HAVANA, Cuba.- On March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago, Illinois, who would become one of the emblematic figures of the chess. At only six years old, little Fischer learned the rudiments of game-science in a self-taught way. In the absence of contenders, he played against himself and at the same time he studied with relish books on old chess games.
His obsession with the game reached such a point that his mother became concerned and wanted to know if other children were displaying similar behavior. Her concern was answered by the information that Master Max Pavey, former Scottish champion, would offer a simultaneous exhibition in January 1951.
There Fischer went with his mother, and although he stood up to his rival for fifteen minutes, attracting the attention of the attendees, he ended up losing to the Maestro. However, that quarter of an hour was enough for the president of the Brooklyn Chess Club to be impressed by the boy’s knowledge and his way of playing.
In 1955, at the age of twelve, Bobby Fischer joined the Manhattan Chess Club. He exchanged with famous teachers and players, while continuing to study on his own everything related to the discipline.
His professional career coincided with the rise of the Soviet chess school, which dominated international competitions from 1948 until the disintegration of the bloc in 1991. The only threat to its hegemony was precisely Fischer, who by 1957 was already junior champion. of the United States and was emerging as a fearsome opponent in international tournaments.
His classification for the Interzonal Tournament in Portoroz (Slovenia), automatically gave him the title of Grand Master, making him the youngest in history at that time, at just fifteen years and six months.
Since then, many players have surpassed that record, but Fischer had a difficult time, with little access to resources, information and teachers. Despite his limitations, his natural genius prevailed and he was an eight-time United States Champion.
In the Chess Olympiads he won two silver medals and one bronze. During the edition held in Havana, Fischer faced the Olympic runner-up Boris Spassky, with whom he scored a draw and then lost; although throughout the event the Grandmaster of Brooklyn won 40 games, drew 18 and lost seven, for a splendid average effectiveness of 75.4%.
For a decade (1962-1972), Fischer won almost every tournament he entered. In only two competitions did he not emerge victorious: the Capablanca Memorial Tournament, held in Havana in 1965; and the 1966 Piatigorsky Cup. In both, he took second place.
In 1970, the annual chess match between the Soviet Union and the rest of the world took place, in which Fischer defeated all his rivals, including the world champion, Tigrán Petrosian. The following year, the American received, for the first time, the Chess Oscar, a distinction that he would win two other times.
The year 1972 was decisive for Fischer. He managed to dispute the World Championship, winning most of the games in the Candidates Tournament, the highest level in the world. He categorically beat the great masters Mark Taimanov (USSR) and Bent Larsen (Denmark). For the former, the defeat had unfortunate consequences, as the Soviet government accused him of not having been able to “defend patriotic honor.”
At that Candidates Meeting, Fischer set the impressive record of twenty consecutive victories, a milestone in the history of elite chess.
The Chicago-born genius was crowned World Chess Champion on September 1, 1972, with a total of seven games won, three lost and 11 draws against his nemesis, Boris Spassky. The victory came amid geopolitical tensions between the USSR and the United States. In fact, Spassky’s participation in the event was highly conditioned by the political voluntarism of the Soviet regime. The player was put under tremendous pressure, until he finally gave up, by phone, the last game.
To this day, Robert “Bobby” Fischer has been the only American to win the world title.
