A major element of serious chess play is the study of openings^* -- of known series of moves from the starting position whose effects to the later stages of the game are well established through previous games and through manual and computer analysis. Chess960 a.k.a. Fischer Random Chess was introduced in 1996 by chess genius (and reclusive paranoid anti-semite) Bobby Fischer as an alternative that aims to remove the emphasis on this laborious element while keeping other central aspects of the game intact. The tagline of one blog dedicated to the game calls it 'a return to the pleasure of the first move in a vast unexplored wilderness'. Some of this wilderness is being explored with new theory, linked below the fold among other things. [more inside]
posted by Anything on Feb 2, 2012 - 34 comments

Playing Chess with Kubrick. Or, How Writing About Arthur C. Clarke Can Get You A Gig Writing About Bobby Fischer for Playboy.
posted by shakespeherian on Apr 6, 2010 - 4 comments

Bobby Fischer, former World Champion chess player, dead at 64.
posted by JaredSeth on Jan 18, 2008 - 137 comments

Bobby Fischer vs. the Union Bank of Switzerland: Chess master doesn't like his Swiss bank unilaterally closing his account. Letters go back and forth, lawyers get involved. Fischer posts all letters sent and received on his website. [Link goes to coral cache, original site is hosted at Geocities Japan. via namics weblog]
posted by slater on Nov 12, 2006 - 43 comments

Bobby Fischer, American Chess Grandmaster, is at it again! Bobby says: "It is time to finish off the US once and for all."
posted by mfoight on Dec 3, 2001 - 37 comments

On the Internet, no-one knows you're a reclusive Grandmaster... It's the sketchiest of reports, but it looks as if Bobby Fischer is playing matches with other Masters at the International Chess Club site. It's pretty heartwarming (if a little ironic) to think that the anonymity and distance of online play may be luring this notorious control freak out of retirement... but is the revelation likely to scare him off again?
posted by holgate on Sep 9, 2001 - 10 comments