Bobby Fischer, the chess-playing genius who, armed with little more than a pocket chess set and some dog-eared pages of his opponent’s games, brought down the mighty Soviet chess machine at the height of the cold war, has died in Iceland at the age of 64.

The death of the “Mozart of Chess” marks the passing of the man widely considered to have been the greatest chess player, but who was without doubt the most controversial figure in the 1,500-year history of the game whose later years were characterised by paranoia, obsessive and outrageous public statements.