Bobby Fisher died and Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn has the story.

Brooklyn-raised, Chicago-born chess icon Bobby Fischer, who became a
Cold War symbol when he defeated Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky as world
champion in 1972, has died at age 64.

In May 1949, the
six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess from instructions found
in a chess set that his sister had bought at a candy store below their
Brooklyn apartment. He saw his first chess book a month later. For over
a year he played chess on his own. At age seven, he joined the Brooklyn
Chess Club and was taught by its president, Carmine Nigro.

Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School together with Barbra
Streisand, though he later dropped out in 1959 when he turned 16. Many
teachers remembered him as difficult. When his chess feats mounted, the
student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess
achievements.