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Lindsborg, Kansas
MAY 2006
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In Learn More the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information to expand your knowledge of our featured subjects. Special thanks to the Research Division.
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 Did You Know?
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer is considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. He began playing chess at the age of six and taught himself the basics. When he was seven years old, he became a member of the Brooklyn Chess Club. Fischer was so engrossed with the game that his mother had him evaluated by a psychiatrist, who told her not to worry about it. So, his childhood years found him playing in tournament after tournament and by the time he was 13 he had won the U.S. Junior Championship. In January 1958, just two months shy of his 15th birthday, Fischer became the youngest U.S. Chess Champion. Later that year he qualified to become the youngest Grandmaster in history, a record that stood until 1991.
Fischer, who reportedly has an I.Q. of 180, dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue chess full time. Between the years of 1958 and 1967 he won the U.S. championship eight times. Fischer finally won the World Championship in 1972 and held that title until 1975, when it was given to Anatoly Karpov. Fischer had refused to play him because the World Chess Federation (FIDE) would not meet all of his demands for conditions for the official match. So, technically, Fischer did not lose his title; he resigned it. Not long after that, Fischer disappeared from the public eye and did not play in competition again until 1992.
—Alice J. Dunn
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Related Links
U.S. Chess Federation
www.uschess.org
Are you interested in learning more about chess? Go here to find a chess club or tournament near you, learn the basic rules of chess, and much more.
Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess
www.intecsus.org/Chess%20School/Karpov%20School.htm
Explore Lindsborg's (and the U.S.'s) one and only Karpov School of Chess, with photos, information about the Grandmaster, summer chess camp, and more.
Chess for Peace
www.chessforpeace.org
Promote peace and play chess at the same time! Learn how this organization is bringing students from around the world together through chess and how you can get involved.
World Chess Federation
www.fide.com/default.asp?curpage=1&x=0.6062281
Read more about the international governing body of chess, its history, upcoming tournaments, and top players around the world.
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Bibliography
Kinzer, Stephen. "In One Kansas Town, the End of the Year Game is Chess." New York Times, December 25, 2004.
Metz, Hartmut. "Anatoly Karpov Speaks His Mind." June 7, 2005, interview. Available online at www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2495.
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NGS Resources
Taylor, Alexander. "Chessmen Come to Life in Marostica: An Italian Town Revives a Romantic Legend of the Middle Ages, in Which Suitors Played Chess for the Hand of a Lady Fair." National Geographic (November 1956), 658-88.
Geithmann, Harriet. "Ströbeck, Home of Chess: A Medieval Village in the Harz Mountains of Germany Teaches the Royal Game in Its Public School." National Geographic (May 1931), 637-52.
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