The San Francisco Examiner San Francisco, California Friday, March 09, 1984 - Page 75
The Less than Chivalrous Nature of Modern Chess
Bobby Fischer (1943) — Fischer, whom some consider the greatest chess player of all time, celebrates his 41st birthday today. A prodigy, he became U.S. champion at age 15 and, in that same year, became the youngest international grandmaster in the history of chess. He defeated Boris Spassky in 1972 for the world championship but resigned his title two years later in a dispute over international match rules. A religious fundamentalist and political conservative, he is also a recluse who has remained incognito for the last decade. Fischer has said that his greatest joy is the moment when he crushes his opponent's ego. Not an endearing remark, but his critics forget that the attitude comes with the territory. In chess, nice guys don't finished last, they get chewed up and spit out.