| Nobody knew what was about to take place. | | | | happening in the United States.Chess set |
| Certainly nobody outside of the most | | | | sales started to sky rocket. Kids were |
| knowledgeable people in the game. But in the | | | | sitting out on their front steps and for the |
| summer of 1972, Bobby Fischer was about to | | | | first time in history, weren't playing the |
| play in the most famous world chess | | | | popular board games of the day or trading |
| tournament of all time against Boris Spasky | | | | baseball cards, which was very popular |
| of the Soviet Union. What the world was | | | | especially in the summertime, but now they |
| about to witness had never been seen before; | | | | were playing chess. Kids who had never |
| the first United States world chess | | | | played the game in their life, were glued to |
| champion.What most people don't understand | | | | their chess sets and their TV sets to watch |
| about this tournament, aside from the | | | | the live coverage by a man who became a |
| significance of Fischer becoming the first | | | | legend in his own right, Shelby Lyman.People |
| United States world champion, is that this | | | | waited on Shelby's every comment along with |
| tournament turned chess from a seldom thought | | | | his guest stars, who were known masters and |
| of sport to a craze that literally captured a | | | | grand masters. It was like watching a real |
| nation and a world.For the people outside of | | | | sporting event as the moves were wired in to |
| the United States, especially in countries | | | | the studio and recreated on the large chess |
| where chess was very popular like the Soviet | | | | board that was nailed to a wall in the |
| Union, it was the shock of Fischer first | | | | studio. It was the best entertainment around |
| competing for the title in the first place | | | | that summer and the ratings for the |
| and then the ultimate shock of him winning. | | | | broadcasts were through the roof. This was |
| This alone made headlines everywhere. Not | | | | unheard of for a publicly owned TV station |
| only wasn't he supposed to win but he was | | | | such as PBS.Fischer ultimately won the |
| supposed to be beaten badly. And after | | | | tournament in 21 games by a score of 12.5 to |
| losing the first two games, the second by | | | | 8.5. The world was stunned and the United |
| forfeit because he refused to show up, it was | | | | States had a new hero. Sadly, the chess |
| almost certain that his fate was sealed. But | | | | craze in the United States died shortly after |
| Fischer made a miraculous comeback and | | | | the tournament ended, but for a very brief |
| stunned the chess world.But in the United | | | | time chess was the king of sports in the |
| States, this tournament itself took on a | | | | United States and Bobby Fischer was its most |
| whole different meaning. Sure, the country | | | | famous hero.We have yet to see anything like |
| was eager to see if Fischer could do the | | | | that summer since and it is doubtful that we |
| impossible, but something happened that | | | | will ever see it again. |
| summer that nobody could have ever foreseen | | | | |