chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

chess ser and sood became deeply absorbed in the
8ame. Inattenlive alschool, unamenable lodi{ipline,
he ab*nted himself f.om hone lor lo.g hours
playing chess. 'AI I want to do, ever, is to play
che$. Wha1 he learned of thc world outsidc he
gleaned incidentally trom his mother, a teacher.
and his older sister. Having acess to an ercellent
privatechesslibrary, he readvoraciously. At 14he
wonboth theUs juniorandseiiorchampionships,
al 15 he became the youaeest ever CANDTDATE by
taking lifth plae in the Portoro, inte.zonal 1958.
Early in 1959 he Ieft scbool where he believed he
onld learn noding of value. Scornful ol everylhing
outside hinsell and his chcss he undentood
lit{e olwhalhe scorned. Rega.ded as anti-social.
resentlBl of all aulhonty, he inqeasinSty becane
,li.n?red from hisfell.wnen Whatnecoulddohe
would do for hinself: lf I win a tounament I win
by nysef. ] do the playi.g, no-otre helpsne. He
rejected his notheas well-neant attenpls to raise
money o. his behaliso that he nighlplay abroad.
At zunch 1959 he came tnid (+8:5-2) equal
$ilh erEs alter rAL and clr6oR,a: at the Candi
datcs lournamenr, Bled Zagreb Belgrade 1959,
he shared fifth place witb Gligoria after Tal.
Keres, PErrostN, and swslor.
At 16 he was ahle lo earn his living lron chess
and soo. be began io dress well, with suits tailored
in London and Ne* York. He also bega. a lilclong
habit of diclaling lo organizem the condilions
undoNhich he would play, and pas not backward
in asking for appearan e noney. I add s1a1us to
any loumament l atlend , heremarked.In l960 his
molher lelt home to walk o. a peace march lron
California lo Moscos, maried on the {.y, .nd
never came hack. she had done what she could lor
herson.bu!theywerelastdaltinsaDartandheN6
probably glad to be lrccd fron rcstraint. (Later he
.oresponded regularly virh his nother who
settled in En8land.) Already his ambition Nas
firnly set on rhe world chanpionship, pbich he
confidcnlly expected to win Mthin a year or s. In
196l he played a natch Mlh REssEvsn. The score
stood +2=? 2 when play was abandoncd on
accou.r oI a dispure indireclly caused by Resheysky\relusaltoplayonlhe
JeaishS.bbath. (Ayear
larer Fischer becane a nenber of the World
Church oI God. a tundamcntalisr sect that also
loibadc play on the Jewish Sabbatb.) Fiscber
played at Bled 1961, t.king se.ond plae (+8=11)
afte. Tal ahead of Gligorid. Keres. Pctrosyan, and
GELLIR, and at thc inrerzonal, stockholn 1962,
wh€re he took li6t place (+13=9) 2i poinls ahead
of rhe seond pnze wimers.
This excellenl result may hale caused him to
overate his prospects. Interzonals are qualifying
events, a.d in this case his cbief nvab needed only
ro 6nish amo!8 rbelirslsix, He began badly ar the
Candidales tournament, Cuaqao 1962, btrt played
on with such dete.ninalio. ihal he finished in
fourih place (+8=12 7) alrer Pelrosyan, Keres,
and Geller. File ol thc eighr compctiton Nere
f,o6 the USSR and Fis.her believed that they had
FISCHER I15
@nspired against him. The truth is simpler:
Fiscne.. at 19, was not yet good enouSh to pin such
an evenr. Alwats objective about his play in the
sense lhar he analysed his Aam es and admntedhh
erros. hewas tne last pe6on ro look for rhe fa t
wilhin himself. The misrakes had ourside c.uses:
.oise, a hidden canera, shidy chessnen, a move
nenl in the audien@, odgety opponcnts. inadequate
lighting, and so on; now it was a Rusian Plot.
Besides his peBo.al ambilion to win tbe world
championshipbecane to beliele nwas his mjssio.
to defeat the Russians who had for so lo"g
doninaled the gamc. He was convinced lhal Soviel
dcccption had depnved him ot the title.
He blamed FIDE 1oo. If thc sodd s6 againsl
hin he mustfendforhimself andforthreeleashe
playcd no inte.national lourdanents, but he madc
one notable sucess winning the USchampionship,
1963r, snh a clean $o'e (+11). He atrenpted
unsu@essfully to bypass FIDE and ariange a
rarch directly with a Soviet player, perhaps ihc
world champion. ln 1965 be agr.cd lo play at
Havana. Ourflanking the Slatc Dcpartmenti who
{ould notpermithim to lravel lhere. hesatin New
York and played his games by teletype: he came
second (+12=6 3) equal vilh Geller and 'wov
halfa point behind the winner Smyslor. At Santa
Monica 1966 Fischerwclcomed th€ opportunity to
compctc against the best two soviet pt.yers and he
.aneseond (+7-8 3), halta poinlaitersmyslo,
and ahead ot Pelrosya.. By winni.s (+8=3) the
US championsnip 1966? (his eighth consecutive
vidory) Fischer qualified ior rhe next inlerzonal,
and he prepared by playing in tNo i.ternalional
events, bolh of which he won, in 1967r Monte
Carlo (+6=2- 1) and skopje (+12=3 2). Alnosr
all bisspecial demands were met. Hc seemedset to
win the Sou$einlezonal. 1967, havingestablished
a comfortablc lcad after ren comPleted rounds.
vhen he became involved in a dispute. He
virhdres lron rhe tournamenl, foregoing his
chances of beinS chanpion foranolhcrthrcc yea4.
At|ei winning at Natanya 1968 (+10=3) and
Vinkovci 1968 (+9=4) he sirhdrew ftom roumamenr
play for a year and a balf, dercling himsell ro
study in order, he said, to plot his rcvengc. Hc
received nany invitations but orgaoizen were
unablc to meet his increasingly nunerous conditions.
Many ol these were netwhen heseot to the
Lugado Olynpiad- 1968, shcrc he hoped the
Americans wonld dcfcal the Soviet team: but when
hcwas refused pe.mission lo playallbis gamesin a
p.ivate roon he leil bruptly. He cane back in
1970 to play at Rovinj-zagrcb alter most of his 41
conditions had been met and took first pnze
(+10=6 l). A 6rst pnze (+13=a) follosed at
Throughoui rhe 196ils Fncher bad been an
inspiration to ptayeB oursidc thc USSR. nanyol
whom yere anxious to see him wi. rhe*orld litle.
Relrospeclive grading reveals thathe had been lhe
eorld-sbestptayerin thesecondhaitolthedecade,
and he easily topped the orficial grading lisl issued