All language subtitles for The Bobby Fischer Against The World

BOBBY: Gonna stick a knight
here. He takes it off.

He takes the bishop.

So, he took it
off this bishop.

BOBBY: And he's
threatening his pawn.

Pulling took his right away,
because he played here first.

BOBBY: Now he took the bishop.

REPORTER: Bobby Fischer
is one of the greatest,

perhaps the greatest
chess player in the world.

(PEOPLE CHANTING)

REPORTER: Bobby
Fischer, United States,
World title contender.

BOBBY: Now, uh, black
surprises him with this move.

REPORTER : Bobby Fischer
is an isolated man.

Bobby Fischer's a strange
man. People think that there's
something wrong with the man.

BOBBY: The king moves,
takes the queen.

REPORTER: The great
Bobby Fischer is here
tonight.

A child, not a champion.
His social life is a vacuum.

The most arrogant man
you're ever likely to meet.

BOBBY: He takes back,
he gets checked.

REPORTER: Looking
for Bobby Fischer...

What ever happened to
Bobby Fischer? Reclusive.

BOBBY: Threaten his pawn,
and then that's game.

REPORTER: Bobby Fischer
is searching for asylum.

It's really Fischer
against the world.

BOBBY: And here
white resigned.

INTERVIEWER: Bobby
Fischer Interview.

(SIGHS) All right.
Try not to tense up.

INTERVIEWER: Bobby, uh, you've
given virtually your entire
life to the world of chess.

What about Bobby
Fischer, the Man?
What's he like?

I don't know it's pretty,
uh, chess and me, you
know, it's like...

It's hard to take
them apart, you know?

It's just like my
alter ego, you know?
I don't really...

INTERVIEWER: But there
are times when you get
away from that chessboard.

What do you do?

I don't do too much, at
the most. I'm really, you
know, tied up in chess.

I intend to expand, but
first I've got to get the
title. That's basically...

Bobby, what does it take
to make a good chess player?

Well, talent, skill,
patience. You have to
study a lot and work.

INTERVIEWER: What would
your ultimate aim be?

Well, I'd like to be,
uh, world champion
and keep it for...

Maybe, 20 years or so.

INTERVIEWER: Twenty years?

Fischer is to chess, what
Muhammad Ali is to boxing.

AUDIENCE: (CHANTING)
Bobby! Bobby!

Can Fischer beat the Russian?

Yes, Fischer will
beat the Russian.

Do you honestly think that
you probably are the world's
greatest chess player?

Yeah, right.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

In the 18-month period, in
the run up to his challenge
to Boris Spassky,

Fischer, had beaten,
and in some cases,

destroyed, some of the
best Soviet players.

Fischer was wiping away
his opposition, like flies.

He went on a 20-game winning
streak, which was unheard of
in championship chess.

Bobby Fischer was exciting,
the, not only the chess
world, but the world.

EDMONDS: There's trouble
in Northern Ireland.

Henry Kissinger is shuttling
to and from Vietnam,

and against that competition,
the chess dominates.

In Moscow today, the Soviet
Chess Federation called an
angry news conference,

to denounce Bobby Fischer.

General Motors recalls
500,000 Chevrolet Vegas,
and Bobby Fischer...

Bobby Fischer, true to his
recent erratic behavior...

Finished off Tigran Petrosian
of the Soviet Union, a
former world champion...

It was the best news story
of the day. The victory gave
Fischer the right to play

the world's champion,
Boris Spassky, another
Russian, next spring.

We all had hopes. We
all wanted him to be
World Chess Champion.

The one person he was yet
to beat, was Boris Spassky.

You've said it's your title
the Russians are holding.
You don't like the Russians?

The Russians have cheated
at chess. They've tried
every way to avoid me,

to avoid giving me
a chance for the match.

And they have slandered my
name, and, uh, you know.

They just, and they just...
They're afraid of me, and
they have been for years.

That's the true story.

INTERVIEWER: And now
you're gonna get them?

Well, now I'm going to
try and get them, yeah...

KISSINGER: The Soviets had
been winning these tournaments

and I thought it would be good
for America, for Democracy,

uh, to have an
American winner.

The stakes really couldn't
be much higher, politically,

popularly. In people's
minds, you know, these
were two enemies,

who were not fighting
a real war,

but were trying to out-do
one another strategically
all the time.

NIXON: We will not tolerate
being pushed around.

KISSINGER: We have the desire
and the material assets to
deal with the Soviet Union.

GOVERNMENT OFFICER:
(IN RUSSIAN)

BOBBY: This little thing
with me and Spassky,
it's, you know, with...

Bombs, having it
out over the board.

THORARINSSON: One of
the Soviet powers, the
Soviet Union...

Had made chess
it's national sport.

THORARINSSON: They had spent
unlimited amounts of money.

They had hundreds
of Grand Masters.

They won every tournament,
every Chess Olympiad.

(SINGING IN RUSSIAN)

For a Communist Regime,

keeping the crown was very
important, uh, ideologically.

KASPAROV: This communist
state took over chess to
use it as proof...

of intellectual superiority
over decadent West.

KASPAROV: Everybody knew
that the crown has to remain
in the Soviet Union.

(SINGING IN RUSSIAN)

(RUSSIAN SINGING CONTINUES)

SAIDY: In the Soviet Union,
everybody of talent was

cultivated, was given
financial help, coaching.

All the top players were
privileged people.

In the United States, we
didn't have any of that.

Every single one of
us was on his own.

(GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS)

EDMONDS: And here came
this lone American,

combating the might of
the Soviet chess machine.

National prestige
was at stake.

Fischer recognized that he was
representing not only him...

But the entire free world.

I think there was just too
much on his shoulders.

INTERVIEWER: Could you
tell us how old you are
and where you're from?

I'm 15, and I'm
from Brooklyn.

He is 15 years old and he
is from Brooklyn, all right?

(WOMAN CHEERS)
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

Will you show your
headline to camera three
and to Dick Clark?

Because we'll make him
go to work on you.

It says, "Teenager's Strategy
Defeats All Comers!"

This strategy, did it
involve, uh, finances?
No.

CLARK: Did you have any help?
No.

CLARK: You did it all
by yourself. Did it
make people happy?

It made me happy.
(LAUGHTER)

(BUZZER SOUNDS)

This young man's name is
Bobby Fischer, and already

he is the United
States Chess Champion.

He is 15 years old, and he
has defeated the masters.

He is the United States
Champion in chess.

I met Bobby when I was
14, and he was eight,

in one of the chess
clubs in Manhattan.

SAIDY: He was the youngest
kid around. He was unassuming.

He was well-mannered.
He was a nice kid.

His mother, Regina, she
was a woman who had to
work two jobs, single mom,

supporting two children,
Bobby and Joan.

TARG: Regina was really
the genius of the family.

She spoke quite a number of
languages, including Russian.

She worked as a telegraph
operator, a nurse, a welder.

She actually got a PhD
in Hematology as well.

EVANS: She was an activist,
she was a Communist.

And the FBI files on
her are quite extensive.

His mother was hounded
by the FBI, because...

They thought she was
possibly a Soviet spy.

LYMAN: This was a period
when Jew and Communist
were equated,

so his mother denied
his Jewishness.

SLOAN: His mother told
him if he would be sitting
on the stoop

at 560 Lincoln Place,
Apartment 4Q, and

somebody would come up to
him and ask him a question,

he would say, "I have
nothing to say to you."

That was the proper
answer that his mother
told him to say.

INTERVIEWER: You're from
Brooklyn originally?

Chicag... Well, born in
Chicago, moved to Brooklyn
when I was about six.

So, lived on the coast...
INTERVIEWER: Were you
playing chess by then?

No, I learned in
New York, yeah.

