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'''Robert James Fischer''' (1943-2008<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/obituaries/18cnd-fischer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin</ref>), popularly known as Bobby Fischer, was the only [[United States of America|American]] to become the official world [[chess]] champion <ref>[[Paul Morphy]] of [[Louisiana]] was widely regarded as the #1 player in the world in the 1850s, but this was in an era before an official world champion was determined.</ref> when he defeated [[USSR|Soviet]] grandmaster Boris Spassky in a 1972 match in [[Iceland]]. He forfeited his title to Soviet Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov in 1975 when he refused to defend his title, unable to agree on any proposed conditions for a match with Karpov. He did not publicly play [[chess]] again until 1992, when he played a return match in [[Yugoslavia]] in violation of American sanctions on Yugoslavia.  

'''Robert James Fischer''' (1943-2008<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/obituaries/18cnd-fischer.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin</ref>), popularly known as Bobby Fischer, was the only [[United States of America|American]] to become the official world [[chess]] champion <ref>[[Paul Morphy]] of [[Louisiana]] was widely regarded as the #1 player in the world in the 1850s, but this was in an era before an official world champion was determined.</ref> when he defeated [[USSR|Soviet]] grandmaster Boris Spassky in a 1972 match in [[Iceland]]. He forfeited his title to Soviet Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov in 1975 when he refused to defend his title, unable to agree on any proposed conditions for a match with Karpov. He did not publicly play [[chess]] again until 1992, when he played a return match in [[Yugoslavia]] in violation of American sanctions on Yugoslavia.  

Fischer set several records in the 1960s for winning every game in a tournament, which is otherwise unheard of.  He also invented a type of chess clock and created a variation on chess which is popular today.

Fischer set several records in the 1960s for winning every game in a tournament, which is otherwise unheard of.  He also invented a type of chess clock and created a variation on chess which is very popular today, known as [[Fischerandom|Chess960]].

 

Fischer became known for making [[anti-Semitic]] and [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American]] remarks in the media over the next ten years, most notoriously his praise of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], when he stated "well, this is all wonderful news. It's time for the [expletive] US to get their heads kicked in. It's time to finish off the US once and for all."<ref>''Bobby Fischer on September 11, 2001'' Transcript [http://everything2.org/index.pl?node_id=1214006 everything2org]. Accessed 18 January 2008. The interview can also be heard on YouTube, but does contain the uncensored expletives.</ref> This cost him his membership in the United States Chess Federation (USCF), which has since been restored. This was generally viewed as symbolic, since Fischer not only did not play chess anymore, but was also not welcome in the United States. In 2004, Fischer was arrested in [[Japan]], and afterward took [[asylum]] in [[Iceland]]. He died of [[kidney]] failure in January 2008.

 

Fischer has claimed that "chess is dead" and never played traditional chess again. Before his death, he was promoting a form of "shuffle chess" called ''[[Fischerandom]]'' (or ''Chess960''), in which the opening position is randomized.

Grandmaster Lev Alburt, a three time American champion, said of Fischer: "Fischer was a great natural talent, but no greater talent than other of the game's best players. The difference was he gave 98% of his life to chess. Others, perhaps, gave 30%. So Fisher surpassed them. When, after '72, he became afraid that some accident may cost him his title, he stopped playing. He had nothing else in his mind and no education to guide him. As [[Garry Kasparov]] pointed out, since nature abhors a vacuum, Fischer quickly filled up with the worst ideas.<ref>''Chess Life'', March 2008, page 24</ref>

Grandmaster Lev Alburt, a three time American champion, said of Fischer: "Fischer was a great natural talent, but no greater talent than other of the game's best players. The difference was he gave 98% of his life to chess. Others, perhaps, gave 30%. So Fisher surpassed them. When, after '72, he became afraid that some accident may cost him his title, he stopped playing. He had nothing else in his mind and no education to guide him. As [[Garry Kasparov]] pointed out, since nature abhors a vacuum, Fischer quickly filled up with the worst ideas.<ref>''Chess Life'', March 2008, page 24</ref>

==Anti-Semitism==

==Anti-Semitism==

[[Image:Bgdg.jpg|right|thumb|Bobby Fischer in 2005.]]

[[Image:Bgdg.jpg|right|thumb|Bobby Fischer in 2005.]]

Even though Fischer himself was [[Jewish]], he often signed his name as “Robert James”, eliminating the racially ambiguous “Fischer”, and had demanded to be excised from a Jewish encyclopedia.  According to Grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer had once told him that he admired [[Hitler]] because "he imposed his will on the world".  At a 1992 press conference, Bobby Fischer called communism, rightly enough, “a mask for Bolshevism,” but he then stunned his audience by calling Bolshevism “a mask for Judaism.”  In January 14, 1999, during an interview on Filipino radio, Bobby Fischer said, “You know they [Jews] invented the [[Holocaust]] story. There’s no such. There was no Holocaust of the Jews in [[World War II]].”  Bobby Fischer also admitted to belief in a “giant conspiracy of the Jewish world government.” Yet, despite, Bobby Fischer's openly anti-Semitic remarks, he had several close Jewish friends. According to the American Jewish master Ron Gross: "Bobby says we’re all victims of the conspiracy".

 

Even though Fischer himself was [[Jewish]], he often signed his name as “Robert James”, eliminating the racially ambiguous “Fischer”, and had demanded to be excised from a Jewish encyclopedia.  According to Grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer had once told him that he admired [[Hitler]] because "he imposed his will on the world".  At a 1992 press conference, Bobby Fischer called communism, rightly enough, “a mask for Bolshevism,” but he then stunned his audience by calling Bolshevism “a mask for Judaism.”  In January 14, 1999, during an interview on Filipino radio, Bobby Fischer said, “You know they [Jews] invented the [[Holocaust]] story. There’s no such. There was no Holocaust of the Jews in [[World War II]].”  Bobby Fischer also admitted to belief in a “giant conspiracy of the Jewish world government.” Yet, despite, Bobby Fischer's openly anti-Semitic remarks, he had several close Jewish friends. According to the American Jewish master Ron Gross: "Bobby says we’re all victims of the conspiracy."

==Notes and references==

==Notes and references==