Everyday History

On September 1, 1972, Bobby Fischer defeated Russian Boris Spassky to become the first US Chess Champion.  That’s first since 1866, when the World Chess Championship first began.  Chess itself began way before that.  It started out as a game called Chaturanga, which was played in 6th century India.  Yeah, the pieces moved differently, there were no squares on the board, but the basic characters were there – infantry, calvary, elephants, and chariots that would become pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks.  Chaturanga made its way to Persia in the 7th century, where it was called Shatraj, which played a bit slower than its predecessor, had fewer pieces, and required more strategy.  From Persia the game spread to Europe around the 9th and 10th centuries, where it developed into the game we know today. 

So here’s the thing about chess.  It’s not that hard of a game to learn.  The kid down the street taught us how to play it in an afternoon.  And then, maybe a week later, he taught us how to really play.  Sure, it might take a bit to learn how the pieces work, but it’s really not that hard.  You could probably get the hang of it, say, in about ten games.  To get good might take 100 or so games.  To become really good 10,000.  Or, as the saying goes, “The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman.  The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life.”

But then, some people are just better at it, like Bobby Fischer.  Back in 1958 Bobby was 15 years old (and five months) when he was first awarded the title of Grandmaster, the youngest person to do so at the time.  Becoming a Grandmaster requires winning a whole lot of sanctioned tournaments.  Bobby was just 29 when he won the World Championship in 1972, receiving the grand prize of $156,250, roughly the equivalent of 1.2 million today.

Fischer effectively retired from chess in 1975 when he refused to defend his crown against Anatoly Karpov.  Fischer wanted the Federation to change the format of the Championship, such as the amount of games played and how each game is counted, and the Federation said, “No.”  So Fischer took his board and went home. 

Fischer lived in seclusion until 1992, when he played a rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia, which he won, this time with a grand prize of five million.  However, at the time the US had economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, and they issued an arrest warrant for Fischer, forcing him to spend the rest of his life in exile.  Fischer died on January 17, 2008, after refusing medical treatment.  He was in Reykjavík, Iceland, where the original 1972 championship was held.

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