The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, Saturday, July 23, 1988 - Page 3
Bobby Fischer's chess mentor dies
Los Angeles (AP) — Lina Grumette, 80, the “chess mother” to the enigmatic Bobby Fischer when he prepared for his 1972 world championship, has died.
Grumette, who kept Fischer, then the “enfant terrible” of international chess, at her home for months at a time as he prepared for the championship, died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications of lung cancer. One of the best women chess players of the 1940s, she encouraged Fischer to seek the championship from Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky and accompanied him to Iceland for the match. It was there he became the only American to win a world chess title.
Fischer, now a recluse believed to be living in Southern California, has refused to play in public since. For many years, Grumette ran a club in her home called The Chess Set. It became a gathering place for tournament players and other chess celebrities. For several years she also hosted the largest Memorial Day chess tournament on the West Coast. She is survived by a son, a daughter and a grandson. A funeral will be held tomorrow.