Interesting gambit, indeed. (Byrne not listed in initial pull down menu, so found it by looking for all Fischer games of 1956. Byrne in subsequent list.)

Turns out losing queen small price to pay in order to gain minor pieces multiple continued attack, capture, and mate possibility.

Also note power of initial castling by Fischer over lack of same by Byrne.

Nonetheless, not persuaded Byrne had no options. Refusing offer and queen taking knight instead would have changed outcome. Suggestion that subsequent capture by Fischer queen of Byrne bishop would have resulted in pawn takes queen.

Can't say RIP for the man who was probably to chess what Ty Cobb was to baseball-- for a time, the best there was.

But also a miserable, tortured human being.

We can't help who impacts our lives, and when those that did pass on, I guess it's reasonable to reflect.

I had a lot of fun that summer of '72; a lot of Americans did. It opened a new world to many of us, and it loomed large as a bloodless Cold War victory until it was surpassed by the "Miracle On Ice" in 1980.

I thought the tone of "Searching For Bobby Fischer", a really nice movie, hit it about right-- Fischer after 1972 was so despicable, but so clearly mentally ill, that it was just....sad.

Good insights, guys. :-)

My son was sad to hear the news.

As much as Fischer was the enfant terrible of chess, too much of his genius lay in his ability to distract his opponents by his outlandish behavior. The epic battle against Spassky in 1972 was a farce in many ways, Fischer's crazy demands eventually wearing down the patient Russian. Spassky was an old school Russian grandmaster. Fischer knew his head games would work against Spassky and he played every one in his bag of tricks.

It's telling that Fischer did not defend against Karpov. Karpov was not in the old Soviet style of play, and I firmly believe that Karpov would not have blinked an eye at the kind of psychological warfare Fischer used against Spassky. Fischer knew this. The thought of losing against Karpov in a genuine match was more than Fischer could handle.

As a young chess fiend, I idolized Fischer. I remember watching the Spassky-Fischer match in 1972, hoping like crazy that Fischer would win. I was ecstatic when he did. Only later did I understand that win was less due to pure chess and more due to Spassky's inability to handle Fischer's antics.

And that's too bad. Even worse, it proved prescient, foreshadowing the madness that tarnished the name of America's greatest grandmaster.

For more on this, read this exceptionally fascinating look at the Spassky-Fischer world championship:

Bobby Fischer Goes to War

I read Bobby Fischer Goes to War – it was a good book. You make a good point about his antics, but, in the end, he beat Spassky over the board, and that’s what mattered.

The “he got in my head” argument has been used time-and-time again in the chess world. While mental games can be a part of the equation, I don’t ever think that’s a good excuse for losing a match, especially at that level. I was never terribly impressed with Kasparov’s “the computer got in my head” excuse after losing Kasparov vs. Deep Blue II in 1996 (7?).