An eight-time U.S. chess champion, Bobby Fischer (born 1943) made his mark in the 1970s as one of the most skilled and controversial masters of the game. With his famous 1972 victory over Russian Boris Spassky and his youthful good looks and energy, he helped win over a new generation of chess enthusiasts.

The definitive child prodigy, the Mozart of chess, an eccentric, reclusive figure--Bobby Fischer has been labeled all of these and more throughout an acclaimed and controversial life behind a chessboard and before the eyes of an adoring public. In an era when the most highly publicized chess matches pit human against computer, Fischer represents the image of an earlier time that stressed the mental and emotional athletics of the game.

An eight-time United States chess champion, and the holder of several "world's youngest winner" titles, Fischer was a well-known name in chess circles long before his...