Gone: Another Boyhood Hero

January 22, 2008 -- REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Chess great Bobby Fischer , who died in Iceland last week at the age of 64, was buried yesterday near the city that hosted his victory over the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky 35 years ago.

In his day, he was the best chess player in the world, maybe the best the world had ever seen. For fans of the game, the tragedy is that his day passed all too quickly. And for the last 30-odd years of his life, Bobby Fischer was the chess world's mad uncle, an embarrassment to be apologized for, belittled or ignored. He died last week at the evocative age of 64 (there are 64 squares on a chess board).

Fischer's claim to unsurpassed greatness was not entirely without merit. He remained the highest-rated player in history for many years after he had stopped playing. On his way to the 1972 championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland, he won 20 straight games against some of the strongest players in the world without allowing so much as a draw. Twenty victories in a row against the world's best was unheard-of, a feat not equaled in chess before or since. He then went on to beat Mr. Spassky -- and, with him, the entire Soviet chess establishment.

Fischer's spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said the Brooklyn-raised champion was buried in a private ceremony in the southern Icelandic town of Selfoss, about 37 miles southeast of Reykjavik.

Checkmate.