# Where is Bobby Fischer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788 "2000-07-17T02:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jubei2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@jubei2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jubei2k)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/1 "2000-07-17T02:21:20Z")
A friend and I had this discussion yesterday. From the movie, “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” I seem to remember that he popped up once for a game with his old rival, then disappeared again. So has he been seen lately? ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/2 "2000-07-17T02:41:18Z")
I don’t know what he has been doing since 1997. But you can see him as well as listen to his recent radio interviews. Go to your search engine and type in Bobby+Fischer. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/3 "2000-07-17T03:56:18Z")
He resurfaced again in California and played a match in some eastern-bloc country for big bucks. However, this happened at a time when U.S. citizens were enjoined from “doing business” with the country and supposedly this qualified. So he’s subject to prosecution (or just fines?) so he may not have returned to the U.S. This is one current story that goes around, anyhoo. Might be total B.S. and he could be happily cleaning toilets in Muskogee. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/4 "2000-07-17T04:02:21Z")
Well Cranky, you could find out all of the details of that as well. Go to your search engine and type in Bobby+Fischer. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/5 "2000-07-17T05:08:41Z")
He played a tournament against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992. I think he won, but I don’t remember for sure. He was indicted by a federal grand jury, as **CrankyAsAnOldMan** said. See [http://www.anusha.com/bobby-in.htm](http://www.anusha.com/bobby-in.htm) from [http://www.insidechess.com/magazine/cover9903.html](http://www.insidechess.com/magazine/cover9903.html) > [@](#): > > Like all chess players, I am often asked, “What ever happened to Bobby Fischer?”" Well, we now have what appears to be a sad and definitive answer. Bobby is still in Budapest and he recently did at least one live radio interview which appeared on the Internet. [transcript at [http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~rwb/fisch.txt](http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/~rwb/fisch.txt) ] > > The interview is shocking and I must warn you, Bobby’s language is extremely vulgar. His bigotry towards Jewish people is virulent and rabid. Those who wish to hear his hate-filled message can find it at the site above and excerpts have been made available on National Public Radio as well as other places. We have decided there is no purpose to printing this interview. Fischer’s anti-Jewish tirades are too ludicrous to be taken seriously by any sane person and, in the last analysis, only harm him. Bobby’s life is drawing to an ugly conclusion and it seems that the greatest chess player we have ever seen has become an increasingly bitter, hate-filled recluse. > > Chess has seen many tragic stories, but surely none more tragic than this. In the interview, Fischer says, “but then the government indicted me and I couldn’t go back to the states to get my stuff” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/6 "2000-07-17T12:48:27Z")
I live in Budapest, and it’s common knowledge that he’s out and about here, but I’ve never heard of anyone running into him. The only news I heard was that anti-semitic radio interview that was conducted here in late '98, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/7 "2000-07-17T13:30:59Z")
Fischer is a genuine fruitcake- and the world’s only Jewish Nazi. (Presumably, he’s pinned a yellow star of David on his vest, is building a concentration camp in his backyard, and will lock himself inside it one of these days.) ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/8 "2000-07-17T13:43:41Z")
do you think that those are really his views or one of those “way too smart guy goes off the deep end things?” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/9 "2000-07-17T15:09:53Z")
Good ol’ Bobby…the William James Sidis of our day. I have a 1975 book which purports to rate the top twelve chess players of all time, and includes their best games. Fischer is ranked fourth, after Capablanca, Alekhine, and Lasker. Is Fischer still considered to rank in the all-time top five, or has his professional reputation started to go the way of his sanity? ---
**Author:** ![jubei2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@jubei2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jubei2k)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-bobby-fischer/25788/10 "2000-07-17T15:39:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Fischer is a genuine fruitcake- and the world’s only Jewish Nazi. (Presumably, he’s pinned a yellow star of David on his vest, is building a concentration camp in his backyard, and will lock himself inside it one of these days.) \*\* So Fischer’s Jewish, then? That doesn’t make sense, especially after hearing his ranting on those radio interviews… A shame that he turned out to be friggin’ nuts, though…