Endgame (50 page)

Regina Fischer, a frequent protester, at the head of a peace march in Moscow, 1960. She went from there to East Germany, where she completed her medical degree.
Planet News, Ltd
.

Bobby played three games against Mikhail Tal in Curaçao, in 1962, just before the flamboyant Russian became ill and was hospitalized.
Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection

Banned from traveling to Havana in 1965, Bobby sat in a closed room in New York’s Marshall Chess Club and played his opponents by teletype. After he defeated Vassily Smyslov, the two analyzed their game by phone.
The Queens Borough Public Library, Long Island Div.
, New York Herald-Tribune
Photo Morgue

William Lombardy (left) and the bearded Miguel Quinteros, both grandmasters, served as Bobby’s seconds at the 1972 match.
Icelandic Chess Federation

Regina Fischer, wearing a blond wig as a disguise, secretly visited Bobby in his hotel room during his match in Iceland. Bobby was preparing for his next game against Boris Spassky.
MCF photo

In 1972 Fischer finally reached the summit of chess, playing in Iceland for the World Championship against Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Icelandic Chess Federation

At the banquet after he had won the match, Bobby, who often seemed uninterested in women, surprised the assembled dignitaries by dancing with an Icelandic beauty.
Icelandic Chess Federation

Back in the United States, Bobby had become America’s hero by defeating the Soviet Union. In New York, on the steps of City Hall, Mayor John Lindsay awarded Bobby a gold medal and a Proclamation of Acclaim.
Dailynewspix

After winning the championship, Bobby appeared on a number of television shows and received unprecedented media coverage. Here he is in late 1972 on
The Merv Griffin Show
, thinking about a move.
Courtesy of
The Merv Griffin Show

In 2004, Bobby was imprisoned in Japan for traveling without a valid passport, and was threatened with extradition back to the United States. Icelandic friends worked to free him, but after ten months in jail, bearded and haggard, Bobby appeared to be a broken man.
Einar Einarsson

Miyoko Watai visited Bobby daily while he was in jail in Japan. Subsequently, she cared for him during his illness in Iceland, where friends said they were an affectionate and loving couple.
Einar Einarsson

Bobby, nearing the end of his life, walking down a country road near Álpingi, the site of Iceland’s original parliament. Founded in AD 930 during the Viking era, Iceland’s national parliament is the oldest in the world and still in existence.
Einar Einarsson