Bobby Fischer Live Trailer

The film Bobby Fischer Live, a "bio picture about the controversial life of the most famous and best chess player who has ever lived," is due for release in the US on August 1st 2009.



Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American chess Grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion. Later in life he renounced his US citizenship and became an Icelandic citizen.

As a teenager, Fischer became famous as a chess prodigy. In 1972, he won the World Chess Championship, defeating defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as one of the greatest chess players of all time.

In 1975, Fischer did not defend his title when he could not come to agreement with the international chess federation FIDE over the conditions for the match. He became more reclusive and played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he won a rematch against Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo. This led to a conflict with the US government, and he never returned to his native country.

In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines, and Japan. During this time he made increasingly anti-American and anti-Semitic statements. During the 2004–2005 time period, after his U.S. passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. After Iceland granted him citizenship, the Japanese authorities released him to that country, where he lived until his death in 2008.