The Match of All Time

The inside story of the legendary 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Chess Championship in Reykjavik.

When the Icelandic Chess Federation made an offer to host the 1972 world title match between Soviet icon Boris Spassky and American challenger Bobby Fischer, many Icelanders nodded their heads in disbelief. How could your small island country in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a population of less than 300,000 people host such a prestigious event in the first place?

Undaunted and naively optimistic, the young president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gudmundur Thorarinsson, got to work and, to everyone's amazement, his bet won. But that was just the beginning of one of the most amazing stories in chess history...