{"id":3564,"date":"2026-07-11T14:34:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3564"},"modified":"2026-07-11T14:34:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:34:36","slug":"deseret-news-archives-fischer-beat-spassky-in-chess-match-of-the-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3564","title":{"rendered":"Deseret News archives: Fischer beat Spassky in chess Match of the Century"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><i>Editor\u2019s note: This story was originally published on July 11, 2024.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing like a good chess match to heat up a Cold War.<\/p>\n<p>On July 11, 1972, the World Chess Championship opened as grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began play in Reykjavik, Iceland.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3562\">Beaver community rallies around firefighters and affected families amid devastating Cottonwood Fire<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It must be said, Fischer, from Brooklyn, New York, was a hard man to like. A true prodigy, he was arrogant and standoffish. News reports of the day labeled him as a tough and aggressive opponent, but he was prone to throw tantrums, be petulant and belittle others.<\/p>\n<p>His match with the classical Spassky became an image of the Cold War, fought on a chess board in Iceland, of all places. Non-chess fans began following the games, and news organizations reported on it. One can only imagine what the frenzied following would be today in this social media world.<\/p>\n<p>Fischer lost the first match and forfeited the second, as he complained about everything and everyone.<\/p>\n<p>But then the American caught fire, and over the next 30 days built a significant lead.<\/p>\n<p>And newspapers of the day followed the contest. Americans loved his antics. It was called the Match of the Century.<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 1, Spassky resigned the match just as Game 21 was to resume. He actually conceded by phone, perhaps fed up with the American\u2019s antics.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3560\">Lessons from this Supreme Court term and a look ahead<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fischer won $250,000. He is still the only American to win the World Chess Championship. Russian-born players had dominated the sport for decades.<\/p>\n<p>After a challenging life where the chess prodigy seemed often at odds with the world, and maybe himself, over a variety of issues, Fischer died in early 2008 at age 64. He died in Reykjavik, site of his famous triumph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFischer\u2019s victory was widely seen as a symbolic triumph for democracy over Communism, and it turned the new champion into an unlikely American hero. He was invited to the White House by President Richard M. Nixon, interviewed on television, hounded by journalists, wooed unsuccessfully by commercial interests. Sales of chess sets skyrocketed; so did fees for chess lessons, as scores of poverty-stricken chess players benefited from the cachet that Fischer had conferred on them,\u201d his Associated Press obituary read.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a selection of stories from the Deseret News archives:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefiant Spassky vows to send Bobby Fischer back into obscurity\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cU.S.\u2019s only world champion found \u2014 lost again\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChess master Bobby Fischer is dead at 64\u2033<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBobby Fischer lives on at Sundance Film Festival\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIcelandic court allows exhumation of Bobby Fischer\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs Bobby Fischer fishing for trouble?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c`Bobby Fischer\u2019 celebrates the wonder of a sane genius\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most consider Garry Kasparov, Magnus Carlsen and Fischer as the greatest chess players of all time.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure there is a computer somewhere that would disagree.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent world chess drama involves Carlsen, rival Hans Niemann and cheating allegations. But it might be a fork\/double attack. Maybe a decoy\/deflection?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorld chess champion resigned from match after first move. Here\u2019s what happened\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3558\">Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination: Here\u2019s what we learned after a week of court hearings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cChess cheating scandal \u2014 what\u2019s in the 72-page report?\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>Related<\/div>\n<div>We were there: See Deseret News front pages from 45 big moments in Utah, world history<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little Cold War chess, anyone? Bobby Fischer took on Boris Spassky in Match of the Century in 1972<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-west"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Deseret News archives: Fischer beat Spassky in chess Match of the Century - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3564\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deseret News archives: Fischer beat Spassky in chess Match of the Century - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A little Cold War chess, anyone? 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