Young people today probably have never heard of Bobby Fischer. But back in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spasky for the world chess champinship the man was a hero of the free world.
When I was on my middle school's chess team we use to watched The search for Bobby Fischer. Granted the movie was more about a kid wanting to be the next Bobby Fischer then the man himself, but it was cool to see other 10-12 years olds playing this game and being good at it.
Sadly, Fischer's achievements will be overshadowed by his personal eccentricities and his political views. As for his '72 game against Spasky, it seemed very international sport from the '50s to '89 were the only way the US and USSR can be at war with each other.
Fischer was a chess genius, Grand Master and added much to the game and revived certain aspects of chess which were considered "passe" like "Indians Defense", which he used to help defeat his opponents with regularity. The "Fischers clock" is also something introduced by Bobby Fischer to time chess matches and is now the standard chess clock used in competitions worldwide, among other things he gets credit for. He was one of the best Chess players this world will ever see and unfortunately he was crucified in the media after he decided to a rematch with Spaasky in Serbia 1992 due to the economic sanctions against that nation at that time. He was a strange man though. A Jew (half Jew atleast anyway) who renounced Israel and all Jews.
