As online gambling is becoming more and more popular due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of attention is paid to online casinos. To impress and attract new players, casinos go all-in on diversifying the services they offer.

As part of this battle for users, casinos carry out online tournaments in various games they support. Joe Fortune Casino is planning to organize a tournament named after Bobby Fischer, the Genius in Chess. Not only was Fischer a famous chess player, but he loved poker too. 

Who is this Bobby Fischer, and why would a casino honor him like that? Learn all about the famous chess player and his life. 

Portrait of a Young Chess Master  

An 18-year-old boy from Brooklyn challenged the traditional hold of Russians on the World Championships in chess. His name was Bobby Fischer, and he had held the title of Chess Champion of the United States title for four years. That title was given to him when he was 14, and he was the youngest player ever to have it. Since then, he had won every important chess title in the country.

At a tournament in Yugoslavia, Fischer beat Mikhail Tal, an ex-World Champion from Russia. Fisher was also eager to play against the World Champion of that time — Mikhail Botvinnik, who did not take part in the tournament. Fischer claimed he was sure that he would win.

And so did almost everyone else in the world. Lisa Lane, a 24-year-old champion of the US Women’s Chess Tournament, was sure that Fisher could beat Botvinnik because Fischer knew all the game’s intricacies and had an inextinguishable will to win. He was considered the American hope of beating Russians at a game they have been famously exceptional at for years. Even Botvinnik himself stated that Fischer posed a hazard to Russia’s chess dominance. 

Young Fischer was admired for his skill as a chess player. At the same time, he was known for his egotism. I. A. Horowitz, former Open Champion of the USA, stated that never before has he seen a young player evoke so much personal antipathy. Horowitz claimed that Bobby had managed to make enemies with a lot of people in the chess world, almost everybody who might help him in his career.

Childhood and Chess Obsession

Bobby Fischer was born on March 9, 1943, in Chicago. His mother was a nurse and a school teacher, and his father was a physicist. When Fischer was a baby, his parents divorced. Then he lived with his mother, who supported the whole family, and older sister in Brooklyn. Fischer had almost no recollection of his father.

At the age of 6, Fischer started to play chess. Then at 9, he began to demonstrate his talent, and at 13 he was invited to play at a tournament. As a result, in 1957, he won the US Championship at the age of 14. Next year, he was given the International Grand Master title by the Federation Internationale Des Echecs (FIDE), becoming the youngest player ever to be awarded that title.

In the interview, Fischer said he had left school after getting the title, although his mother kept telling him he should have finished high school. In general, Fischer’s relationship with his mother was complicated as they did not agree on many things. The woman tried to show her support and even went on a hunger strike to emphasize the need for funds to send Fischer to the Chess Olympics in Germany. However, her son viewed it as unwanted interference in his affairs.

In fact, Fischer had strained relationships with everyone in his life. He claimed that he had no close friends because he always told the truth to everybody. He understood that his straightforwardness was often misinterpreted as bluntness but he did not seem very concerned about that. 

A Matter of Principle

Fischer had caused many controversies in the world of chess, but he always had quite reasonable explanations of his position in the matter.

In 1959 Fischer caused a scandal by refusing to defend his US Champion title until the tournament pairings were drawn publicly. Before that, they had always been announced privately. Fisher proved his point by showing a FIDE rule that implied public drawings. The authorities agreed and promised to make the pairings for all future tournaments in public. However, Fischer was dissatisfied. He insisted that the previous pairings had to be withdrawn. The authorities refused, and the chess champion threatened not to defend his title. Finally, he was forced to back down and play the game.

Once, Fischer forfeited a 16-game match with Samuel Reshevsky. That was because the 12th game of the series was to start at 11:00 A.M. Fischer considered that time uncivil for chess. Initially, the match had been scheduled for 1:30 P.M., but that morning the referee called him and asked to play at 11. According to Fischer’s contract, playing time had to be acceptable for him. When Fischer didn’t show up, the referee in Los Angeles declared the game forfeiture in favor of Reshevsky. Up till then, the series score had been tied at 5 1/2 games each. Due to forfeiture, Reshevsky moved ahead, 6 1/2 to 5 1/2.

In four days, the next game had to be held in New York City. Fischer refused to play the series until the forfeiture was first overruled. Nobody at the American Chess Foundation in New York supported the decision taken by the Los Angeles referee. But the officials were resentful of the player’s threat to quit. When it was time to play, the American Chess Foundation had not overruled the forfeiture, and Fischer did not come. A victory by default for Reshevsky was declared in the entire series, and the prize money was awarded to him. 

The Price of Greatness

Despite being a brilliant and world-renowned chess player, Bobby Fischer was not a lovable person. His tough temper and strict adherence to principles made him a rather controversial figure in the chess world. His personal life was almost non-existent, and he had no kids. After facing criminal charges in the US and problems with the Japanese government, Fisher moved to Iceland, where he died at 65.