There are many things in life that started quite wonderfully and ended tragically:

– My chess game against Ivona Purgar

– Croatia’s Independence

-How I met your mother

However, nothing started as wonderfully and ended as tragically as life and career of the eleventh world champion, Robert James Fischer.

Throughout his life, Robert Fischer has achieved numerous memorable accomplishments:

– Becoming the youngest Grandmaster and Candidates participant at the age of 15

– Legendary 11/11 in the 1963 USSR Championship

– 8 consecutive super tournament victories in the 1967 period

– An unparalleled streak of 19 consecutive games which included 6-0 sweeps of Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen in the Candidates matches

Victory in the 1972 World Chess Championship against Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War

Unfortunately, his uncompromising character and simplistic and extremist viewpoint more often than not harmed his life, both on and off the board. Among other things he:

– Withdrew from the 1964-1966 World Championship cycle because Russians have fixed the World Chess

– Withdrew from the Sousse 1967 Interzonal while in the lead because the organizers were forced to move his games to free days due to his Seventh Day Adventism

– Casually informed his teammate Reshevsky, a Polish Jew, he is reading a very interesting book – Mein Kampf

– Withdrew from chess in 1975 and spent the remainder of his life in paranoia and exile

There is no denying Fischer was an extraordinary genius. More importantly, he rose to prominence in a country that didn’t have any chess culture whatsoever. Everything he achieved he achieved by himself. At the height of the Cold War, the American public very much needed a hero capable of taking the Soviet System by himself.

And hero did they find.

Unfortunately, the very same traits, the very same intensifiers, the very same work ethic and uncompromising character that allowed him to become such a great player, also caused him to remain a lonely genius throughout his life.

Not alone.

But lonely.

Happy birthday you American legend.

(If you like posts as these, check our complete list of Chess Birthdays )