Bobby Fischer has been gone from public view for 20 years -- but among avid local chess players he has hardly been forgotten.
For two decades, they have read the former world champion's books; studied the moves of his most famous games; swapped stories about his private life -- and wondered whether he would ever return to international play.
Now they are eagerly, if somewhat skeptically, awaiting a $5 million exhibition match between the reclusive Mr. Fischer and Boris Spassky, scheduled to begin today on an island off the coast of what was once Yugoslavia.
"We're all waiting with baited breath," said Damon Norko, proprietor of the Chess Story, a midtown chess club, of the match that is a reprise of the historic 1972 Fischer-Spassky championship which captured the world's imagination as no chess match before or since. "The question is, 'Will Fischer go ahead with the match?' I'll believe it when I see it."
Indeed, the mere mention of Mr. Fischer last week at one of the thrice-weekly tournaments at the Chess Story at 208 W. Read St. provoked a string of stories -- mixing fact and rumor -- about the chess legend.
There was one about the prodigy who won the U.S. chess title as a teen-ager and had such an incredible memory that he once recalled every move he made in a 22-game speed-chess tournament in which each game lasted no longer than 10 PTC minutes.
Another about the master of psychology and precision who so unnerved a fellow grandmaster with an unorthodox opening that his opponent resigned without making a move rather than risk humiliation by a line of attack he didn't understand.
And there was talk of the man raised as a Jew whose anti-social views reportedly include anti-Semitism who has been lured out of seclusion in southern California by a "mystery woman."
There was also conjecture about whether the anti-hero's resolve would be strengthened by the U.S. government's warning that the match might violate international economic sanctions against Serbia.
And on a recent afternoon at the Chess Corner, a row of outdoor tables in the plaza across from City Hall downtown, players paid homage to Mr. Fischer's influence, debated whether the match would come off -- and speculated how well he would do.
"I still think he's real sharp. I think he's going to beat Spassky. I think he could be world champion again if they give him a chance," Delton Nash, 36, said between games, though his latter prediction is disputed by many grandmasters.
