Bobby Fischer, the American chess genius, has passed away at the age of 64. I was only passingly familiar with Fischer’s life and history, mostly from a few articles I read in 2005 when he was arrested in Japan and renounced his U.S. citizenship. I found some time to read through a few obituaries, and they all tell the same tragic story of a genius who increasingly descended into bizarre behaviour and paranoia.

The Guardian Unlimited had the most ‘biographical’ obituary that I read, and is a good place to start.

The NY Times obit had my favorite quote:

“Mr. Fischer had always been brash, but by the early 1960s his self-regard had ballooned. He told Harper’s magazine that women could not be great chess players. Mr. Byrne recalled that at a tournament in Bulgaria in 1962 he suggested to Mr. Fischer that he see a psychiatrist. Mr. Fischer said a psychiatrist ought to pay him for the privilege of working on his brain.”