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Bobby Fischer (Robert James Fischer)[fish´ur] Pronunciation Key, 1943–, American chess player, b. Chicago. In 1958, he became a grandmaster, the youngest to that time. In the Interzonal and Candidates' matches in 1970 and 1971 he won an unprecedented 20 straight games to qualify to challenge Boris Spassky for the world championship. When he overwhelmed Spassky in 1972, he became the only American world titlist and, according to a consensus of grandmasters, the strongest chess player in history. From then until 1992, Fischer did not play a single game of chess in public. He forfeited his world title in 1975 and turned down lucrative offers to play again. In 1992, he was indicted for participating in a match with Spassky in Yugoslavia, against which the United States had an economic boycott.
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