Bobby Fischer played chess. Now that might not sound like the most interesting hobby or career, but when Fischer played the game, the world watched.
Fisher died yesterday at the age of 64 in his adopted country of Iceland.
In what was almost an odd metaphor for international politics at the time, when Fischer beat Boris Spassky in 1972, it was as if the United States had beat the Russians in the Cold War. And for the world, it was one chess game that stood in the balance as the American’s battled the Russians for each other’s valuable king and queen on the chess board.
Simply said, Fischer was an icon of the Cold War. And he’s the one the world watched.
And it made Fischer an international sensation, but he didn’t participate in the whirlwind often being critical of American policy and remained an unabashed critic of the U.S. government until the time of his death.Fischer was also a man known for living a reclusive life and his odd anti-semantic and anti-American rants when he did surface for air. He abandoned the United States long ago, and officially became a citizen of Iceland.
And he broke international sanctions in 1992 to play Spassky again, who would remain a constant in his life. Spassky would try to get Fischer to rejoin the world of chess even traveling to Iceland later in Fischer’s life, but it was to no avail as Fischer became increasingly more paranoid and wanted little to do with the things that brought him international attention.
With all of the controversy that surrounded Fischer, he is considered one of the greatest chess players of all time.
The cause of death is reportedly kidney failure.