INTERVIEWER: At what age?

Six.

INTERVIEWER: When
did you start to get
serious about chess?

About when, I was maybe seven.

If you can think back
to your childhood, and
all the things you did...

After school, and on the
weekends. And, imagine just
filling all that in with

chess study, chess
lessons, chess practice,
chess competition.

GLADWELL: Sure, Bobby
Fischer starts with a
very exceptional mind.

But genius is not only
about a particular
innate gift for "X".

Genius is about a
desire to do "X".

It's about a willingness
to sacrifice.

It's about an ability
to develop that kind of
obsessive interest,

in perfecting one's
ability to do some task.

GLADWELL: People who studied
expertise have looked at
classical music composers,

and surgeons and
chess players...

Interested in figuring
out, what do high
achievers have in common?

They have always,
almost without exception,

put in 10,000 hours of
deliberate practice first.

(WITH SWISS ACCENT)

GLADWELL: That love component
is such an enormous part
of the achievement,

of any kind of genius...

Because if it's dutiful,
there is no way you can be
that obsessive about it.

There was nothing else
he would rather do.

I started playing, uh,
games with myself.

BOBBY: I would make the white
moves and the black moves.

Play through the whole
game, and eventually I would
checkmate the other guy.

I almost always won.

Then my mother started to
get worried that, you know,

it wasn't healthy to be,
ya know, playing chess by
myself all the time.

BOBBY: Now, uh, black
surprises him with this move.

EDMONDS: Regina was so
worried that she decided to
take him to a psychiatrist.

And the psychiatrist said,

"Don't worry, there are
worse things to be obsessed
by then chess."

EVANS: Everybody said
to him, "What happened?"

And he said, "One
day I just got good."

He was suddenly out of
everyone else's league.

And everybody knew it.

Fischer would open a chess
magazine, okay, like this.

He would open it like
this, he would say,
"Hmm, okay here...

"Let's see here...

"Okay here, okay here."

Now, it looks like he's
just, like, looking at
the pictures, right?

That's what you
think he's doing.

No, he's not doing that.

He's playing through the
entire game, in his head,
in a few seconds.

SLOAN: Every move.

He went from being
my peer in chess.

To being the United
States Chess Champion,
a quantum leap.

EVANS: That's when he first
became famous. This was 1958.

No chess player ever made
much money in those days,

and my father basically
arranged an exhibition
tour for him.

In which, he went from city
to city, playing anywhere from
40 to 80 people at a time.

And I don't know how
much he got then, maybe
$5 dollars a board.

SAIDY: Regina decided
that this was a way
to the big time.

She'd call me up and say...

"I want Bobby to go on
Channel Two on Sunday,

"And he won't do it
if I ask him, so I
want you to tell him."

He just wanted to learn
the game and she really
wanted him to get publicity.

CAVETT: Fame is definitely
a mixed blessing,
and almost everybody

would admit that, at some
some point in their life,
they've wished they had it.

Once it starts it's fun, and
the fun quickly wears off...

When you want to be alone,
private and public, if
that's ever possible.

But also, it's horrendous
on the psyche for the young.

It totally distorts
their world.

LYMAN: He had all these
people around who really
wanted a piece of him,

if they only wanted
to be in his glow.

And, people have all
kinds of motives, not
always in his favor.

They're trying to make money
out of him. They're trying to
be associated with him.

They're talking behind his
back. You know, I mean he
couldn't stand any of that.

Particularly, he couldn't
stand the press, because,
he was such an individual.

He was an ideal object
for caricature.

INTERVIEWER: You
watch television?

No. Not much.
Very rarely.
INTERVIWER: Why?

I don't know. I read
that you could get a
little radiation from it.

I don't know. I've talked
with a few scientist friends
of mine, they say you...

You do, you do, it's a fact,
you do get a little bit. They
don't think it's dangerous.

What kind of magazines
do you like?

My favorite magazine
is Confidential.

I read that all the time.

INTERVIEWER: Why
do you like that?

They've got a lot of the
inside stories on things
like water pollution.

It's pretty interesting.
I like to read up on that.

A lot of things that
the government is
concealing, you know?

LYMAN: Fischer looked at the
world his own way. I mean,

Bobby was not socialized,
the way the rest of us were.

Every idea he had, virtually,
he had to come to, through
his own thinking.

In these days, he was
unusual. But, he hadn't
gone off the deep end yet.

REPORTER: Boxing champions
have been coming to the
Catskill Mountains of New York

for almost half a century
to get in shape.

But does a chess champion
need to train physically?

Take a look behind that
window, into the training
headquarters of Bobby Fischer.

(TELEVISION BLARES)

REPORTER: Championship
chess is a physically
exhausting game.

More than just a test of mind
and will, it is a contest of
physical endurance too.

Bobby is 29, and he lives
virtually a monastic life.

He lives alone, always in
hotel rooms that seem barely
larger than chessboards.

A lot of the time he won't
even answer his telephone.

The television set is
his window on the world,
exercise is part of it.

I'm a world class
Olympic-level coach.

I'm also a world champion
in the bench press, and I've
trained a lot of celebrities.

But no one can match the
fabulous Bobby Fischer.

SNEIDER: He was interested
in the human body, how
it performed...

and how it could
be more productive.

He said "I want you
to work on my grip.

"You see this dynamometer?

"I want to squeeze this thing
all the way to the end."

I said, "The world's
strongest man has not
squeezed 100 kilograms."

He said, "I'll squeeze
105." I said, "Why?"

"When I shake that
little Russian's hand,
I want him to feel it!"

I started him off with a
little swimming, racquetball,
which we were quite good at.

A little weight training.

I said, repeat this after me,
"I'm a winner! I'm a champion!
I'm not a loser!"

And he says, "Why'd you put
the loser thing in there?
You know I'm a champion."

BENSON: Bobby is probably
the most interesting person
I've ever photographed.

There he is.
There's Bobby.

"I decided to hold my
breath like this, and..."

You know, it was good
for his training.

He was in training
for Spassky.

He asked me what
other jobs do I do?

And I told him, I'm,
I've just finished one
on the New York Jets.

"Jets?" He thought
that was marvelous.

He thought... He wanted
to hear all about it.

How they train, and he said,

"You know, I've got to
train like that as well."

(ROCK MUSIC PLAYS)

BENSON: And he didn't
mind anything I did.

But it could have gone
either way. He treated
everybody else quite awful.

REPORTER: Bobby Fischer
is a stubborn young man.

Sometimes he fights
for principal, more
often just for himself.

He'll refuse to play a
match because his special
terms aren't met.

And for the past month,
he's been giving fits to the
International Federation too.

Not enough money
for the winner of the
world title, he says.

EVANS: There was
bidding on the match.

And Iceland got it, I
guess because they put
up the highest bid.

And Bobby didn't want
to play. He said the
country's too small.

They don't have facilities,
they don't have communication.

The International Chess
Federation wants word by
tomorrow morning from Fischer

on whether he's agreeable
to 24 games in Iceland,

and Fischer is taking
his time answering.

REPORTER: You, as
President of the Icelandic
Chess Federation.

Are there times where you
have been tempted to say,
"Let's forget all about it."

As you know, we are
organizing a chess match,

and our only wish is to
enrich the chess world.

They had all these lawyers,
and they were raising
demands all the time.

But at the same time, it
was never clear whether
Fischer would come to Iceland.

The stumbling block,
the principal one was
the prize money.

And I said, we have already
settled the money question.

And we will not be
ready to discuss that.

EDMONDS: There was a real
possibility that the match
wouldn't take place.

One has to remember with
Fischer, that he dropped
out of tournaments before.

This was no bluff
necessarily.

He's going, he's not
going, and then he told
me he was going.

