In 1955 Bobby score 4 1/2 - 3 1/2 in a Washington Square Park Swiss tournament. In May he scored 3 points in the U.S. Amateur Championship in Lake Mohegan, New York. He joined the Manhattan chess club in June, 1955 and soon won the class C championship and the class B championship. In July he won 2 games, drew 6 games, and lost 2 games at the U.S. Junior Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska. He took 3rd place in the U.S. Junior Speed Championship.

In January 1956, Bobby won the class B prize of the Greater New York City Open. He was a member of the New Jersey Log Cabin Chess Club. In March 1956, Bobby travelled with the Log Cabin Chess Club to Cuba and even gave a simultaneous exhibition at the Capablanca Chess Club. His U.S. Chess Federation rating was published at 1726. In April he won the class A championship at the Manhattan Chess Club. In May he played in the U.S. Amateur Championship in Ashbury Park, New Jersey, winning 3 games, drawing 2, and losing 1 game. At 13, he was the youngest player in the event. In June he joined the Hawthorne Chess Club, which was at the home of Jack Collins. In July he took first place at the U.S. Junior Championship in Philadelphia with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. His USCF rating in the event was 1830. At 13 years and 4 months, he was the youngest player to win the U.S. Junior Championship. He won a typewriter for his efforts. A few weeks later he played in the 57th U.S. Open in Oklahoma City, winning 5 games, drawing 7 games and tied for 4th-8th place. In September he tied for 8th place at the Canadian Open in Montreal. In October he took 8th place in the Rosenwald tournament in New York. His win against David Byrne won the brilliancy prize and has been called the game of the century. In November he tied for 2nd-5th place in the Eastern States Open in Washington, D.C. In December Bobby won the rapid transit play at the Manhattan Chess Club and took 4th place in the Manhattan Chess Club Championship.

In March 1957, Bobby played two games against former world champion Max Euwe in New York, drawing one and losing one. In April he won the New York Metropolitan League. In July he tied for 6th place at the New Western Open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A few days later he played in the U.S. Junior Championship in San Francisco and took first place and another typewriter. He also won the U.S. Junior Speed Championship. In August he tied for 1st-2nd at the 58th U.S. Open in Cleveland and won $750. His official USCF rating put him at 2231, making him the youngest player in the United States with a master's rating at that time, at age 14 years and 5 months. In September he won the New Jersey Open championship. In December he won the North Central Open in Milwaukee.

On January 10, 1958 Bobby Fischer at age 14 years and 9 months won the 1957/58 U.S. Championship and Zonal with 8 wins, 5 draws and no losses. His USCF rating climbed to 2626. Except for Santa Monica 1966, Bobby Fischer would win every U.S. tournament he played in. In May he appeared on the television show I'VE GOT A SECRET and stumped the panel (his secret was that he was U.S. chess champion). In August he took 5th-6th at the Portoroz Interzonal and gained the Grandmaster title. At the same time he became the world's youngest Candidate for the world championship at age 15 years, 6 months. In January 1959, Bobby Fischer again won the U.S. Championship with 6 wins and 5 draws. He attended Erasmus High School in Brooklyn with Barbra Streisand and they were good friends. Bobby later dropped out of school to become a professional chess player. In April he took 3rd-4th at Mar del Plata, Argentina. In May he took 3rd-4th at Zurich, Switzerland behind Tal and Gligoric, with 8 wins, 5 draws, and 2 losses. In September he took 5th-6th at the Bled/Zagrev/Belgrade Candidates tournament, won by Mikhail Tal. Fischer's USCF rating was 2636, behind Reshevsky's 2693 rating.

In January 1960, Fischer again won the U.S. Championship with 7 wins, 4 draws, and no losses. In April he tied for 1st-2nd with Boris Spassky at Mar del Plata, Argentina. He did poorly in Buenos Aires in August, then took first place at Reykjavik, Iceland in October. In November he played board 1 for the United States at the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig, winning 10 games, drawing 6, and losing 2. His USCF rating was 2641.

In January 1961, Bobby again won the U.S. Championship with 7 wins, 4 draws, and no losses. In July he started a match with Sam Reshevsky and tied it with 2 wins, 7 draws, and 2 losses before negotiations broke down to continue the match over the playing schedule and time of the start of each game.

In January 1963, Bobby won the U.S. Championship with 6 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss (to Edmar Mednis). He announced he was boycotting FIDE tournaments until the Russians stopped fixing chess. In July he won the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan. In September he won the New York State Open with a perfect score of 7 wins, no draws, no losses. In November he was to play 400 opponents at once in an exhibition, but was postponed because of President Kennedy's assasination and a fire at the Astor hotel where the event was to have taken place. His USCF rating was 2685.

