Approximately 1957

A question that hangs in the air for most American chessplayers like the smell of barbecue sauce and spent fireworks on a muggy July 4th evening. We may as well ask, "Whatever happened to Baby Jane?" or "Where are the 'Guess Who' now?" or "Who put the 'Bop' in the 'Bop she bop she bop'." One of life's great imponderables we rationalize, as we go to sleep, wake up six hours later, work our 12 hour day and get ready to do it all again.

Whatever happened to Bobby Fischer? There is actually an answer to that one. It's a disturbing answer. It's an answer that is well documented. But, it's also shrouded in mystery. At a time when we celebrate our nation's birthday a beautiful flower that sprung from it's breast wallows in self-pity. This is the man who some believe to be most responsible for the end of the cold war. At the height of his powers he conjured up chess moves so intricate that few could follow the thread of his analysis. Now he fabricates conspiracy theories that few would want to comprehend. A man who befriends few, but quickly severs all ties with those who cross his paranoid borders by daring to even mention his name to anyone who may publicize those words.

Whatever happened to this brash young man who defied the chess world and the world of chess organizers? This is the guy who inspired me to lay down my football helmet and take up chess. He was much of the inspiration for Fred Waitzkin to take up the game. Waitzkin wrote a book about his son, Josh, entitled "Searching for Bobby Fischer". The story told of the yearning that America has to recapture the glory and magic of those Fischer years. It chronicled the pressure that is put on young children by those searching to bring back what was taken from the game when Fischer left. This book was made into a Hollywood film, which in turn, partially inspired my son to take up this game -- which inspired me to get back into the game, which inspired me to find out what happened to Bobby Fischer. And that's where it all took a very dark turn. Bobby Fischer is out there. He is described as gentle and child-like by some. However, his words and manners are a shock to those of us who idolized him, those of us who wish that he could be reconciled to chess, to America, to Humanity.

Whatever happened to Bobby Fischer? Where is he now? Who does he hang out with? What does he do all day? Well, we can't really answer any of those questions. But we can tell you that he is one of a kind and we can tell you about the unique silhouette he has cast in his infrequent sightings. We can chronicle those few sightings, like blips on an early warning radar system over this virtually Fischer-less era, since he so mysteriously disappeared. But, like physicists studying the remains of smashed atoms in a cyclotron -- we can tell you what the picture looked like when Fischer collided with humanity, but it's very difficult to tell how his story will end. Before we look at the end, let's take a quick look at the beginning.

Bobby Fischer: The Beginning

He was born Robert James Fischer in Chicago, Illinois, on March 9, 1943. His parents were divorced in 1945, and his mother moved him and his sister to Brooklyn, NY about a year later. The story goes that his sister bought him a chess set for his sixth birthday and soon he was consumed with the game. He was a very competitive child, a trait that only increased with age. He was intellectually gifted, with an IQ tested at 180. He also had a fantastic memory. After the World Speed Chess championship at Hercegnovi, Yugoslavia, in 1970, He is said to have repeated, from memory, all the moves from the 22 blitz games he just played -- over 1000 moves!

At the age of thirteen he beat International Master Donald Byrne in what many have called the "Game of the Century". That game won the brilliancy prize for the year and put the name of Bobby Fischer on the lips of chessplayers from New York City to Los Angeles to Moscow at the tender age of 13.   When he was fourteen he won the 1957 US Junior Championship and then won the regular 1957 US Championship. Fischer became the youngest grandmaster in the history of chess at age 15. In 1971 at the age of 28 in his march to the World Championship match he dispatched, first Grandmaster Mark Taimanov and next Grandmaster Bent Larsen, both 6-0. Those matches coming on the heels of the Candidates Interzonal tournament in Palma De Mallorca finished off a string of twenty straight victories vs. Grandmasters, a display unprecedented in the annals of the modern championship. Former world champion Tigran Petrosian awaited him next. He gave Fischer more of a fight, posting one win and three draws before losing the match 6.5-2.5. Who'd be his next victim? That would be Boris Spassky, of course. The one-time World Champion would lose to Fischer by a score of 12.5-8.5 in a match that thrust chess into the mainstream of the American consciousness. August 31, 1972 that would be the last time we'd see a chess game played by Robert James Fischer for twenty long years and two days.