He moved quietly,
put his hands on my
shoulders, and says,

"I'm going to
Iceland, Harry."
You know, it was...

So, and the next thing
I would read in the paper
would be, he's not going.

But, Bobby wouldn't sign it.

And then Bobby disappeared.

REPORTER: Boris Spassky,
the world chess champion,

came to Iceland twelve days
before the match, scheduled
to start Sunday.

Spassky said he wanted time
to get used to the place,

without, incidentally,
being constantly
molested by newsmen.

Bobby Fischer was also
sensitive about being
photographed.

Sensitive to the point that
he kept not showing up.

SAIDY: He was sitting
in Pasadena, California
and my job,

my personal mission, was to
get Bobby to go to Iceland.

And play the World
Championship Match.

But I didn't see any activity.
I didn't see any plane ticket.

I said, "Bobby, I have to go
to New York. My dad is sick.

"Let's travel together.
You'll be that much
closer to Iceland."

He said, "Yeah, I think
that's a good idea,
travel with a friend.

"Yeah, okay."

I was getting him closer
to where he had to go.

We took him to
Kennedy airport.

We were headed for the
Icelandic Airlines counter.

Somehow a Daily News
photographer spied him.

And Bobby started running.
He wasn't just running,
he was sprinting.

I turned around, and I
stopped, and I put my hands
up. I didn't say anything.

And Bobby kept running,
right out of the airport.

To the curbside limousine, and
got in, and left the airport.

SAIDY: Where to? Nobody knew.

It was only three days
before the scheduled
start of the match.

Chess history was
in the balance.

I said, you can stay
at my parents' home in
Douglaston, Long Island.

I don't think
the bell works.

(DOORBELL RINGS)

It works.

JOURNALIST: Hi,
where are you?

JOURNALIST: Oh,
I need to know...

Bobby was staying at Saidy's
house, and Saidy's father was
dying of cancer at the time.

I don't know whether he told
you that, and they were...

They were trying their
best to get Fischer on
that plane to Iceland.

At one point Saidy said, "You
know, uh, my father's dying."

And Bobby says, "That's
okay, I don't mind."

They could not dislodge
him from that house.

This was probably the most
stressful week of my life.

JOURNALIST: Are
you Dr. Saidy?
SAIDY: Yes I am.

Mr. Fischer made it
clear that he would try
to go to Iceland tonight.

Did he express these
thoughts to you?
Made it clear to whom?

JOURNALIST: We had talked to
a few people, and they had
the impression he was going.

Well, everybody can
have impressions,

but the only person who knows
what Bobby Fischer is going
to do is Bobby Fischer.

That's about all
I really want to say.

JOURNALIST: I see...
I want you to all keep cool.

SAIDY: At one point, during
his stay at our home...

He simply said, "It's
over, I'm not going."

REPORTER: Still no
sign of Bobby Fischer.

Today, the International
Chess Federation

postponed by 48 hours
the start of the match,
but it said...

If Fischer is not in
Iceland by noon on Tuesday,
he will be disqualified.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Thorarinsson,
if I may ask, are you worried?

No.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

JOURNALIST: And, I
just wondered if you've
ever seen Mr. Fischer,

if you have any proof
that he actually exists?

That's a good question.

Yes, I think, gentlemen,
we can agree on the point
that Mr. Fischer exists.

We were losing
the whole thing.

We had to get Fischer
to come to Iceland.

The Soviet Union had the
feeling that the World Chess
Champion was humiliated.

They wanted to call Spassky
back to the Soviet Union.

Boris said to me, "This
is a very severe situation.

"You have to solve this
on a higher level."

Gudmundur Thorarinsson,

I think he asked the
Prime Minister of Iceland
to call Kissinger.

Fischer was very reluctant
to go, and I placed a call to
him, and I said to him...go.

The United States of America
wanted Bobby to go there and
win the world title.

By that time, James
Slater, the British
Multi-Millionaire,

had already
doubled the purse.

So, Fischer's answer
to Kissinger was, "Yes,
I've decided to play."

REPORTER: What finally did
make you decide to go then?

I feel that the prestige of
this country is at stake.

REPORTER 2: Some people
have suggested this was
psychological warfare,

against Spassky on your part.

Mmm.
REPORTER 2: Did
that figure into it?

No, huh-uh.

I don't believe in
psychology, I believe
in good moves.

ANNOUNCER: Bobby Fischer
left New York for Iceland,

and what a scene that was on
the morning of July the 4th.

Nothing like this has ever
happened in Iceland before.

REPORTER: You try to
describe the impact on the
citizens here at Reykjavik,

is probably about the same as
if the promoters of the next,

Joe Frasier-Muhammad Ali prize
fight, decided to stage their
international extravaganza

in Butte, Montana.

REPORTER 2: One observer said
the chess match was turning
into the biggest thing,

to hit Iceland,
since Eric the Red.

Though some people were
still mad at Fischer,

others approve of his
hold-out for more money.

Well, he was fighting for
all the chess players of
the whole world, I think

He's tedious, he's arrogant,
he's inconsiderate.

Uh, basically, people think
that there's something
wrong with the man.

PALSSON: I became
his private bodyguard.

It was a big moment
for me, you know.

I was more of his
friend than a bodyguard.

He was quite a
character, you know.

He could be gentle,
but he could be like
a volcano sometimes.

And it was better to know
when to speak and when to
keep quiet, actually.

LYMAN: Finally Bobby
showed up in Iceland.

Now is he gonna really play
for the World Championship?

REPORTER: It's been a long
road for Fischer to this game,

and it'll be a long match
at the end of that road.

Both he and Spassky
have to play 24 games.

The match could last up
to two months, each game
runs to five hours.

The most intellectually
exhausting battle known
to the mind of man.

(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS)
The World Chess Championship.

THORARINSSON: We had
the Icelandic Government,
the Icelandic President,

the Ambassador of the
Soviet Union, the Ambassador
of the United States,

and many foreign guests.

The theatre was full.

ANNOUNCER: Regularly
scheduled programs will
not be seen at this time,

so we may bring you the
following sports special.

ABC Sports presents the World
Chess Championship Match,

between Boris Spassky,
the defending champion
from the Soviet Union,

and 29-year-old Bobby
Fischer, the challenger
from the United States.

CAVETT: It was the Super Bowl.

The audiences were gigantic.
People stayed home from work.

LYMAN: People were lining
up in front of TV sets at
department stores.

There were chess groupies.

In Time Square, they were
showing the game live.
It was that important.

ANNOUNCER: Let's find
out from you Larry...

If there are any
late-breaking developments.

They might fuss around with
the chess pieces and the size
of the board and the lighting,

but I'm fairly confident
the match will start on time.

THORARINSSON: Boris Spassky,
the world chess champion was
there with all his assistants.

But, Fischer was not here.

(CLOCK TICKS)

REPORTER: The clock has
now been started. It was
officially 5:00 in Reykjavik.

Spassky is obviously anxious
about the whereabouts
of Mr. Fischer.

SAIDY: Bobby was
nowhere to be seen.

And all of us despaired.

REPORTER: If Fischer
doesn't show up by the
time one hour has elapsed,

he forfeits the
game automatically.

Oh, there he goes now.
He's just played one
pawn to queen 4.

ANNOUNCER: You saw
Spassky make his move then
he touched his clock,

which turns his clock
off, but turns his
opponent's clock on.

So Fischer's time
is now ticking.

EDMONDS: There was no
certainty, that even though
this was the biggest match,

of his life, he would
actually show up.

See, many people think
that his antics were
designed to upset Spassky,

to discombobulate
Spassky, which they did.

But I don't think
that was their intent.

I don't think any of this
was directed against Spassky.

It was his own inner
demons that he was fighting.

