Bobby Fischer Net Worth, Income, Salary, Earnings, Biography

Fischer was 20 years old at the time. Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games (1969) is still considered to be a classic piece of chess literature. During the 1970 Interzonal Tournament, “Fischer crushed his contemporaries,” winning the tournament by a record 312-point margin and won 20 straight games, including two extraordinary 6–0 whitewash in the Candidates Matches. The World Chess Federation (FIDE) announced in July 1971 that he had been the first official number-one-ranked player, and he held that position for a total of 54 months. When he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972, he was hailed as a Cold War showdown that drew more global attention than any other chess championship before or after. He was the first American to win the World Chess Championship. 

Fischer declined to defend his championship in 1975 after failing to reach an agreement with the International Chess Federation (FIDE) on one of the match’s criteria. Following that, Fischer remained a hermit, remaining out of the public spotlight until 1992, when he defeated Spassky in an unofficial rematch. It was held in Yugoslavia, which at the time was subject to a United Nations embargo. His participation in the tournament resulted in a dispute with the United States government, which demanded income tax on Fischer’s match winnings and eventually issued an arrest order for him. Fischerandom, a new variation of chess developed in the 1990s, was named after Fischer’s patented modified chess timing system (which included a time increment after each move, which is now normal practise in top tournament and match play), which was developed in the 1990s by Fischer (Chess960). 

Fischer resided in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines, Japan, and Iceland during the 1990s and the early 2000s, during which time he made increasingly anti-American and anti-semitic comments on different radio stations across the world. His passport to the United States may have been cancelled as a consequence of this. Fischer went to Japan, completely ignorant of the cancellation of his passport. He was apprehended by Japanese officials and held for more than eight months (in 2004 and 2005) under the threat of deportation before being released. Fischer was released from jail in Japan when Iceland gave him full citizenship in March 2005, prompting the Japanese government to give him full citizenship. Fischer boarded a plane and went to Iceland, where he remained until his death on January 17, 2008.

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