Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became America's only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union's best but who spent his last years as a fugitive from U.S. authorities, has died at 64.   -REYKJAVIK (Reuters)

Having won the world title, he gave it away again to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov three years later by refusing to defend it.

After years of obscurity, he defied U.S. sanctions to play and beat Spassky again in former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars. This was the match that got him into trouble and forced him to become a fugitive wanted by U.S. authorities.

Of Jewish ancestry himself, Fischer claimed to be the victim of a Jewish conspiracy.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks he said he wanted to see the United States wiped out. He spent months in a Japanese jail cell, and his last years as a wild-haired, shambling recluse after Iceland gave him refuge.

Fischer's triumph over Spassky ended the dominance of the seemingly invincible Soviet chess system. From the late 1920s to 1972, Soviets had held the world title for all but two years.

Fischer's style of play was often hyper-aggressive. Unlike many grandmasters, he always strived to win each game rather than settle for a draw -- even when he was playing with the black pieces, which are at a disadvantage as white moves first.

He acquired a reputation for relying on pure mathematical logic, calculating as many positions as humanly possible, rather than on intuition. -Y!news

Video of Bobby in Iceland 1972 : [HERE]

Video Interview : [HERE]