Bobby Fischer Destroyed Everyone in Chess, Except This Ann Arbor Scientist

Bay City — Bobby Fischer was the greatest chess player in American history, and in 1963, he had his most dominant year ever. He played 26 games and won 25 of them.

The only guy he couldn’t beat? A mild-mannered research scientist from Ann Arbor who just played chess as a hobby.

His name was Dr. Paul Poschel, and in 1963, he pulled off one of the greatest chess upsets in history when he battled the great Bobby Fischer to a draw. And the best thing about it? It happened in Michigan.

The game took place on July 6, 1963, at the Western Open, an elite tournament that was held at the luxurious Wenonah Hotel in Bay City.

David didn’t slay Goliath that day—he tied him—but when you’re talking about chess and when you’re talking about Bobby Fischer, a tie was an enormous victory. This is the story of the most legendary chess game in Michigan history, and if you enjoy a good underdog story, this one is a doozy.

First, here’s a little primer on who Bobby Fischer was, in case you’re too young to remember. Simply put, he was the best and most famous chess grandmaster in American history, and for most of us, heck, he’s the only chess player we can name.

He was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn who won his first U.S. championship at age 14 in 1958, and from then on, he was easily the best player in the country. In 1972, he took part in the most famous chess match of all time, when he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in Reykjavik, Iceland, to become the first American to win the world championship.

The match was broadcast on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and it was the first and only time that most of us ever watched a chess match on TV. Fischer became an American hero when he won that match, and there was a nice Michigan connection to it, too. Fischer and Spassky both sat in chairs made by Herman Miller in Zeeland.

As brilliant as he was in chess, Fischer was also arrogant, brash, paranoid, and in his later years, even though he was Jewish, he became a raging anti-Semitic lunatic. He lived in exile in Iceland and died in 2008 at age 64.

So, not a good person, but a brilliant chess player.

Now let’s meet Dr. Paul Poschel of Ann Arbor, who actually was a good person, and a pretty darn good chess player, too.

Poschel grew up in Chicago and went to the University of Illinois, where he earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He moved to Ann Arbor in 1960 to become a research scientist for the pharmaceutical company Parke, Davis & Co. Among other things, he helped develop a groundbreaking anti-dementia drug in 1976.

Poschel’s hobby was playing chess, and he had a lot of success. He won several Michigan state championships, and in 1960, he tied for second at the U.S. championship.

Which brings us to the summer of 1963 in Bay City.

The Wenonah Hotel was the crown jewel of downtown back then, a four-star hotel on Center Avenue. It was owned by a man named Dr. Henry Hoffman, and in 1963, he pulled off a coup by luring the prestigious Western Open Chess Tournament to his hotel.

It was big news in Bay City, and it got even bigger when they announced that Bobby Fischer, the 20-year-old reigning U.S. champion, would be coming to Bay City for the event. The Bay City Times ran a photo on the front page of Hoffman welcoming Fischer to his hotel.

Also in the field was a scientist from Ann Arbor named Dr. Paul Poschel. The tournament was played using the Swiss format, in which every player plays the same number of games, and you’re matched up in each round against players with similar records.

Bobby Fischer won his first three games easily, and so did Paul Poschel, so in the fourth round, they were matched up against each other. The date was July 6, 1963, and a large crowd gathered in the Wenonah Hotel ballroom to watch it.

They were expecting to witness a massacre. Poschel was a nice little player who had acquitted himself well in the first three rounds, but nobody was expecting him to do anything against Bobby Fischer.

Now, this means absolutely nothing to a non-chess guy like me, but playing white and going first, Poschel started by employing the Mikenas-Carls variation of the English Opening. He moved the pawn in front of his king’s bishop two spots forward, and we were off and running.

Poschel’s strategy was to trade queens early in the game and continue to exchange blows from there. He willingly gave up a piece if he knew he could capture Fischer’s equal piece in the next move.

As the two of them sat there exchanging pieces, the crowd looking on started thinking, “Holy crap! This guy from Ann Arbor is holding his own!”

It’s important to note that at this point in the calendar year, about midway through 1963, Bobby Fischer had not lost or tied a single game. And from this point forward, he wouldn’t lose or tie a single game.

It’s also important to note that at this point in his career, Fischer hated draws. In chess, in case you don’t know, a draw (or tie) takes place when both players agree to it. If one guy wants to draw and one guy wants to keep playing, they keep playing.

Fischer almost always wanted to keep playing, especially during those years. He only had two draws from 1963 to 1965.

After 27 moves against Paul Poschel, though, Fischer looked at the board and didn’t see any way he could win. They each had a king, a rook, a bishop, and six pawns left. Neither player had an advantage.

So Fischer looked at Poschel and said “draw?” Poschel nodded, they shook hands, and it went into the books as a draw.

When the chess world found out about it a few days later in the newspapers, they couldn’t believe it. A part-time chess player from Ann Arbor had fought the great Bobby Fischer to a draw.

Poschel’s hometown Ann Arbor News reported it with the headline, “Chess Player From City Holds Champ To Tie.”

Fischer rolled to easy wins in his next four games and ended up winning the Western Open championship (and the $750 first prize) easily. There’s no record of how Poschel did in his last four games, but it doesn’t really matter. The only one that anyone cared about was the one against Fischer.

Poschel went on to great success in his chess career, continuing to compete in tournaments well into his 60s. But when he passed away in 2017 at the age of 87, all anyone could talk about was that game against Bobby Fischer in 1963 in Bay City.

That game has become so famous in the chess world that there are entire YouTube videos that show every move. You can watch it for yourself if you’re interested.

We love a great underdog story in Michigan, and the tale of Paul Poschel certainly qualifies. It’s even better when you realize that Poschel truly was a good guy, and Fischer truly was a bad guy.

As for the Wenonah Hotel, it met a tragic end in 1977 when it burned to the ground, the victim of an electrical short in one of the rooms on the top floor.

The colorful Delta College Planetarium sits on that site now, and there really should be a historical marker there, too. It should read: “On this site on July 6, 1963, chess legend Bobby Fischer left a piece of his ass, courtesy of Dr. Paul Poschel.”