The story of international grand chess master Bobby Fischer has a lot of New York highlights. Fischer grew up and learned chess in Brooklyn, and for those not old enough to remember his iconic role in the Cold War, the Washington Square Park scenes from the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer are a cultural touchstone. In his later years, while living in exile, he turned against the city and America. After the September 11 attacks, he announced on the radio: "This is all wonderful news. I applaud the act." When Fischer died yesterday, at age 64, it was far from his childhood home, in Reykjavik, Iceland. "The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," chess grandmaster Gary Kasparov said of him. "He single-handedly revitalized a game that had been stagnating under the control of the Communists of the Soviet sports hierarchy."

Chess Champion Bobby Fischer Dies [Guardian]