REPORTER 1: Unpredictable
Bobby Fischer.

REPORTER 2: Nobody really
knows why Bobby Fischer does
or does not do anything.

REPORTER 3: The most
individualistic, intransigent,
uncommunicative,

solitary chess
master of all time.

He has no permanent home.

REPORTER 3: Fischer
is a nomad.
Speaks to almost no one.

REPORTER 3: No contact
with his family.
REPORTER: Troubled childhood.

REPORTER 3: He hasn't seen
his mother in over 10 years.

REPORTER: Is your
mother still living?

Yeah.
REPORTER: Do you get a chance
to see her very much?

Haven't seen her in
a few years, yeah.

REPORTER: What about
your father?
No, I don't see him. No.

REPORTER: Are they
living together?
No, her, her...

SLOAN: "I never talk
about my father."

That's what Fischer
would say, "I never talk
about my father."

This is what led me to realize
that there was something
special about Fischer's father

that nobody else knew.

BENSON: Regina Fischer
has a 900-page FBI file.

And, one of the things
it reveals is that
Bobby Fischer's father,

was not Gerhardt Fischer
as it had been supposed,

and as the family had
allowed to be known.

In fact, Bobby Fischer's
father was a man named
Paul Nemenyi.

Gerhardt Fischer, who
is officially listed on
the birth certificate,

never came to America.

BENSON: Regina and
Paul Nemenyi met at a
University near Denver,

and they had an affair.

Regina moved on and took
the baby, Bobby, with her.

Regina, often, because
she was destitute, and
needed help,

would go to social service
agencies, and ask for help.

Paul Nemenyi would show
up, and consult with
the social workers,

because he was very
concerned about Bobby.

He said that Bobby, even
at a very young age, was
a very upset child.

He was afraid that he
wasn't being raised right.

BESON: Later, when Bobby
moved to New York City.

Paul would come and take
him out to restaurants,

and would admonish him for
having bad table manners.

And would basically act
towards him in the way
that a father would.

BENSON: One day, Bobby asked
his mother, "Where's Paul?

"Why isn't he coming
around anymore?"

EVANS: When Nemenyi died,
that's when his mother told
him he was his real father.

He learned about it
only about the time
he was 9-years-old.

SAIDY: Chess to him
was the ultimate escape,

his single obsession.

EVANS: Well,
Spassky's waiting.

REPORTER 2: Right, and it uh,
waiting and wondering whether
Bobby will show or not show.

And there is absolutely
dead silence in the hall.

EVANS: Spassky is pacing,
he's nervous and...

REPORTER: Wait!
Here comes Fischer,

coming onto stage, saying
that he was caught in traffic.

And, uh, I think Spassky
is visibly relieved.

EVANS: And also
perhaps pained.

LYMAN: It didn't look
like this match would happen,
but finally it happened and...

it was phenomenal.

How do you spell
relief, okay?

REPORTER: Now, for the
first time, we're looking at
Bobby Fischer, the man that

eight times has won the United
States Open Championship.

LYMAN: I remember saying on TV
at one point during the match,

I said, "You know,
we're really lucky...

"to be alive, at this moment,
when Bobby Fischer's
playing Boris Spassky."

ANNOUNCER: There's the first
move. One knight to king
bishop 3, very noncommittal.

REPORTER: Now watch, see
Fischer turn around here?
ANNOUNCER: Yeah.

He's checking to see
that camera location.

And now, uh, he goes
over to protest those
cameras being there.

ANNOUNCER: There's Lothar
Schmid in the background.

Bobby said, "I feel disturbed.
I cannot have that, please."

ANNOUNCER: Spassky remains
serene and imperturbable
throughout all this.

POLGAR: The first game
started out with some minor
psychological games,

in the opening, but
then it calmed down.

And the position that
we reached after 28 moves,
seemed like a complete draw...

It seemed like they were
gonna agree to a draw shortly,
and move onto the next game.

SAIDY: All the
pieces were traded.

They got into an endgame.
Each side had a bishop
and a bunch of pawns.

It was a very easy...
It was a dead draw.

The position reached
very even position,
virtually symmetrical.

And Fischer went haywire.

He did something that
hardly anyone would do
except a rank amateur.

He grabbed a pawn, allowing
his bishop to be trapped.

LYMAN: He made a colossal
beginner's blunder.

He took a pawn which allowed
Spassky to trap his bishop.
We couldn't believe it.

This looks like an error,
but this is Fischer
playing the move.

There must be more
to it than that.

There must be an explanation.
There must be some deep
combination that we've missed.

KROGIUS: (SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

(CONTINUES SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

Bobby saw six moves ahead
here, when he made the move.

He just didn't see
seven moves ahead.

EVANS: White can interpolate
a move. You can play
bishop to queen 2.

Notice that that cuts
off the escape square.

And then all that white has
to do on the next move, is
play king to knight 2,

and the bishop is lost.

EVANS: That was the shot
heard around the world.

SAIDY: It was inexplicable.

I still don't know
how that happened.

SCHMID: Spassky
won the first game.

You had to get to 12.5
points, the best of 24.

A win is one, a loss is zero,
and a draw is one half.

He had an agreement that
the cameras be quiet and
Bobby said they aren't quiet.

And, uh, they disturb me.

He claimed that the noise
from the machines...

was so high that he couldn't,
you see, he couldn't think
or concentrate.

I believe that, by the way.

I think that he
had hyperacusis,

a medical condition
characterized by excessive
sensitivity to noise.

Fischer said he would
boycott the match,

until hidden movie
cameras were removed
from the playing hall.

The promoters said
the entire financial
structure of the match

depends on recording
and exhibiting the play.

He asked to put
the camera away.

THORARINSSON: He wanted
me to clear the cameras
out of the hall.

And I said, "No."

SCHMID: You have
to start in time.

If a player is not present,
you have to, as the arbiter,
press his clock.

HOFFMAN: Fischer had
been known to quit
matches over trivia...

So, we were afraid that, uh,
he would just, you know,

run back home, and that
would be the end of it.

SCHMID: Bobby did not show up.

I had, as the arbiter,
to forfeit him.

And, for a moment,
I thought, "Did I make
the right decision?

"Was it fair? Was it correct?"
But it was necessary.

There was no other way.

This, uh, night I remember
that I had been woken up
by tears in my eyes.

That I, as an arbiter,
had to destroy a genius.

EVANS: He was now
trailing two nothing.

It's very hard to make
that up in a 24-game match.

POLGAR: Half the world
thought, "That's it,
the match is over."

"He'll never come back."

"Why would he even bother
trying to come back from
such a difficult situation?"

HARRY BENSON: During
the match, he would knock
on my door about...

One or two in the
morning, and we would
just walk and walk.

And we would sit, and
look at the animals.

He loved animals.

And he would talk, but
he didn't like to talk
about his childhood.

It was a bad subject.

He did tell me that, like,
from the age of 2 or 3 he
was left alone...

all day with his sister.

The loneliness.

CLEA BENSON: Regina, for
all of her gifts, was not
a traditional mother.

She was a person who
moved her kids around
from place to place,

ya know, even every few months
when they were really little.

SAIDY: There was obvious
conflict between Regina and
Bobby from an early age.

BENSON: He didn't like to
have his mother around.

She would end up having to
send his sister, Joan, abroad
with him on tournaments,

He wouldn't play if
his mother was along.

Regina moved out of
the apartment that he
shared with her...

in Brooklyn when he
was only 16 years old.

SAIDY: He told his mom to
leave, I don't know how
politely, and she left.

In a way, he rejected her
because she was so like him.

So pushy, so self-centered,
so goal-directed.

Maybe he was splitting
off part of himself.

TARG: In 1960, Regina
went to Europe to get
her M.D. Degree.

