The troubled genius of Bobby Fischer, who died this week 12 years ago

It's a staggering story, perhaps even more than his eventual victory over Spassky, which brought an end to the USSR's domination of world chess - a win for the "free world" over the oppressive Soviets

In 1972, while preparing for his epic face-off against world champion Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Bobby Fischer made a phone call. It was to Icelandic Grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson for advice. Olafsson wasn’t home and his daughter answered the phone, reeling off sentences in pure Icelandic that left Fischer confused. The next day, the American, who didn’t speak or understand a word of the language, repeated the conversation in perfect Icelandic to another friend from the country, to understand what the little girl had said.

It’s a staggering story, perhaps even more than his eventual victory over Spassky, which brought an end