Bobby Fischer

1943 – 2008

Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion, who in 1972 defeated Boris Spassky of the USSR in Reykjavík in the Cold War's most-publicized chess match. After defaulting his title in 1975 he largely withdrew from competitive chess, surfacing again in 1992 to play a rematch of Spassky in violation of U.S. sanctions on Yugoslavia, becoming a wanted fugitive in the United States. He spent his last years issuing publicly broadcast antisemitic and anti-American tirades—including celebrating the September 11 attacks on Filipino radio—before dying in Reykjavík in 2008 of kidney failure.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM