Robert “Bobby” Fischer was an American-born chess Grandmaster, an Icelandic citizen at the time of his death, who became famous as a teenager for his chess-playing ability. In 1972, he became the first, and so far only, American to win the official World Chess Championship, defeating defending champion Boris Spassky in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as a candidate for the greatest chess player of all time. Fischer won the U.S. Chess Championship all eight times he competed, from 1957 to 1966, a record.

In 1975, Fischer refused to defend his title when FIDE, the international chess federation, would not accept all his conditions. He was stripped of his title as a result, after which he became more reclusive. He played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with 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 became increasingly paranoid and made anti-American and antisemitic statements, despite the fact that his mother and likely biological father were both Jewish. In 2004–2005, after his US passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. He was then granted Icelandic citizenship and released to Iceland by the Japanese authorities. He lived in Iceland from 2005 until his death in 2008.