And Bobby would have still
been living on Lincoln Place
in Brooklyn then.

I went to his apartment
a couple of times, and
it was roach-ridden.

It was a walk-up tenement.

He had chess books
all over the place,

and it was just in a
complete state of disarray.

MARSHALL: The fact is,
his mother left him.

Think about yourself.
If, suddenly, your
father wasn't there,

and your mother disappeared,
said, "Goodbye."

How would you feel? What
would have happened to you?

REGINA: Bobby is all chess.

I don't play chess,
and I don't pretend
to speak for Bobby.

But I feel that
whatever I do here,

whatever I say, to help
make the Vietnam come to
an end more quickly,

will help every son, every
daughter in the whole world.

ALL: One, two, three, four,
sign the treaty, end the war!

One, two, three, four, sign
the treaty end the war!

One, two, three, four, sign
the treaty end the war...

MAN ON PHONE: Well, you're not
gonna believe this, Sir, but
I'm inside of a wind tunnel.

MAN ON PHONE:
(CONTINUES SPEAKING)

EVANS: Fischer said,
"Well, I'll continue but
the third game,

"has got to be away
from the auditorium
inside a sealed room."

There's a little ping-pong
room at the back of the stage.

And Spassky agreed.

You can't change the location
without both sides' permission
once the match has started.

He could have claimed
the match on a forfeit.

He didn't have to
play in that back room.

If he hadn't, Fischer would
have not played and the match
would not have continued.

Bobby started
again to quarrel.

"No! Not this one and
not that," etcetera.

And Boris said
in this moment...

"So, I retire, I do not
want this. This is too
much for me. I...

"If so, we end
the match."

The two boys were standing
together at the table.

And I took them here,
both, and pressed them
down in the stools.

Now, will you play?

Boris automatically
made his first move.

EDMONDS: The game could
still be watched by a
close-circuit TV camera.

THORARINSSON: The audience was
in the hall and they could
follow the game move by move.

(MURMURING)

In game three, Bobby played
an opening, a defense he
had never played before.

The Benoni, which
means "Son of Sorrow."

It is so risky, so
fraught with danger,

that whenever you play
that, you're simply saying,

"We're not gonna make a
draw. This is win or lose.
This is a fight to the death."

Bobby moved his knight
to the edge of the board.

There's a saying in chess...

(IN GERMAN) "Ein springer am
rand bringt kummer am shand,"

"A knight on the side,
I will not abide."

It was against principle.

It's not considered a good
idea, because the center
of the board, typically,

is the most important
battle ground.

And that's where we want to
position our pieces, or at
least in a way that our pieces

attack the middle
of the board.

HOFFMAN: Not only did he move
the knight to the side of the
board, but also it could have

been captured by a bishop,
and he would have had a
very ugly-looking...

Double pawn way over on
the side of the board, which,

it was very
unaesthetic, let's say.

REPORTER ON PHONE:
Uh, Frank, I can see Spassky.

Uh, more tense than
you've seen him?
REPORTER ON PHONE: Yes.

He may be...what?

I see.

Spassky did not find
the best continuation,

and was consistently
outplayed...

Until Fischer won his
first game of his life
against Spassky.

He was on the scoreboard.

What do you think
of Bobby Fischer?

I like him.
I like his style.

Are you following
the games?
Yes I am.

The American chess players
are behind Bobby 100%,

and they're all anxious to
see him get in there, and
win the championship.

( I'VE SEEN ALL GOOD
PEOPLE PLAYS)

Do you think that Fischer
will win for the first time
over the Russian champion?

I think Fischer will
win, because he's
playing for $200,000,

but if Spassky wins most
of the money will go to
the Russian government.

EVANS: People sat in bars
betting on what the next move
was going to be...

the way people bet on whether
there is going to be a hit
in a baseball game.

That's when chess
really exploded.

¶ Move me on to
any black square

¶ Use me anytime ¶

Tell me what, what, you know
what turns you on about chess.
What?

Do you hope to be as good
as Bobby Fischer one day?

Well, I'd hope to, but
I doubt if I would be.
REPORTER: Why?

Well, I just think Fischer's
just about the best player
in the world,

and not very many people can
get to be as good as he is.

EVANS: We're watching the
looming presence of Boris
Spassky and Bobby Fischer,

as sketched by Leroy Neiman,
noted artist and familiar
face to Wide World.

Leroy is here with me at
the Wide World studio in New
York, and he's going to be

sharing some of his
artistic impressions with
us, in just a minute.

Larry I thought going up there
to that chess match would be
like watching the grass grow,

but it was far more exciting
than I ever expected it to be.

Well, I thought it was
pretty exciting too.

NEIMAN: It was just
like the Ali-Frasier
fight all over again.

This is Bobby Fischer leaving
the hotel for the fight,

like a matador leaving the
Palace hotel in Madrid.

On stage, the tension
is developing, it's a
real "prizefight."

That's when Fischer...
That's when he's a fighter.

This right hand is,
like it struck and
drew blood on Spassky.

The score was even.
Two and a half,
two and a half.

SAIDY: Spassky
was not himself.

All these shenanigans had
affected him adversely.

He was not playing
his true game.

KROGIUS: (IN RUSSIAN)

(CONTINUES IN RUSSIAN)

MARSHALL: They believed that
the chairs had been wired,

and the lighting fixture,
to destabilize Boris'
concentration.

That's when Boris cracked.

Spassky complained that
there was some radiation...

which was affecting him.

During the match I felt myself
quite unusually like before.

So, that was reason to
be for myself... I'm not
a suspicious man...

to become suspicious.

There might be something
in the chair.

There might be something
on the surface of the chair.

There might be
something in the light.

EVANS: They inspected the
chairs and the lights to see,

whether the Americans were up
to some kind of "Hanky Panky."

They found two dead
flies, and that was it.

(FLIES BUZZING)

Games 6 is very celebrated.

It is probably the
most reprinted game
of the entire match.

It was like...a symphony
of placid beauty.

POLGAR: Right on
the first move...

Bobby Fischer came up
with a major surprise
to the entire world.

He almost always starts
the game, with moving

the pawn in front of his
king, two pawns up, with E4.

KROGIUS: (IN RUSSIAN)

And in this game,
everybody's shocked.

He started with the English
opening by playing C4.

Spassky's preparation
was out the window.

I'm sure he prepared for
many things, but not this.

Fischer did not
play his usual game.

He played a different kind
of game, a placid, positional,
slowly building up game,

where he deprived
Spassky of mobility.

Pushed him back where his
pieces could not do anything.

It was just a, just
a beautiful game...

I don't know what more
can be said about it. It's
just a model of precision.

It was such a beautiful game,

that when the crowd applauded
at the end of the game,

Spassky, himself, stood up
and applauded Fischer.

EVANS: On his way back to
the hotel, Fischer said,

"Did you see what
Spassky did?"

He said "That's a sportsman.
He's a real sportsman."

EDMONDS: Game 21
reached move 40,

the move at which the game
was adjourned, for the two
players to go and study it.

ANNOUNCER: This is NBC nightly
news, Friday September 1st.

Good Evening. We'll have
more on the developments in
the Watergate Bugging case.

We'll hear George McGovern
talking about tightening up
his campaign organization.

And we'll have a look at
the new unemployment figures,
but first Bobby Fischer.

Today was the day when
Fischer and the Russian
champion, Boris Spassky,

were to have finished
the 21st game of the
World Championship,

a game they started yesterday.

But Spassky, after what must
have been an agonizing night
spent analyzing his position,

didn't even show up to play.

BENSON: I was going
to photograph Spassky
in the morning.

He comes straight over to
me, shook my hand, and said,

"There is another
world champion.

"His name is Robert
James Fischer."

