Chess legend Fischer dead at 64
Published: 18 January, 2008, 14:10
Robert James “Bobby” Fischer, a former world chess champion, has died in Iceland at the age of 64. Born in Chicago, Fischer became America's first and only world chess champion. He is considered by some chess experts to be the greatest player
He gained world fame in 1972, during the Cold War, when he beat the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky.
Also known for his eccentric behaviour, Fischer refused to defend his title in 1975 when the World Chess Federation did not accept all his conditions for a title defence. So, the title was awarded to another Soviet, Anatoly Karpov.
In 1992, Fischer won an exhibition match against his old rival Spassky at Sveti Stefan in Yugoslavia. But he violated an international sanctions imposed on then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
He became wanted in the U.S. for violation of the sanctions, renounced his U.S. citizenship and was naturalized by Iceland in 2005 to avoid deportation to America.
Bobby Fischer died in Reykjavik's hospital on Thursday. The cause of death was not immediately available.
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