Cold Open

It’s July 11th, 1972, inside an exhibition center in Reykjavik, Iceland where the first match of the World Chess Championship is underway. At least, it’s supposed to be.

Boris Spassky, the current chess world champion is staring at an empty chair. His challenger, Bobby Fischer, is nowhere to be seen. 

A crowd of hundreds, reporters from all over the world, and dignitaries from Iceland and beyond, all wait nervously for something to happen.

With no other options available to him, Boris starts the game. He plays his first move and hits start on the clock in front of him.

Murmurs reverberate through the usually silent halls as the crowd wonder what will happen next.

As it stands, Soviet player, Boris Spassky, will win the game if his American opponent, Bobby Fischer, fails to turn up within the next hour. It would be a devastating loss for the Americans.

This match is about so much more than simply two men playing chess. Thanks to a frenzied press and global televised coverage, the narrative of East vs West during the Cold War has the entire world hooked on this championship's outcome. Even those who have never had an interest in chess before are gripped by the game and by what it symbolizes.

But now, after weeks of build-up, Bobby’s no-show is jeopardizing everything.

Choosing not to sit and wait, Boris paces the room instead. Try as he might, his eyes can’t help but continually look toward the entrance Bobby should have already walked through. The wait is agonizing.

Then, nine minutes after Boris’s first move, Bobby finally arrives.

Cameras flash as photographers and journalists rush to get a good look at the American player. It’s unclear whether Bobby was playing mind games or whether nerves got the better of him. Either way, he’s here now. And he’s ready to win.

The American shakes the hand of the Soviet he’s kept waiting. He glances down at the board. And without blinking, Bobby makes his first move.

For the last 24 years, the Soviet Union has dominated the world of chess, taking every world title along the way. But their reign at the top won’t continue much longer. A new star of the chess world, Bobby Fischer, has arrived and he’s unlike anything the Soviets have seen before. More than anything, Bobby wants to prove he is the greatest chess player alive and that means taking down the current champion, Boris Spassky.

As the Cold War rages between America and the Soviet Union, this epic game of chess will be seen by both audience and players alike as a surrogate for a larger conflict, setting the stage for a competition like no other as Bobby and Boris battle to be crowned Chess Champion of the World on September 1st, 1972.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 1st, 1972: Bobby Fischer Wins Chess's 'Match of the Century'.

Act One: The First Game

It’s July 4th, 1972, seven days before the first match of the World Chess championship.

Bobby Fischer waits anxiously to get off his airplane. His foot taps incessantly while the air stewards make their final checks. When the doors finally do open, Bobby hurriedly makes his way down onto the tarmac of Keflavik Airport in Iceland.

After weeks of deliberation and threats to walk away from his seat at the World Chess Championship, Bobby is finally in the same country as his Soviet rival, and current Chess World Champion, Boris Spassky.

Awaiting Bobby is a scene fit for a royal visit. The airport is crammed with reporters and newsmen, Icelandic politicians and dignitaries, as well as chess fans of all ages. But Bobby doesn’t want any of the adulation or attention. As soon as his feet touch Icelandic soil, he beelines for the nearest car to take him straight to his hotel room where he decamps in isolation ahead of his first match.

Anticipation for this showdown between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky has reached a fever pitch, unlike anything the world of chess has ever known. In large part, this is thanks to the backdrop of simmering global tension.

Since the end of the Second World War, the United States of America and the Soviets have been engaged in a Cold War, pitting capitalism against communism and sparking a nuclear arms race. Ten years ago the two superpowers came close to engaging in a thermal nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And while relations have tempered since the days of Kennedy and Khrushchev, the dividing lines are just as clear.

The nations’ ideological differences extend to the powers’ opposing views on the game of chess too. In the Soviet Union, chess is taught in schools and in groups. It’s viewed as a collective, collaborative game with the country who emerges victorious seen as the winner, rather than the player making the moves. It’s also the country that has produced all the champions and challengers in the World Chess Championship from 1948 until today.

