Henry Kissinger Phoned Bobby Fischer to Get Him on a Plane to Reykjavik

The 1972 World Chess Championship was the first since 1948 not to involve only Soviet players, and the Cold War subtext was difficult to miss. The Reykjavik organizers had a $250,000 prize fund — more than any chess match in history — and a 29-year-old American challenger, Bobby Fischer, who had qualified by destroying every Soviet candidate in his path. The defender was Boris Spassky, the reigning world champion and the 24-year incumbent of an unbroken Soviet line going back to Mikhail Botvinnik.

Fischer almost did not show up. He missed his original flight. He demanded the prize fund be doubled. He threatened, by transatlantic phone, to walk away. The British financier Jim Slater offered an additional $125,000 of his own money to bring the total to half a million dollars; the U.S. National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, called Fischer at home and made the case as a matter of patriotism. Fischer flew to Reykjavik two days late.

The match itself was a chaos of forfeits and walkouts. Fischer lost Game 1 by a blunder, then forfeited Game 2 entirely because the playing hall had cameras and he wanted them gone. He insisted Game 3 be moved to a small back room, with no spectators, and won there. By Game 6, he was up 3½–2½. Spassky played a beautiful Queen's Gambit defense and lost to Fischer's deep preparation. He stood up in front of his Soviet handlers, joined the audience in applauding the American, and called Fischer "a true sportsman." Fischer won the match 12½–8½ in Game 21, taking the World Championship for the first non-Soviet in a generation. He never defended it.