Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland

By Kristin Arna Bragadottir

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became America's only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union's best but who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities, has died at 64.

A spokesman for Fischer said he died after an unspecified illness at midday on Thursday in Reykjavik, the site of his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War.

Once feted as a national hero and seen by some as the greatest chess talent ever, the Chicago-born former child prodigy seemed unable to resist perplexing his public with angry gestures, decade-long sulks and outrageous opinions.

Having won the world title, he gave it away again to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov three years later by refusing to defend it.

After years of obscurity, he defied U.S. sanctions to play and beat Spassky again in former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars. This was the match that got him into trouble and forced him to become a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities.

Of Jewish ancestry himself, Fischer claimed to be the victim of a Jewish conspiracy.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks he said he wanted to see the United States wiped out. He spent months in a Japanese jail cell, and his last years as a wild-haired, shambling recluse after Iceland gave him refuge.

Fischer's triumph over Spassky ended the dominance of the seemingly invincible Soviet chess system. From the late 1920s to 1972, Soviets had held the world title for all but two years.

Fischer's style of play was often hyper-aggressive. Unlike many grandmasters, he always strived to win each game rather than settle for a draw -- even when he was playing with the black pieces, which are at a disadvantage as white moves first.

He acquired a reputation for relying on pure mathematical logic, calculating as many positions as humanly possible, rather than on intuition.

FIGHTING THE WHOLE SYSTEM

Spassky, who now lives in Paris, had little to say on Friday about his one-time nemesis. Asked by Reuters for his reaction to the news, he said: "It's bad luck for you. Bobby Fischer is dead," then hung up.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov hailed Fischer as a pioneer of chess. "We have lost a great individual," Kasparov told reporters in Moscow.

"He was always alone .. . but while alone he demonstrated that a human being is capable of reaching new heights."

Reigning champion Viswanathan Anand called Fischer the ultimate romantic: "He fought the whole system," he said. "He was someone who could not deal with being a world champion."