For America in the 1970s, individual excellence is deemed the most important thing. And Bobby Fischer is so individually excellent, even President Nixon has written letters to him extolling his greatness. And from the moment a US citizen became the challenger to the Soviet crown, the world had seen the chess match as a perfect metaphor for the US versus the Soviets.

To decide the victor, the two players must compete over the best of twenty-four games. One point will be awarded for a win. Half a point for a draw. Each game could last up to five hours and there will be daily breaks to give the competitors time to recharge. This regimented schedule means the entire championship could take up to two months to complete.

The first game is scheduled for one week after Bobby arrives. But when that time rolls around, Bobby is missing in action.

For years Bobby has had the chance to get to the final of the World Championship, but his erratic nature has kept him from fulfilling his potential. A troubled upbringing could be part of the explanation for his unpredictable behavior, but so too could be his giant ego. He has made headlines with his attacks on the chess community, having secured the International Chess Federation over its rules and accused Soviet players of collusion. He is also notoriously specific in his game time demands, frequently refusing to play in certain tournaments or under certain conditions, preferring quiet playing halls and precise lighting conditions. And now, after months of threats to walk away from this tournament too, Bobby is now self-sabotaging his shot at the championship.

His opponent Boris Spassky has made his first move, and if Bobby doesn’t show up within the hour, Boris will win by default.

Seconds tick by. And Boris rises from his seat and paces around the room like a lion in a cage. To win on a technicality is not what Boris wants. He wants to defeat his opponent, to prove he is the greatest player alive. And the no-show angers him, but Boris tries he keep his frustration from bubbling over.

Then, nine minutes later, Bobby Fischer arrives.

The two men shake hands, sit down opposite one another, and begin to play, trading pieces over and over. To those in the know it appears as if this opening game will almost certainly end in a draw. But then, out of nowhere, Bobby plays a move so naïve it would seem astonishing even from a rookie. Boris leaps on a mistake and on Move 56, with no hope of changing his fortunes, Bobby chooses to resign.

The first game is over and Boris Spassky has a one-to-nothing lead. But Bobby is undeterred.

What will happen over the next twenty games will be followed all over the world, taking the lead story in most evening news bulletins. Chess will become the topic of conversation in the US and far beyond, as Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky battle it out for supreme dominance and the title of the Greatest Chess Player in the world.

Act Two: Games 2 to 6

It’s July 13th, 1972, two days after the opening match of the World Chess Championship.

For the second time this week, Boris Spassky looks over the chess board to find his opponent isn’t there. A frown settles on his face.

Bobby Fischer’s absence is more than just an inconvenience. It enrages the calculated Soviet, who believes the American is playing mind games to unnerve him. Boris is not alone in this suspicion. Every news report talks of Bobby conjuring up psychological tricks, threatening to abandon the tournament to psyche out his competitor. Bobby’s antics have become too much for Boris, who, more than anything, just wants to play chess and prove his dominance in the game once more.

Bobby meanwhile, has spent the hours since their opening match, making increasingly hostile requests to the Chess Federation, including a demand that the broadcast cameras and the spectators all be removed, claiming the noise is breaking his concentration. Considering the revenue brought in by selling the championship’s television rights, the fulfillment of this request is improbable. Still, Bobby holds firm. He refuses to turn up to the second match and Boris wins by default, now to take a 2-point lead.

But this is a hollow victory for Boris. If he refuses the stipulations Bobby puts on playing, Boris will retain his crown, but he won’t win it in the traditional sense. If he acquiesces, Boris will hand power over to his American challenger, also something he doesn’t want to do.

But then, ahead of Game 3, word reaches Boris that Bobby is ready to leave Iceland and forfeit the entire tournament. In many ways, this is Boris’s worst nightmare. Unless he beats Bobby in open play, he knows he’ll never feel like the true, undefeated champion. Holding his two-game advantage, Boris opts to give in to Bobby’s demands and hands him the power dynamic. He agrees to play Game 3 off-camera, and away from spectators.

