Bobby Fischer Dead at 64

Controversial chess grandmaster and possibly the greatest player of the game in the world, Bobby Fischer, died at a hospital in Iceland from kidney failure. He was 64 years old.

For Bobby Fischer, there never was much of a world outside of chess. He learned how to play at age 6 by simply reading the instructions. His fascination and compulsion with the game grew until, in 1953, Bobby Fischer placed fifth in the Brooklyn Chess Club Championship, stunning everyone.

As he grew older his obvious talent only grew, along with his eccentric ego. Fischer played and won competition after competition, slowly building his rating and reputation throughout the chess world. By August of 1957 Bobby Fischer had the highest rating of any 14 year old chess player. By then, if it wasn't already known, Fischer was proving to be something of a prodigy.

Bobby decided to drop out of school to pursue a professional career in chess-something that college wouldn't help. By his 15^th year Fischer had not only a master's chess rating, but an estimated IQ of about 180 points. From that point on, with the exception of one competition, Bobby won every U.S. championship he competed in. Year after year the story stayed the same. Bobby showed up, played and conquered whoever he played.

Then, in July of 1972, Bobby Fischer had his chance to win the world championship. He met with Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, played and won the match with 7 wins, 11 draws and three losses. The upset won him some $200,000 in prize money, but then Fischer fell off the chess map and in 1975, because of Bobby's inactivity in competitions, his title was handed over to Anatoly Karpov.

In 1988 Fischer brought to the board the world's first chess clock which has since changed the way people look at the game. Bobby Fischer's strange life continued with news in the press dealing with a number of controversies, legal entanglements and lawsuits. To keep from being imprisoned, for example, Fischer remained out of the states to avoid repercussions for an incident in which he 'spat' on a U.N. order that told him to never play chess in Yugoslavia because it violated sanctions.

It's hard to say what Bobby Fischer meant to the world, or if the world meant anything to him-but he certainly had a profound effect on the world to say the least. Fischer's obsession with the game may have been a mystery to most people, but there's something about his strange perspectives and ideas that I've always been able to identify with. Bobby Fischer is considered to be the Babe Ruth of chess. His young start and life-long dedication to one game made him the best in the world and that kind of strange determination is something to revere.

Although Bobby Fischer may have passed on it still feels like he's hiding again like one of his many disappearing acts. We can still imagine him as he was 50 years ago, maybe beating grandmasters without breaking a sweat or practicing by himself under his bed beside some coloring books and crayons. Bobby Fischer may be gone from life but not from the colorful history he created.