governing body, over the match conditions. Consequently, the Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov was named World Champion by default. Fischer subsequently disappeared from the public eye, though occasional reports of erratic behavior emerged. In 1992, he reemerged to win an unofficial rematch against Spassky. It was held in Yugoslavia, which at the time was under an embargo of the United Nations. His participation led to a conflict with the US federal 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; subsequently, Fischer lived as an émigré. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that the US government had revoked. Eventually, he was granted Icelandic citizenship by a special act of the Althing, allowing him to live there until his death in 2008.

During his life, Fischer made numerous antisemitic statements, including Holocaust denial, despite his own Jewish ancestry. His antisemitism was a major theme in his public and private remarks, and there has been speculation concerning his psychological condition based on his extreme views and eccentric behavior.

Fischer made many lasting contributions to chess. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, is regarded as essential reading in chess literature. 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 Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960, a chess variant in which the initial positions of the pieces are randomized to one of 960 possible positions.

Early life

Bobby Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on March 9, 1943. His mother, Regina Wender Fischer, was a US citizen, born in Switzerland; her parents were Polish Jews. Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Regina became a teacher, a registered nurse, and later a physician.

After graduating from college in her teens, Regina traveled to Germany to visit her brother. 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 First Moscow State Medical University, where she met Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, also known as Gerardo Liebscher, a German biophysicist, whom she married in November 1933. In 1938, Hans-Gerhardt and Regina had a daughter, Joan Fischer. The reemergence of antisemitism 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 already separated in Moscow, although they did not officially divorce until 1945.

At the time of her son's birth, Regina was homeless. For several years, she took jobs around the country to support her family. She engaged in political activism and raised both Bobby and Joan as a single parent.

In 1949, Regina moved the family to Manhattan, New York City, and the following year to Brooklyn, where she studied for her master's degree in nursing and subsequently began working in that field.

Claims of Paul Neményi as Fischer's father

In 2002, Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer published an investigative report which stated that Bobby Fischer's biological father was actually Paul Neményi. Neményi, a Hungarian mathematician and physicist of Jewish heritage, specialized in continuum mechanics. His work applied geometrical solutions to fluid dynamics. He had been a child prodigy and had won the Hungarian national mathematics competition at the age of 17.

A summary of an FBI surveillance investigation written in 1959 by J. Edgar Hoover also came to the conclusion that Nemenyi was Fischer's biological father. Throughout the 1950s, the FBI investigated Regina Fischer and her circle due to her supposed communist views and due to her time living in Moscow. FBI files note that Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, while recording that Neményi took a keen interest in Fischer's upbringing. Not only were Regina and Neményi reported to have had an affair in 1942, but Neményi made monthly child support payments to Regina and paid for Bobby's schooling until Paul Neményi's death in 1952.

Chess beginnings

In March 1949, six-year-old Bobby and his sister Joan learned how to play chess using the instructions from a set bought at a candy store. 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. When the family vacationed at Patchogue, Long Island, New York, that summer, Bobby found a book of old chess games and studied it intensely.

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. It was there that "Fischer soon became so engrossed in the game that Regina feared he was spending too much time alone." 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 Max Pavey, former Scottish champion, would be giving a simultaneous exhibition on January 17, 1951. Fischer played in the exhibition, and although he held on for 15 minutes, drawing a crowd of onlookers, he eventually lost to Pavey.

One of the spectators was Brooklyn Chess Club President Carmine Nigro, an American chess expert of near master strength and an instructor. Nigro was so impressed with Fischer's play that he introduced him to the club and began teaching him. Fischer noted of his time with Nigro: "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."

Nigro hosted Fischer's first chess tournament at his home in 1952. In the summer of 1955, Fischer, then 12 years old, joined the Manhattan Chess Club. Fischer's relationship with Nigro lasted until 1956, when Nigro moved away.

The Hawthorne Chess Club

In June 1956, Fischer began attending the Hawthorne Chess Club, which met at master John "Jack" W. Collins's home. Collins taught chess to children and has been described as Fischer's teacher, but Collins himself suggested that he did not actually teach Fischer, and the relationship might be more accurately described as one of mentorship.

Fischer played thousands of blitz and offhand games with Collins and other strong players, studied the books in Collins's large chess library, and ate almost as many dinners at Collins's home as his own.

Sign in to keep reading

17 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Sports figures

2012 Summer OlympicsMulti-sport event in London, EnglandArnold SchwarzeneggerAustrian and American bodybuilder, actor and politician (born 1947)1988 Summer OlympicsMulti-sport event in Seoul, South KoreaGovernor of CaliforniaHead of government of the U.S. state of CaliforniaMuhammad AliAmerican boxer and activist (1942–2016)First-class cricketCricket played at the highest domestic standard