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Bobby Fischer

He was the invincible whiz kid of the chess world. The child prodigy from the heart of Brooklyn who grew up and became a Cold War icon, and in the process toppled an Empire.



But at the peak of his fame, he disappeared and self destructed. His reclusive behavior and his eccentric ideology made him as reviled as he was revered.



Once a symbol of the American free spirit, eventually he became an international fugitive.



How did a high school drop-out became a cultural touchstone, carrying the weight of a nation on his back and what price did he pay to get there?

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Remembering the 1990 Manila Inter-Zonal Chess Championship...

F ew young players knew how strong GM Boris Gelfand was and still is. In 1989 he won the GMA Open in Palma de Mallorca which was participated by more than 160 grandmasters! An amazing record!! He left Ivanchuk, Anand, Shirov, Karpov, Leko, Adams, Short, Korchnoi, Timman, Kamsky, Svidler etc. behind him eating dust. He won with a clear half point edge. Untied and un-equaled. He won the 1990 Manila Inter-Zonal (Ivanchuk was the co-champion but he lost in the tie-break) ahead of 63 elite grandmasters. In the 13th and final round Ivanchuk (who was the solo leader with a half point advantage against Gelfand) quickly drew with Anand in only 12 moves of Petroff Defense. While Gelfand, relieved somewhat of the pressure, was in a win to order mode. Determined to crush his own compatriot GM Alexander Khalifman (Khalifman became World Champion in the late 90's when Fide decided to hold the WCC in a ridiculous KO format.), he fought with all his might and accompl...
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The Cold War Gladiator and his Soviet Nemesis

MIKHAIL TAL’S STARE was infamous, and to some ominous. With his deep brown, almost black eyes, he’d glare so intently at his opponents that some said he was attempting to hypnotize them into making a vapid move. The Hungarian-American player Pal Benko actually donned sunglasses once when he played Tal, just to avoid the penetrating stare. Tal's burning stare... Bobby had tolerated Tal’s stare when they first met over the board in Portorož, Yugoslavia. That game had ended in a draw. At his first game against Tal, in Bled, Bobby was already at the board when the twenty-three-year-old Mischa arrived just in time to commence play. Bobby stood and Tal offered his right hand to shake. Tal’s hand was severely deformed, with only three large fingers appended, and since his wrist was so thin, the malformation resembled a claw. Bobby, to his credit, didn’t seem to care. He returned the gesture with a two-stroke handshake, and play began. Within a ...
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My Chess Life (Part 1 1984-2001)

Where do I start? How do I chronicle 18 years of chess life in the 20th century? My own life story is quite normal, in fact it's borderline uneventful, but my chess life is full of ups and downs. It's chock-full of intense battles and titanic struggles on a sixty four squared chess board. I learned chess at the age of 15, pretty late by most standards. And as you may have guessed, I became quite passionate about the game. I played A LOT of chess during my free time (in those days I literally ate, breath and dreamt chess), and so I improved quickly. A month later I was almost unbeatable at school (except for one teacher) who beat me 4-1. My First Competition (School Intrams) Having beaten all of my chess-playing schoolmates and majority of my chess-playing teachers during offhand games, I was heavily favored to win. The expectations from my friends and classmates was sky-high! I myself was only aiming for first place. After winning 90% of my games, tragedy struck - I lost th...
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