Den_asl :
Bobby Fischer was a chess prodigy who became World Champion in 1972 by defeating Boris Spassky, which made him a national hero and one of the most famous chess players ever, but after winning the title, Fischer became extremely paranoid and distrustful of the chess world, believing that tournaments were rigged, rules were unfair, and that organizations like FIDE were corrupt, so instead of defending his title in 1975, he made impossible demands for rule changes, and when they weren’t met, he refused to play and forfeited his title to Anatoly Karpov without even showing up, after that Fischer disappeared from public life for nearly twenty years, living in secrecy and becoming more vocal with strange conspiracy theories, anti-government rants, and bizarre claims about the chess community, many believe his behavior was influenced by mental health issues and extreme isolation, in 1992 he briefly returned to play a rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia despite international sanctions, which made him a fugitive from the U.S. for violating the sanctions, he spent the rest of his life in exile, bouncing between countries like Hungary, the Philippines, and eventually Iceland, where he was granted citizenship shortly before his death in 2008, overall Fischer didn’t exactly “hate” chess itself, but he grew to hate the politics, organizations, and people involved with chess, and believed they were all against him, which is why he quit playing competitively despite being considered one of the greatest chess talents in history.
2025-07-06 03:10:58