Bobby Fischer

This splendid 1993 release is set in the world of chess, but it wouldn't be a fraction of the film it is if chess were all it is about. It is a story of childhood simultaneously exalted and at risk, of the demands of parenthood and the burdens of competition and of genius. It is also the most impressive and promising of directing debuts on the part of writer Stephen Zaillian, who won an Oscar for his adaptation of Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's List."

I could have told you a few things about Bobby Fischer even before watching Liz Garbus' excellent, sympathetic yet clear-eyed documentary "Bobby Fischer Against the World," which premieres Monday on HBO: that Fischer was a world champion chess player; that he disappeared from view at the height of his fame; that he was in some sort of trouble with the government; that he was a fugitive; that he was crazy, or anyway said crazy things; that he died....

I could have told you a few things about Bobby Fischer even before watching Liz Garbus' excellent, sympathetic yet clear-eyed documentary "Bobby Fischer Against the World," which premieres Monday on HBO: that Fischer was a world champion chess player; that he disappeared from view at the height of his fame; that he was in some sort of trouble with the government; that he was a fugitive; that he was crazy, or anyway said crazy things; that he died....

Journalist Frank Brady remembers the moment when Bobby Fischer first mesmerized the chess world. It was October 1956. Fischer, then just 13, was matched against 25-year-old Donald Byrne, an international master, in a tournament in lower Manhattan. A pack of kibitzers surrounded the pair when suddenly, Fischer moved his queen, the most powerful piece on the chessboard, to a seemingly vulnerable position. Byrne moved to capture Fischer's queen, only to find himself checkmated after 41 moves and five hours.

April 13, 2001 Position #5633: White to play and win. From the game Kasparov--Bareyev, Cannes 2001. Solution to Position #5632: Black wins with 1 . . . Nd3, threatening 2 . . . Rxh2+ 3 Kg1 Qg8+. If 2 Ng3, then 2 . . . Bxg3 3 Qxd3 (or 3 hxg3 Qh6+ 4 Qh4 Qc6+, mating) Rxh2+ 4 Kg1 Bf2+! 5 Kxh2 Qf4+ 6 Kh1 Bd5+! 7 Qxd5 Qh4+ leads to mate. LOCAL NEWS The Ventura County Open takes place April 21-22 at Days Inn, 1320 Newbury Road in Thousand Oaks.

Carmine Nigro, 91, the first chess teacher of former world champion Bobby Fischer, died of stomach cancer Aug. 16 at a hospice in Peachtree City, Ga. Nigro was president of the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Chess Club when he met Fischer, then 9, in 1951. Fischer's parents were divorced and his mother was looking for a way to occupy her son's time. Nigro taught Fischer for nearly three years, but after a couple of years the student began beating his mentor.

Edmar J. Mednis, 64, a chess grandmaster who was the first player to best Bobby Fischer in a United States Chess Championship Tournament, died Feb. 13 in New York City of complications of pneumonia. Mednis played Fischer in the first round of the U.S. Chess Championship Tournament for 1962-63. Although he had participated in several tournaments, he was not seen as a threat to Fischer, who had won the championship four times and had not lost a game in an American tournament since 1957.

In "Searching for Bobby Fischer," 7-year-old Josh (Max Pomeranc) displays a genius for chess but risks becoming a pawn of adults when his competitive father, protective mother, highbrow coach and lowbrow coach disagree over what's best for him. (Rated PG) * Play to win. It's just a game. Play it safe. Take risks. Despise your opponent. Be nice. When the adults in his life offer conflicting guidance, what's a talented kid to do?

A 16-year-old from White Plains, N.Y., has won the U.S. Chess Championship, the youngest player to win the title since 14-year-old Bobby Fischer in 1958. Hikaru Nakamura won the $25,000 prize Monday after beating Alex Stripunsky, 34, of Rego Park, N.Y., in two overtime matches. The matches were the highlight of the 11-day tournament that began with 65 competitors. It was viewed worldwide on the Internet.