I went back to the loft
later to Bobby's room,

and I told him
Spassky just retired.

And I want to be the
first to congratulate you.

REPORTER: Congratulations,
how you feel, babe? Tell us
how you feel about it!

You said you were gonna do it.
(YELLING)

Listen would you
talk to us, Bobby?

Bobby, roll the window down!

BENSON: Bobby wanted
to get away...

'Cause they're all banging
on the door and all that,

just to beat it
out into the hills.

Someone brings up
The New York Post, and it
says, "Bobby is the Champ."

His mother had said to him,
when she saw she couldn't
separate him from chess.

She said, "Okay,
go play chess.

"When that's over, you
can start your life.

"You can do something
important."

REPORTER: NBC news
correspondent Dick Schapp
was in Iceland today...

and here's what Fischer said.

SCHAPP: How does it feel
now, you have the World
Championship.

You're the best in the
world at what you've
devoted your life to.

How does that feel inside?

It feels pretty good,
yeah. I mean, my goal now
is play a lot more chess.

I feel I haven't
played enough chess.

(TRUMPET MUSIC PLAYS)

How did it feel...all this
between the mayor and all...

Did you ever thought
of anything like that?

No, I never, you know, thought
this was gonna happen...

You know, with Chess. I just
hope, uh, this keeps on.

I just had a premonition
that something awful was
going to happen to him.

I didn't know
what it would be,

but I didn't feel
good about it.

One of Fischer's problems
was that after the match,

he was, supposedly,
better known by the
population of the world,

than anyone, except
for Jesus Christ.

And, he was a guy who
treasured his privacy.

He had a problem.

REPORTER: The entire
world knows the name
Bobby Fischer by now.

Was it a letdown after it
was all over Bobby? I mean...

Well, there must have
been a tremendous, uh...

There was. I woke
up the day after the
thing was over and...

I just felt different. Like...

Something had been
taken out of me.

LYMAN: He didn't really,
after he won, know what he
wanted to do with his life.

He, uh, he reached an end
point, when he was 29.

He's 29 years old, and
he hadn't had a childhood.

Is it not true that,
um, the Chess masters
are always young men,

and that they...
they don't last?

Uh, that's been true,
generally speaking, but
there are exceptions.

Steinitz, he was 63 when
he was world champion.

But, you're in a fortunate
position, because...

Most of us in life, no
matter how successful we
think we are.

We still have to do what
other people want us to
do, just to hold jobs.

But, you don't have to hold
a job... You're on your own.
That's right.

It's a unique position.

That's right, you can't say
"Well, if Fischer won't come,"

"We'll get some other
chess genius, uh, who's
the best in the world."

REPORTER: Bobby Fischer, the
world champion chess player,

has until midnight tonight to
decide whether to abide by the
international rules of chess,

or give up his title.

If Fischer defaults, the title
would go to the challenger,

Soviet grandmaster,
Anatoly Karpov.

SAIDY: He wanted probably
to play the kid from
Russia, Karpov,

and beat him. I mean, it
would be an easy task.

On the other hand, part
of him knew he could lose.

And, that's death to Bobby.
He didn't want to risk that.

So, what came out was a series
of new demands on the rules.

First of all, I like to
play matches without draws.

And, uh, they're gonna have
to increase the prizes, if
they want me to play...

Well, if I get a title...
They want me to play a
match for the title.

I'm not gonna just play for
what their minimum prizes are.

Accepting all of Fischer's
demands, was unacceptable

politically for the
Soviet Chess Federation.

REPORTER: Barring a very
unlikely last-minute change
of heart by Fischer,

Anatoly Karpov becomes the
new champion by default.

EVANS: The world chess
body gave him about 95%
of what he wanted,

but that was it. He
didn't defend his title.

KARPOV: (IN RUSSIAN)
I think he was unable to cope
with his own invincibility.

He got more or less
scared to sit down again,

in front of the board,
and risk losing.

But only he who never
plays, never loses.

EVANS: We all felt
disappointed that he
let chess down,

he'd let the American
masters down.

Yeah, we all felt
kind of a betrayal.

FISCHER: Whereas others
could suffer from a...

Depression after such debacle.

BENSON: I went out
to California on a
job, phoned Bobby,

picked him up in Pasadena,
where he was staying, some
cult place he was staying.

FISCHER AUDIO RECORDINGS: I've
had so many bad experiences...

BENSON: And, he would talk
about nuclear disarmament, our
capabilities, ICBMs, and that.

You know? And that
would go on for about
an hour and a half.

PREACHER ON RADIO: Just
what is, the Worldwide
Church of God?

EVANS: Bobby had been
involved with the Church
of God, since 1962.

And after he won the
Championship, the church was
providing him with a place.

The Worldwide Church
of God was a...

A group of people that
believed in fundamental
principles of the Bible.

Some people would probably
call us fundamentalists.

That will bring on
the great tribulation!

And that will end in the
second coming of Christ,

the end of this
present civilization!

Basically, a sense that
there was an impending
coming Christ,

and we need to prepare
for that particular
second coming.

I told him, "It's all a
bunch of hooey," but, uh,
that's what he chose to do.

MAN ON RADIO: I've warned
you may be living in the time
in which you will see...

EVANS: I went to his
apartment in Pasadena.

It seemed to me
pretty hopeless.

SNEIDER: He was
extremely depressed.

We would get into these
long discussions about the
Bible. "Why are we here?"

"What are we doing
here? What is life?"

EVANS: That's when he
started to go haywire.

He, uh, felt that he was being
influenced by these Russians,

and he also was scared of the
Mossad, Israeli Secret Police.

(MAN SCREAMING ON RADIO)

SNEIDER: He felt that he
could be easily spied upon
through radioactivity.

And through other
means, fillings...

He thought maybe the Russians
could send signals there.

Phones...

Tinfoil, over
the windows...

Media... Radioactive...
This is paranoia.

SNEIDER: We tried as church
members to bring him in to a
little more of a normal life.

I think he turned against
the Worldwide Church of God,

when one of its prophecies
patently did not come to pass.

CHURCH AUDIO RECORDING:
But in the last days,
that these times

right now, in which we
are living, perilous
times shall come!

EVANS: Fischer felt betrayed.

He wrote a pamphlet
attacking the church and
Armstrong, its leader,

saying that, "Nobody should
ever control your mind."

FISCHER: (AUDIO RECORDING)
I was never a member
of the Church of God,

absolutely not
true, it's a lie.

SNEIDER: As he denied
God, he began to get worse.

EVANS: He started
to go astray.

He started reading,
The Protocols of
the Elders of Zion.

Which he mentioned to me,
and I said "That book is a
forgery, and it's a hoax.

"And it's a bit of
anti-Semitic propaganda
that even Hitler used."

BOOK READER: Protocol Number
1. What has restrained the
wild beast we call men?

SNEIDER: He got into
all these doctrines.

What has influenced
them heretofore?
SNEIDER: The Illuminati...

All these different
people that were gonna
take over the world.

BOOK READER: Protocol
Number 9, Merciless
revenge and bitter hatred.

From us emanates an
all-embracing terror.

TARG: We began to see less of
Bobby because we didn't want
to expose our children,

to the famous uncle who
had become a fulminating
anti-Semite.

BOBBY: Hitler said in
Mein Kampf, that the Jews
are not the victims,

but they're the victimizers!

TARG: We could be having
dinner and he would suddenly
start thinking about,

"The Jews did this,
and the Jews did that."

And in our house it
was just unacceptable.

BOBBY: They're actually
making things happen, and
causing revolutions,

and killing people
all over the world...

You start mixing fish
with humans, and
anything is possible.

His mother was Jewish.
His real father was Jewish.

It's complete madness.

SAIDY: The question is
how could a Jewish kid
become an anti-Semite?

