FACTBOX: Key facts about former chess champion Bobby Fischer

(Reuters) - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has died in Iceland at the age of 64.

Here are some facts about him:

* Fischer, born in Chicago, was the United States' first and only world chess champion, and is still seen by many as the greatest natural talent the game has ever known.

* His world title match with the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972 became an emblem of the Cold War confrontation between the superpowers. Fischer won convincingly, by 12-1/2 points to 8-1/2.

* When the moody and eccentric Fischer failed to defend his crown in Manila in 1975, world chess authorities awarded it to his challenger, the Russian Anatoly Karpov.

* Fischer fell foul of U.S. authorities by playing a rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992, at a time when it was subject to economic sanctions over Belgrade's war with breakaway republics.

* Fischer vanished after the match, only resurfacing after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. In an interview with a Philippine radio station, he praised the strikes and said he wanted to see America "wiped out".

* He was granted Icelandic citizenship in 2005 after spending eight months in detention in Japan fighting a U.S. extradition request.

(Writing by Chris Barnett, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Kevin Liffey)