1972 Plays for the world championship in Iceland against Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Camera-shy Fischer twice flees the media circus and fails to board flights to Reykjavik but the match begins after Henry Kissinger intervenes. Fischer’s victory ends 24 years of Soviet domination in world chess and he is hailed as a Cold War hero, but having celebrated with a steak and a glass of milk he retires from competition.
1975 Agrees to defend his title against Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union but his demands about how many games should be played are rejected. He refuses to play, is stripped of his title and moves to Europe.
1981 Writes pamphlet entitled I Was Tortured in the Pasadena Jailhouse! in which he claims to have been arrested on suspicion of bank robbery and held naked in an isolation cell for 48 hours.
1992 Travels to Yugoslavia at the height of the civil war and wins a lucrative re-match against Spassky. A grand jury in Washington indicts him for trading with the enemy.
Advertisement
2001 Praises September 11 terrorist attacks in a live interview on Filipino radio: “I want to see the US wiped out,” he says.
ED WHITWORTH