Bobby Fischer, 64, died Thursday of renal (kidney) failure at a hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer had moved to Iceland in 2005. Iceland is a chess-heavy country, and also the site of one of Fischer’s major chess victories.
The president of the World Chess Federation, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, said Fischer was “a phenomenon and an epoch in chess history, and an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein.” The AP has a pretty elaborate list of quotes from people who respected or revered Fischer for his chess prowess.
I feel bad that I’m one of those people that if it weren’t for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, I probably would not know anything about Fischer or even really take an interest at all in chess. But, I do still know how to play, and I was OK at it when I was younger. Maybe that’s something I should invest in soon. I would think if Fischer wanted his death to cause one thing, it would be for more people to get into the game.