Paranoid psychosis.

He had false fixed
ideas of a very widening
conspiracy against him.

It was as if he were
at war with himself.

EVANS: He became a recluse.
Fischer watchers refer to it
as the "wilderness years."

REPORTER: Where's
Bobby these days?
Oh, Bobby's at home.

Where, in New York?
Well, I...

I don't think that I want to
get on the subject of Bobby.

You know how Bobby
feels about it.
Yeah.

The last conversation
we had, enraged him.

"If you don't play chess...

"There will soon come a
time when no one will ask
you to play chess."

He thought that was
unacceptable, and that was
the end of our relationship.

EDMONDS: If you look
throughout history,

there have been a
disproportionate
number, of

extremely talented chess
players, who have also had
serious psychological issues.

You are putting yourself
in a world that is infinite.

It's abstract. You are, in
essence, reshaping your mind.

SHENK: If you understand
that in the first move of
a chess game...

Each player has 20
possible moves.

If you multiply 20 by 20,
that means there are 400

different possible
chess positions, after
the first move.

POLGAR: The tree
becomes with a lot of
branches, you know.

That, you start with one
move and that one move
there are several options...

Then all of the sudden
it becomes a jungle.

The number of all positions
that theoretically can occur
in the game of chess...

is something like
ten with 45 zeros.

It's like the number of
atoms on the solar system.

SHENK: You're trying
to anticipate what your
opponent might do,

and you don't know
what he might do.

So, you are thinking of all
the different possibilities.

A good chess player is
paranoid on the board.

But then, if you take that
paranoia to real life, it
doesn't play so well.

You end up seeing your
real world, according to
the confines of chess.

HOFFMAN: There were some
that came to a sad end.

I mean, we like to think
that chess didn't cause
that, but maybe it did.

SAIDY: An individual with
an unbalanced tendency,

by becoming a chess
monomaniac, will throw
himself over the brink.

Yeah, we have some examples
where people of, um...
exceptional abilities,

were infected by this,
uh, mental illness.

Victor Korchnoi claimed
to have played a match
with a dead man.

He even provided
the moves.
KASPAROV: Rubenstein...

Rubenstein jumped out
the window, because
the fly was after him.

KASPAROV: Wilhelm Steinitz.

HOFFMAN: Steinitz was
in an institution.

Steinitz, in late life,
thought he was playing chess
by wireless with God Almighty.

And, had the better
of God Almighty.

Carlos Torre took all
his clothes off on a bus.

And, the probably greatest
name, the greatest impact
on the game of chess.

Uh, in the 19th century,
belonged to an American
player, Paul Morphy.

Unfortunately, there is some
resemblance with Fischer.

SHENK: Paul Morphy was an
American player who stunned
the world with his chess play.

And then at age 26 he wandered
the streets aimlessly.

He muttered to himself.
He became a paranoid
schizophrenic.

His tour in Europe in 1858,
1859 was one of the most
unforgettable events,

in the history of chess,
and then Morphy stopped
playing chess.

EVANS: There are many
similarities between
Morphy and Fischer.

HOFFMAN: People are
always gonna, uh, equate
their names together.

They both gave up the game
at the height of their powers.

And disappeared into
a...world of neurosis,
of psychosis.

FEMALE REPORTER: Where
did Bobby Fischer go?

MALE REPORTER: What
happened to Bobby Fischer?

FEMALE REPORTER: We
spent countless hours
prowling the streets,

where he's been
known to roam.

Looking for him at chess clubs
where he's been known to play.

Ultimately the, now
investigation was successful.
We found Bobby Fischer.

The quest paid off.

In 1990, he shows up
in Pasadena, little
on the heavy side.

He hands me this letter.

SNEIDER: (READING)
"Mr. Fischer, you are the
Mozart of the chess world.

"I want you to get
back into Chess."

Her name was Zita.

"I wonder what she
looks like Harry."

All of a sudden, he's
romantically entwined.

She got him off all of his
rationalizations, why he
couldn't play chess anymore.

And...and she set
up the tournament.

After many false alarms,
it was a 19-year-old
Hungarian Chess player,

Zita Raycsanyi who brought
Fischer back to chess.

Do you think he's
still as handsome now?

ZITA: What do you think?

As a result of their
meeting, Zita rushed off to
arrange Bobby's comeback.

REPORTER: The chess world
was shaken today with news
that an old legend lives,

apparently ready to risk
himself in public again.

Headlines around the
world announced he'd
signed a contract,

to play a rematch, with
his old Russian rival form
Iceland, Boris Spassky.

LYMAN: I was in the chess
world. Everybody is waiting
for him to play for 20 years.

I mean, month after
month, year after year,
there were these stories.

He's negotiating this.
Ya know, someone's trying
to raise this for him.

He wouldn't play,
finally he plays!

He was playing, uh, uh, in
Yugoslavia against Spassky.

It was trumpeted as a return
World Championship Match.

This is a typical question,
uh, from Mr. Roger Cohen
of The New York Times.

(CLEARS THROAT)

(READING) "If you
beat Spassky...

"Will you go on to
challenge Kasparov for
the World Championship?"

Well...can he read what
it says behind here?

(APPLAUSE)

(BOMB EXPLODES)

EDMONDS: The match took
place in Yugoslavia during the
middle of the Yugoslav war.

And by participating, Fischer
broke a U.N. backed embargo.

The U.S. government sent
him a letter, and said...

"Don't play, if you do
you're going to go to jail."

This is my reply to
their order not to
defend my title here.

(SPITTING) That's my answer...

KASPAROV: The match of
'92, in my view, had no
chess relevance.

They played very decent chess,
but it was chess of 1972.

It's like watching two old
boxers come back into the
ring for one last payday.

A slightly sad affair
where both players are
clearly past their best.

Both Fischer and
Spassky are shadows
of their former selves.

He won, and won several
million dollars,

but was declared a
criminal for having
taken part in the match.

U.S. OFFICIAL: Today a federal
grand jury here in Washington,

charged Robert James
"Bobby" Fischer with
a criminal violation,

of the United States imposed
sanctions on the federal
republic of Yugoslavia.

Fischer faces up to 10
years in prison, and the
millions of dollars

of proceeds of the chess
match, are forfeitable
to the United States.

Bobby Fischer, like
anyone else, should be held
accountable for his actions.

The cost was very high.

I mean, he lost his
country. He couldn't come
back. He was indicted.

A lot of people questioned
the validity of this
indictment, but it was a law.

So, Fischer broke the law.

He couldn't come back
into the country. They
were out to arrest him.

So, he became
an expatriate.

FISCHER: (OVER PHONE)

I saw him in Yugoslavia,
but it was pointless.

You know, he was gone,
it was no longer a story.

I knew Zita. I knew
her personally, and
she was a nice girl.

But, who knows
what he did there?

TARG: Joan had
gone to Hungary,

in 1995, to visit Bobby, when
he was staying in Budapest.

That's the last of our
family who had seen him.

Regina died in '96.

And my wife, Joan,
died in 1998,

from a cerebral hemorrhage,
no forewarning at all...

Died...within
a half a day.

It was a tragedy. His mother
dies, his sister dies.

SAIDY: Bobby was stripped
of any family support that
he could hope for.

And when he was a man
without a country, he
got worse and worse.

(NEWS JINGLE)

(SPEAKING IN CHINESE)

BOBBY: (OVER PHONE)
This is all wonderful news.

It's time for the fucking U.S.
to get their heads kicked in.

It's time to finish off
the U.S. once and for all.

This just shows you that what
goes around comes around,
even for the United States.

(BOBBY LAUGHS)

TARG: He felt that he was
above politics, and could say
whatever he wanted to say.

