Only American to win the FIDE World Chess Championship (1 September 1972).Awarded the title of Chess Grandmaster in 1958.In 1953, he played his first chess tournament at the age of ten at the Brooklyn Chess Club Championship. He came in fifth place.Fischer was wanted in the United States for violating economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992. He fled to Japan and was arrested in July 2004 for trying to leave Japan on a revoked U.S. passport. Thus, he was detained in Japan awaiting deportation to the United States. He renounced his U.S. citizenship and tried to become a German citizen, but was denied. Finally, in March 2005, Iceland's parliament voted to grant him Icelandic citizenship. He remained a fugitive in the U.S. until his death.Due to his anti-American and anti-Semitic statements, he became a controversial figure in the final decades of his life. He, for example, asked the editors of Encyclopedia Judaica to remove his name from the publication because he was, and has never been, Jewish (1984) and denied the Holocaust in several interviews. On a radio show shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he proclaimed them "a wonderful news" (2001).The episode "Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Gone (#4.11)" (2005) was inspired by his biography (2004).Attended Erasmus Hall High School together with Barbra Streisand .Has an older sister, Joan.Born to Regina Wender, a naturalized American citizen of German Jewish descent, he was considered the son of her first husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist. They were married from 1933 to 1945, but some sources claim that his biological father was Hungarian physicist Paul Nemenyi.Died at the age of 64, ironically the number of fields on a chessboard.Inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in 2001 (one of five charter inductees).Inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1985 (one of two charter inductees).The last movie Fischer saw before his death was Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007).
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'Bobby Fischer Against the World' is a documentary feature exploring the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer. The drama of Bobby Fischer's career was undeniable, from his troubled childhood, to his rock star status as World Champion and Cold War icon, to his life as a fugitive on the run. This film explores one of the most infamous and mysterious characters of the 20th century.