What's Eating Bobby Fischer?

Fischer was bigger than life and bigger than the game of chess. He always wanted to do things his own way. Therefore it's quite natural that he wouldn't be satisfied "merely" to be considered the best chessplayer of all time. He wanted to make a profound effect on the way the game was played. He complained about the way the Russian 'team' stacked the deck against him in international competition. He didn't like the way that a champion could draw his way through a championship match. One of the first radical proposals he made was that the championship should be decided by the first player reaching ten victories, no matter how many games it took to complete the match. He was also dissatisfied with the time controls in international chess; he felt that a player should get an increment of time added with every move that was made. This would keep a player from using all his time at the beginning and getting into a ridiculous 'time scramble' at the end of the game that could make the game flawed by the potentially horrible moves made in 'time trouble'. Both suggestions are gradually being implemented by FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs, the governing body of international chess) though they were met with fierce resistance at the time Fischer first put them forward. Was this a simple case of a genius ahead of his time? Well, not quite. Bobby Fischer had a darker side.

The Dark Side of the Fischer

Starting in, maybe 1960, it began to be whispered that Bobby Fischer was an anti-Semite. People who knew him well had heard some of his conspiracy theories. Those who heard his ranting back then ignored it. They hoped it would pass, maybe it was a stage. It didn't pass; it consumed him til he got to the point where it dominated his thoughts the way chess did previously. Suffice it to say, that anyone who has a computer, an Internet Service Provider, a little bit of time and knows how to do a search of the internet can find out all there is to know about Bobby Fischer's views. He even has a website where he apparently personally communicates with the outside world. Happy hunting & may the force be with you in that dark journey. Fischer is not exactly what you'd call politically correct in his speech and decorum. He sees what he sees and he believes in his own eyes when judging a situation. Whether it is a chess position or a political position he trusts his own judgement to sort out the details. There have always been those close to him who did not share his views. They often refrained from voicing their disagreements, however. Disagreeing with Bobby Fischer has, historically, been the quickest way to kill the relationship.

From one time close confidant, Ron Gross, to his "chess mother" Lina Grumette, and many others, Fischer immediately severed relationships with longtime friends simply for talking to press people who would constantly hound them for any tidbit about the reclusive World Chess Champion. Lina Grumette is a well-loved figure in American Chess. She is widely credited for talking Bobby into staying in Iceland to play for the championship. Every year there is a huge tournament played in Southern California called the "Lina Grumette Memorial". At least her real friends still honor her memory.

The Greatest Recluse of all Times

Michael Jackson, Howard Hughes -- these guys are amateurs, patzers in the game of hermitage. That crown belongs to Bobby Fischer. Here is a man who has managed to stay practically totally hidden from 1973 until 1992. After his 1992 "World Championship" rematch vs. Spassky he has managed to go into hiding again, though the US government has had a federal warrant out for his arrest since playing in the aforementioned match because it was played in a country with sanctions against it (more on this later). He only pops his head out every now and then to give radio interviews where he complains about worldwide Jewish conspiracies and the egregious wrongs that have been perpetrated against him. Again, if the reader is interested in following up on this information -- the truth is out there -- and it isn't that hard to find. But to give you a flavor of the tone for what Mr. Fischer has to say these days, we'll leave you with one quote. In a famous interview he did for a Filipino radio station in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks he said, "This is all wonderful news. It is time to finish off the U.S. once and for all. I applaud the act. The U.S. and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years. Now it is coming back to the U.S."

I am left with sadness that a person with so much to offer our country ends up so much at odds with our national interests. I was a child of the sixties. I dreamed along with my hero, Abbie Hoffman, of overthrowing the government that ran this "Pig Nation", but then I turned fifteen. One hopes that it's not too late for Bobby Fischer. Reports abound that he has a younger girlfriend and they have a child together in Japan, or maybe she has moved to the Philippines. It's hard to know the real truth about the satellites that orbit Bobby Fischer's world. Perhaps he will find happiness there. Perhaps he will make peace with the world. We can only hope.

Next in the series -- The 1963 Western Open, held in Bay City, Michigan -- will feature a few words from Dr. Paul Poschel, the man who was responsible for stealing the only half point Fischer lost in that tournament. We will also have all eight of the games that Bobby played in that tournament.