But facing off over the chessboard in a secluded backstage room, Bobby has yet another surprise in store for Boris. In an unorthodox defensive position, Bobby moves his knight to the edge of the board in a tactic that runs against the principle of attacking the middle. This decision flips the entire game on its head and Bobby begins to capture valuable pieces. Boris resigns Game 3 the next day, giving Bobby his first-ever victory over the Soviet Champion.

Ahead of Game 4 an agreement is reached to get the matches back in front of an audience as per Boris’s request. But the loss in Game 3 has gotten into the Soviet’s head. He starts to complain of being unwell as he plays. He begins to act as irrationally as his counterpart, claiming that the Americans have somehow sabotaged his well-being, accusing them of putting electronics or chemical substances near him to make him feel ill.

Together with his associates, Boris inspects his seating area for anything out of the ordinary. The Soviets scan his chair and the lights above him trying to find any evidence of wrongdoing. But all they find are two dead flies, and the chess match continues.

A draw in Game 4 and a victory for Bobby in Game 5 means the score is tied, two and a half points each when Boris and Bobby take their positions for their sixth match. While Bobby is known for being consistent in his gameplay and strategy, his opening move in this game is so strange it takes Boris off-guard and he never recovers. Bobby plays a variation on the Queen’s Gambit, a chess opening that he has openly condemned. It works perfectly to discombobulate his opponent. Move after perfect move, Bobby attacks Boris’s pieces. It’s a masterclass in chess, ending in another resignation from Boris.

Bobby takes the win to the adulation of the crowd who instantly know they’ve witnessed something special. As the crowd applauds, so does Boris, acknowledging his opponent’s skill and prowess. But Bobby is dumbstruck by his rival’s show of praise. The sportsmanship Boris displays is deeply meaningful to Bobby. But perhaps not as much as his newfound lead.

Over the next days and weeks, Bobby and Boris will trade wins, losses, and draws. Bobby will open a three-point gap over the reigning champion, only to have it pinned back before seven draws in a row will lead Bobby to the brink of the World Championship and chess immortality.

Act Three: The Rise and Fall of a Champion

It’s September 1st, 1972 in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Bobby Fischer wakes in his hotel to a phone call from the head of the Chess Federation who bears sour news.

Yesterday, the twenty-first game began between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, but play isn’t over. To all watching, Bobby has the upper hand, and he couldn’t wait to finish the job today.

But the phone call Bobby receives scrambles his plans. The head of the Chess Federation tells him he won’t play another move against Boris Spassky, because Boris has just resigned the match, making Bobby Fischer the first-ever American World Chess Champion at the age of 35.

Bobby can’t quite believe what he’s being told. He asks his driver to quickly get him to the arena, so he can hear the words from Boris’s own mouth. But this time it’s the Soviet who’s a no-show; Boris is nowhere to be found, not even showing up to give the reasons behind his resignation.

After this turn of events, Bobby Fischer takes the stage to wild applause as he is crowned the World Chess Champion of 1972.

Three years later, at the next Chess World Championship, Bobby Fischer will returned to his irascible ways and refused to defend his crown due to a dispute over the contest’s format, leaving the title to the Soviets once more. Then in the years to follow, Bobby will begin to exhibit the first signs of a depression and paranoia that will see him slip away from public life and the game he devoted everything to.

In 1992, Bobby will play Boris once more, but the highly publicized rematch will come with a cost. By playing in Yugoslavia, during a United Nations embargo, an international warrant will be placed on Bobby’s head. In retaliation, he will attack the US government in a series of increasingly bizarre radio interviews. Exiled from America, and in need of international help, he will be granted Icelandic citizenship and live in the country of his greatest triumph until his death in 2008.

Though he’ll be known in his later years as a volatile recluse who generated controversy with numerous anti-American and anti-Semitic statements, in the chess world, Bobby Fischer will always be remembered for his victory in the game’s so-called “Match of the Century” on September 1st, 1972.

Outro

Next on History Daily. September 4th, 2006. Australian wildlife conservationist and television personality Steve Irwin is killed by a stingray off the Great Barrier Reef.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Katrina Zemrak.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.