Fischer, Robert James (1943-2008)

11th World Champion, 1972 - 1975

Born in Chicago, USA in 1943. More commonly known as Bobby Fischer, he is considered one of the best players of all time. Some of his accomplishments include becoming the youngest international grandmaster in 1958, winning the US Championship 8 times including a 100% result in 1964-65, a winning streak of 20 consecutive games in the 1970-71 World Championship Candidate matches and becoming World Champion after starting his title match down 0-2. He refused to defend his title in 1975 and retired until 1992 when he played a rematch with Spassky.
He was the first one to propose new timing modes during a chess game (the so called "Fischer clock" concept). Also he invented "Fischerandom chess" where the pieces are shuffled randomly behind the Pawns at the beginning of the game.