On January 1, 1964, Bobby Fischer won the U.S. Championship with a perfect score of 11 wins. He than began a nationwide simultaneous exhibition for the rest of the year. The first international rating list was published by Arpad Elo in 1964. The top two players were Fischer and Petrosian at 2690. His USCF rating was 2734.

In August 1965, Bobby participated in the 4th Capablanca Memorial in Cuba by playing through a teletype machine at the Marshall Chess Club in New York. He tied for 2nd-4th with 12 wins, 6 draws, and 3 losses. In December he won the U.S. Chess Championship with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 2 losses. Fischer's USCF rating climbed to 2734.

In July 1966, Bobby took 2nd place at the Piatigorsky Cup in Santa Monica, behind Spassky. Over 1,000 people watched his game with Boris Spassky, the largest audience for a chess game in U.S. history. In November he played Board 1 for the U.S. at the 17th Chess Olympiad in Havana, scoring 14 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. In December he won the U.S. Championship with 8 wins, 3 draws, and no losses. This was his 8th U.S. Championship title.

In April 1967, Fischer took 1st place at Monaco. In August he won at Skopje, Yugoslavia. In October he participated in the Sousse Interzonal, but withdrew after leading the event with 7 wins and 3 draws. His USCF rating was 2762.

In 1968 Bobby moved to Los Angeles and followed the Worldwide Church of God. In July he took 1st place at Netanya, Israel. In September he took 1st place at Vinkovci, Yugoslavia.

In 1969 Bobby finished his book, MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES. He played Board 1 in a New York Metropolitan League and won.

In April 1970, he played Board 2 in the USSR vs REST OF THE WORLD match in Belgrade, beating Petrosian with 2 wins and 2 draws. He then went on to Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia and won the unofficial world 5-minute championship with 17 wins, 4 draws, and 1 loss. After the tournament he called off from memory all of the moves from his 22 games, involving over 1,000 moves. In May he took 1st at Rovinj/Zagreb. In August he took 1st place at Buenos Aires. In September he played Board 1 for the U.S. at the 19th Olympiad in Siegen, Switzerland. In November, Pal Benko gave up his spot at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal so that Fischer could play. Bobby won the event with 15 wins, 7 draws, and 1 loss.

Fischer won the chess oscar for 1970, 1971, and 1972.

In June 1971, Bobby Fischer defeated Mark Taimanov with 6 wins, no draws, no losses in the Candidates quarterfinals in Vancouver, Canada. In July he defeated Bent Larsen also with a perfect 6-0 score in the Candidates semi-final in Denver, Colorado. His performance rating was 3060.

In August Bobby won the Manhattan Chess Club 5-minute blitz with 21 wins and 1 draw.

In September, Bobby defeated Tigran Petrosian with 5 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss in Buenos Aires for the Candidates finals. He now became challenger for the world championship. His USCF rating was at its peak of 2825.

In January 1972 Bobby appeared on the Dick Cavett show and talked about chess.

On July 11, 1972 he began his match with Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland for the world championship. On September 1, 1972 Bobby became world champion after winning 7 games, drawing 11 games, and losing 3 games (one on forfeit). Fischer received $160,00 for his efforts and another $40,000 in royalties. Bobby Fischer's last published USCF rating was 2810. His FIDE rating was 2785.

On April 3, 1975 Bobby Fischer forfeited his title as world chess champion to Anatoly Karpov without playing a single chess game since winning the world championship. Fischer had been living in an apartment in South Pasadena owned by the Worldwide Church of God since the world championship.

In 1977 Bobby played three games against the MIT Greenblatt computer program. He turned down $250,000 to play one chess game at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and $3 million to play in a tournament in the Philippines.

In 1978 Bobby Fischer filed a $3.2 million lawsuit against the publishers of a magazine critical of the Worldwide Church of God. He claimed the writers taped his conversations without his consent. He then accused the church of reneging on their promise to finance the lawsuit.

On May 26, 1981, Fischer was arrested in Pasadena under suspicion of a bank robber. He was stopped by a police officer who said he fit the description of a bank robber. Fischer refused to answer some questions as was arrested. In 1982 Fischer published, "I WAS TORTURED IN THE PASADENA JAILHOUSE." He used the pseudonym Robert James.

In 1987 the House of Representatives passed House Resolution Bill 545 recognizing Bobby Fischer as the world chess champion.

In 1988 Bobby patented the Fischer digital chess clock wich adds 2 minutes per move.