Chess master Bobby Fischer was indicted Tuesday for playing a $5-million Yugoslav match in defiance of a U.S. presidential ban against commercial dealings with the war-torn country. The indictment cited Fischer's participation in a "world championship chess match" with Boris Spassky, which ran Sept. 2 to Nov. 5 and brought Fischer $3.35 million in winnings plus 10% royalties on all related revenues. Before the match began, Fischer, 49, was warned in a letter from the U.S.

Larry Evans was a rarity in competitive chess ? a five-time U.S. champion who wrote widely about the game, including a book once considered the chess players' bible. A chess grandmaster, he also gained fame for helping Bobby Fischer train for, and win, the 1972 world chess championship. Evans died Nov. 15 at a hospital in Reno from complications after a gall bladder operation, according to the U.S. Chess Federation, the governing body for the game. He was 78. "There's a void now in American chess," said Anthony Saidy, an international chess master.

Like a lot of kids in the summer of 1972, I was riveted by a strange spectacle unfolding in Iceland: a chess match between Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, the mercurial young American. The games weren't televised -- Fischer permitted no cameras -- so chess experts replayed the moves on public television using oversize boards. Through long summer days, I puzzled over poisoned pawns and bishop pairs as Fischer, after nearly walking out on the match, crushed the Russian champion.

Bobby Fischer, the enigmatic American chess genius who became a Cold War hero with his 1972 defeat of Soviet champion Boris Spassky but fell from grace in later decades when he became a recluse and fugitive known for his hate-filled rants, has died. He was 64. The legendary chess champion died Thursday in Reykjavik, Iceland, after a long illness, according to his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson.

Bobby Fischer, who died a melancholy exile's death Friday at age 64, was that most perplexing of human characters -- a protean genius and a repellent man. He was to American chess what Ezra Pound was to American poetry. Nearly four decades ago, in the summer of 1972, Fischer was something more -- a participant in what then seemed to be the ultimate contest between American individualism and Soviet collectivism.

On the face of it, Iceland's decision to save Bobby Fischer from deportation to the United States by offering him citizenship is puzzling. It's true that Fischer defeated Soviet world champion Boris Spassky there in 1972 in perhaps the most famous chess match of all time. But since then, his life has descended into an abyss. As world champion, he insisted on so many conditions before he would defend his title that finally the International Chess Federation stripped him of it.

Armed with newly minted Icelandic citizenship, a haggard but defiant Bobby Fischer walked out of a Japanese detention center today, more than eight months after being wrestled into custody for attempting to leave the country on an allegedly revoked U.S. passport. Wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes, Fischer, 62, and Miyoko Watai, his Japanese fiancee, boarded a commercial airliner bound for Copenhagen with a connecting flight to Reykjavik, the Icelandic capital.

Bobby Fischer, who died a melancholy exile's death Friday at age 64, was that most perplexing of human characters -- a protean genius and a repellent man. He was to American chess what Ezra Pound was to American poetry. Nearly four decades ago, in the summer of 1972, Fischer was something more -- a participant in what then seemed to be the ultimate contest between American individualism and Soviet collectivism.

Episodes of "Picket Fences," "NYPD Blue" and "Law & Order" were among the finalists announced Thursday for the annual Humanitas Prizes, given to writers whose screen work "enriches and enlightens" audiences. The cash awards, given by the Pacific Palisades-based Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute, in the past have been given only to TV writers, but they are expanding this year to include feature films.

Chess legend Bobby Fischer could leave his Japanese cell by the weekend, his supporters announced a day after Iceland's Parliament voted to grant him citizenship. Japanese immigration authorities detained him in July and ordered him deported to the United States. Fischer is wanted in the U.S. for violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992.

Iceland's Parliament granted citizenship to former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, paving the way for the fugitive American to settle in the North Atlantic island republic where he won the world title in 1972. Fischer, 62, is being detained in Japan and is fighting a U.S. deportation order. He is wanted in the United States on charges of violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992.