Dale Kellum, age 15, of New Bedford, Mass., for his question:

WHO WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN WORLD CHESS CHAMPION?

In 1972 a 29 year old man became the first American to win the official world chess championship. His name is Bobby Fischer. He won the championship by defeating defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the most publicized chess match in history.

In 1975 the international Chess Federation took away Fischer's title after he refused to play Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov under rules set by the federation.

Bobby Fischer was born Robert James Fischer in Chicago in 1943. He was raised in New York City. He dropped out of high school in 1958 when he was 14 years old. That year he won his first United States chess championship.

Fischer held the chess championship title until 1968 except in 1962 when he passed up the tournament.

At the age of 15, Fischer became the youngest international grandmaster in chess history.