by Mayukh Ghosh
July 11, 1972.
No empty seat in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík in Iceland.
35 year old world champion Boris Spassky sits alone at the chessboard.
He is playing white.
As soon as the German chief arbiter starts the clock, Spassky picks up his queen's pawn and moves it forward two squares.
And thus Soviet Union's 'King of Chess' begins the defence of the title that has been his since 1969.
Bobby Fischer never had the good fortune of knowing the man listed as his father on his birth certificate.
It was his mother who played the dual role.
She was often short of money but she always made an honest effort to not let her son know about all that.
Among the decisions she took, the best was to move to Brooklyn in New York.
In those pre-internet days, New York was the undisputed chess capital in the country.
When Bobby was six, his elder sister Joan brought him home a chess board.
He became so engrossed in the game that his mother feared about his son's loneliness.
She sent an advertisement to the local newspaper, looking for chess playmates for his son.
The newspaper people didn't understand which category to place this under and decided not to publish it.
But they did forward it to veteran chess journalist and official Hermann Helms.
That proved to be crucial as Bobby was invited to the Brooklyn Chess Club.
A few months later, his concerned mother took him to a psychiatrist, asking for help.
Bobby's chess obsession was unnatural.
The doctor pacified her by saying that there had been worse preoccupations.
Bobby was well on course to attain greatness.
There was no looking back.
This World championship match in Iceland is unique. The Cold War has played its part in making so.
There is visible tension inside the arena.
Six minutes later, Spassky's challenger arrives.
Bobby Fischer from the U.S.A.
The opening game had already been postponed and some even feared that he would not turn up.
There is a collective sigh of relief as Fischer picks up the black king's knight and places it on f6.
Fifty days later, Fischer becomes the first American born in the U.S.A. to win the world championship.
And soon, Spassky says, " When you play Bobby it is not a question of whether you win or lose. It is a question of whether you survive."
Bobby Fischer, the troubled genius of chess, was born on March 9, 1943.