Chess master Bobby Fischer dies Reykajvik, Iceland (Sports Network) - U.S. chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer died of kidney failure on Thursday. He was 64 years old. Fischer was universally regarded as the greatest chess player in U.S. history and was a prodigy from an early age. The Chicago native became U.S. junior champion at 13, U.S. Open champion at 14 and the youngest grandmaster in history at 15 years old, until his record was broken by Judit Polgar in 1991. Fischer was also given credit for elevating chess to a new level of popularity thanks to a televised 1972 World Championship match against Russian Boris Spassky in Iceland. The match, which Fisher won, became a metaphor for the Cold War, and launched Fischer into the American lexicon. Fischer eventually forfeited his world title in 1975, when he failed to defend it against another Russian, Anatoly Karpov. He resurfaced in 1992 when he played an exhibition rematch against Spassky in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and downed the Russian again, earning over $3 million dollars. The match defied U.S. sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, however, and Fisher spent the next decade as a reclusive figure regarded as a fugitive by American authorities. In recent years, Fischer became better known for his criticism of the United States and venomous anti-Semitism. Fischer called the September 11, 2002 terrorist attacks on America "wonderful news" on a Philippines radio station and believed his enemies were all of Jewish descent. Fischer lived the last few years of his life in Iceland after being granted citizenship in 2005. 01/18 12:20:55 ET