And George Bush says,
"No, you're not. I can grab
you, wherever you are."

OFFICIAL: United States
citizen, Robert, "Bobby"
Fischer,

has been detained by Japanese
authorities, on alleged
immigration law violations.

I got a collect phone
call from Japan.

"From who?" I said, or
he said, "Bobby Fischer."

Twenty-two years I haven't
heard from him, not anything.

But, he must have kept me
in the drawer or something.

So, I was not completely
forgotten when he needed me.

And, I went to Japan to
get this man out of jail.

When I saw him there,
it was on his birthday.

He asked me if I could
help him out, you know.

I said "I will see
what I can do."

(BELL RINGING)

Iceland has stood up and
offered him residency.

Iceland has stood up
and given him passport.

At the end, we, this small
nation of 300,000 people

intervened, and went against
the United States and Japan,

the two strongest
economies in the world.

And got him to Iceland.

(SPEAKING IN
ICELANDIC LANGUAGE)

CROWD: (REPEATEDLY)
Bobby Fischer!

ICELANDIC REPORTER: Welcome
to Iceland, Mr. Fischer, how
does it feel to be home?

BOBBY: Great, Great.

REPORTER: You're getting
quite a hero's welcome,
did you expect this?

BOBBY: No I didn't.
REPORTER: We've got a
car waiting for you.

REPORTER: This is your,
uh, first time in Iceland
in quite a few years...

You weren't that thrilled
the first time around. Think
it will be better this time?

That is not true, I
never... You mean...

You mean, I didn't want
to play here originally?

REPORTER: Well... Yeah.

I explained all that.
That was all a CIA setup.
I'll explain that someday.

REPORTER: We look
forward to that.

Bobby Fischer, welcome
to Iceland, and thanks
for talking to us.

Have a good night.

PALSSON: Sorry for
keeping you waiting.

REPORTER: How does it
feel to be a free person?

BOBBY: Oh, it feels great.

You got a wonderful
country, wonderful fresh
air, very fine people.

Um, excellent food,
uh, plenty of room...

REPORTER: What's next Bobby?

I still want to do a
book showing how the...

1984-85 Karpov-Kasparov
match was pre-arranged,
move by move.

They all say, "Oh, Fischer
didn't write the book he
said he was going to write."

Yeah! But they don't
say that they stole
all my file on it.

They don't say that they
stole several big moving
boxes full of books,

that took me years
to accumulate.

BOBBY: What is your name?
JEREMY: Jeremy.

Jeremy, what?
JEREMY: Schapp.

Your father was Dick
Schapp, you were
telling me last night?

JEREMY: Yes, exactly.
Yeah, I knew him yeah.

He rapped me very hard.

He said that, I don't have
a sane bone in my body.

I didn't forget that.
(LAUGHING)

His father many, many
years ago befriended me.

Took me out to see I
don't remember what...

JEREMY: Knicks games.
Knicks games, and...

JEREMY: You were 12.
Acted kind of like
a father figure...

And then later, like a
typical Jewish snake,

he had the most vicious
things to say about me.

JEREMY: I have
to object, Bobby.
Okay. Go ahead.

Did you read the article
where he said, I don't have
a sane bone in my body?

JEREMY: Honestly, I'm
not sure if I read it, but
I know that he said it.

Yeah.
And, and, honestly...

I don't know that you've done
much here today, really, to
disprove anything he said.

(CAMERAS CLICKING)

STEFANNSSON: I met Bobby
after he came to Iceland.

His existence was
a very lonely one.

He gradually, in Iceland, like
everywhere else, he alienated
people with his behavior.

BOBBY: I had two...
I had one huge safe...

We just walked around the
pond, downtown Reykjavik,
and we talked...

and we had coffee
together, and...

Then, I met him a few
times when I ran into him
in restaurants, etcetera.

The U.S. didn't give
a damn what their
opinions were anymore.

Their role was over. Now
the bomb belongs to the
government. You understand?

This is... This is...
And, and they were...

And they were shocked.
They didn't believe it.

Listen to me, if we are going
to have a fucking conversation
Okay...

All right? Then this
cannot be a monologue.
Yeah, okay.

STEFANNSSON: He, uh, could not
tear himself from the topic of
the evil nature of the Jews.

And the evil nature of the
United States, or the evil
nature of Nuclear power.

He talked about
this relentlessly.

And, you couldn't...
really couldn't pull him
out of that discussion.

It was not just that he
was talking about it.

STEFANNSSON: It was also
the obsessive-compulsive
nature of the discussion,

the relentless nature of it.

You don't see how fucked
up the world is, that's
a form of insanity.

STEFANNSSON: The last
time I ran into him...

I turned him away from
my table, because I had
gotten enough of him.

Most of us, think
within relatively
narrow boundaries.

But, an occasional
individual manages to
get outside of the box.

Those are the people who
make new discoveries. Those
are the creative people.

But, occasionally, it
is difficult to get
back into the box.

BOBBY: The king moves,
takes the queen...

His genius and his illness
are joined at the hip.

I don't think that Bobby
could have been as creative,
as extraordinary,

without being extraordinary
in other aspects.

And that aspect,
we call a disease.

BOBBY: (INAUDIBLE)

I don't consider
myself to be...

A genius at chess.

I consider myself
more to be, uh...

A genius who just happens to
play chess, you understand?

So, I could be doing any...

I could have done, and
I can do any number of
other things, you know?

You know I always wanted
to write some songs.

I was telling Evans, uh,
Larry Evans. This was back
in the 60's, I remember.

I said, you know, I listen
to all these songs. I wish
I could write them...

But, I try to write something.
I try to think of something,

and, I guess,
nothing comes out.

And, he says, "Yeah, because
you haven't lived..."

(LAUGHING) And I started
thinking about it, he's right.

My chess library, all my
other regular library...

All my personal
correspondence,
all my chess sets...

BOBBY: All kind of stuff,
everything just stolen.
Everything...

He died from his
psychiatric illness.

He did not want to
accept treatment for benign
prostatic hypertrophy.

He refused dialysis,
I understand.

Probably could have
prolonged his life,
if he had taken it.

TARG: I was able to get
him a photograph of Regina
and Joan to have with him,

which is what he had with him
in the hospital when he died.

EVANS: Reportedly, Fischer's
last words were...

"Nothing is so healing
as the human touch."

The Former World Champion of
Chess, Bobby Fischer has died.

His career reached its height
during matches with his

nemesis, Boris
Spassky, back in 1972.

REPORTER 2: American
chess superstar, Bobby
Fischer, has just died.

REPORTER 3: Former
World Chess Champion
Bobby Fischer has died.

Considered by many
as the greatest chess
player of all time.

Bobby Fischer dead
at the age of 64.

EVANS: Just his games,
that's his monument.

His games.

SAIDY: If you love an art...

Let's say, you love painting.

Imagine if Picasso had died
after only five years of work,

and all the rest of his
works had never appeared.

This was a tragedy for
the whole chess world.

He did it all by himself.

He penetrated the secrets
of chess, in this shabby
Brooklyn apartment.

He was the best player
who ever lived.

REPORTER: Bobby Fischer.
Sound Roll 3.

REPORTER: (SIGHING) Right.

REPORTER: Speed.

REPORTER: Bobby, uh...

You've been playing this game
since you were 6 years old.

And, playing it very
seriously since shortly
after the age of six.

Did all this concentration,
to the exclusion of
other activities...

Did this bother you? Do
you think this deprived you
of anything growing up?

Maybe, yeah, yeah,
to some extent, yeah.

REPORTER: Like what?

Well, it would have
been better, you know,
a little more balanced...

Yeah, maybe, you know,
a little more rounded,
but what can you do?

(HARMONICA PLAYS)

(FOLK SONG PLAYS)