Bobby Fischer

Who was Bobby Fischer?

Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess prodigy, grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Many consider him the greatest chess player of all time.

At age 13 Fischer won a "brilliancy" that became known as The Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, Fischer played in eight United States Championships, winning each one by at least a one-point margin. At age 15, Fischer became both the youngest grandmaster up to that time and the youngest candidate for the World Championship. At age 20, Fischer won the 1963–64 U.S. Championship with 11/11, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games remains a revered work in chess literature.

In 1970, "Fischer dominated his contemporaries" by winning the 1970 Interzonal Tournament by a record 3½-point margin and winning 20 consecutive games, including two unprecedented 6–0 sweeps in the Candidates Matches. In July 1971, he became the first official World Chess Federation number-one-ranked player, spending 54 total months at number one.