Bobby Fischer recently died at age 64. Perhaps no other individual had done more to capture the world’s imagination and focus on the game of chess than he. Bobby Fischer was a child prodigy winning the U.S. national junior chess championship at the age of thirteen in 1956. Two years later, he shocked the American chess world by winning the U.S. championship. At the age of fifteen Bobby Fisher became the youngest international grandmaster in the history of the game. In 1972, he went on to electrify the world by soundly defeating the Soviet world champion Boris Spassky at a time when the Cold War between the United States and the U.S.S.R. was raging.
By many accounts, Bobby Fischer was a controversial and temperamental eccentric. He withdrew from international competition in 1962 after placing fourth behind three Soviet competitors in an international event held on the island of Curacao. He accused the Soviet players of conspiring against him thereby ensuring his poor showing. He spent the 1970s and ‘80s living in seclusion and isolation in Pasadena and Los Angeles. He donated $61,000 to the Worldwide Church of God of which he was a member but subsequently left after Jesus Christ failed to return as promised by church founder Herbert W. Armstrong.
Despite these shortcomings, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, described Bobby Fischer as “a phenomenon and an epoch in chess history, and an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein.”
The Austin Public Library has many resources as they pertain to Bobby Fischer. For biographical information, interested individuals may want to consult the following items:
By many accounts, Bobby Fischer was a controversial and temperamental eccentric. He withdrew from international competition in 1962 after placing fourth behind three Soviet competitors in an international event held on the island of Curacao. He accused the Soviet players of conspiring against him thereby ensuring his poor showing. He spent the 1970s and ‘80s living in seclusion and isolation in Pasadena and Los Angeles. He donated $61,000 to the Worldwide Church of God of which he was a member but subsequently left after Jesus Christ failed to return as promised by church founder Herbert W. Armstrong.
Despite these shortcomings, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, described Bobby Fischer as “a phenomenon and an epoch in chess history, and an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein.”
The Austin Public Library has many resources as they pertain to Bobby Fischer. For biographical information, interested individuals may want to consult the following items:
Books:
Bobby Fischer goes to war : how the Soviets lost the most extraordinary chess match of all time
The unknown Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer : complete games of the American world chess champion
Bobby Fischer : profile of a prodigy
Searching for Bobby Fischer : the father of a prodigy observes the world of chess
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