Report: Bobby Fischer hoped for one last tournament
08:36 AM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008
Associated Press
SI.com
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Bobby Fischer had hoped to play current world chess champion Viswanathan Anand or former great Garry Kasparov in a tournament before his death, an Icelandic newspaper reported Saturday.
The daily Morgunbladid quoted a friend of Fischer, who died on Thursday at the age of 64, as saying he had expressed interest in holding a chess contest in India.
Helgi Olafsson, an Icelandic chess grand master, was quoted by the newspaper as saying Fischer had told him he wanted to take part in one last tournament.
Fischer, a teenage grandmaster and – before the age of 30 – a world champion who triumphed in a Cold War showdown with Soviet champion Boris Spassky, died of kidney failure in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Chicago-born, Brooklyn, N.Y.-raised Fischer last played publicly in 1992 in Yugoslavia, in defiance of international sanctions. He moved to Iceland in 2005 in a bid to avoid extradition to the U.S., where he was wanted over contravening the sanctions.
Here is the full story.
Seems like utter nonsense in the wake of Fischer’s death. Just some wishful thinking on the part of some chess fans.
I think the nine months he was in prison for really took a toll on him. He was denied alcohol during that time… it was frankly disgusting. They killed him, both the stress of it and the fact that alcohol gives certain health benefits.
And for what? Because he said some things the US didn’t like? Like he once said himself, a person can say the moon is make of cheese. That doesn’t mean people have to listen to him. It seems like the US doesn’t want freedom of speech anymore.
I believe that he may have wanted to play Garry and others again… if they would have played him is another story. There’d be a lot of emotion involved. If Fischer had lost his chess mastery then that may have been very hard for him to take. I feel very sorry for him. He did a lot for freedom of speech and for having the right to be different and demanding when it was his right to, even if others didn’t like it.
Fischer deserved to be in jail. He was an American citizen at the time and violated the law. He deserved no special accomodations.
Denied alcohol???? When did prisoners get drunk when they wanted?
What is disgusting is that this vile man called “Fischer” didn’t spend his last days in prison. He was fugitive from justice and deserved no special treatment….except for psychiatric treatment.
People can hate President Clinton and his administration and the U.S. but this government did the right thing. They showed that NO ONE is above the law…
You call it “stupid”. He broke the law. Was the law “right.” Perhaps not. But, it was the law and any American citizen would have gotten in trouble for it.
It has nothing to do with “Freedom of Speech.” Check your history.
At no point was Mr. Fischer injured by the Japanese nor did America do anything to him. he was a racist that should have been extradited back to the U.S. for prosecution.
It still amazes me…if Fischer would have committed a cold blooded murder…I’m sure there are people on this blog who would just look over that as if Fischer was a demi-god, something more than a man…he wasn’t. He was just a sick, vile, twisted, hate-filled person that just happend to be a a chess genius.
This one quality…that of being a chess genius and former WCC does not make him better nor above the law. If you don’t like the laws of the USA, you have the right to leave.
Go to Iran, North Korea, somalia…or a dozen other places on this Earth and you’ll see that America is the greatest nation in the world.
There will always be silly people write serial killers sitting on death row proposing marriage. People are so stupid. Fischer had NO redeeming qualities other than chess.
What is disgusting is how so many on this blog just sweep under the rug or make excuses for Fischer’s racism and hate-filled remarks.
People…get a life! There is more to life than chess…and Fischer deserved to be in jail…at least there he would’ve gotten the psychiatric treatment he needed.
Don’t make excuses for his remarks by saying he was “mentally ill.” If he was so crazy, then he would never have been able to function within society. If you have ever been through a residency while training to be a psychiatrist, then you would know that really “crazy” people cannot function within society.
Fischer did.
He knew right from wrong. He was just a hateful, spiteful, vile man that should have faced justice just as any other American would have.
If you don’t like America….that’s fine. We are still the most powerful nation on Earth and you just have to live with your envy…and just don’t come here if you don’t like it… and leave if you hate it so much.
Pretty simple.
Making pathetic excuses for a racist is what is disgusting…not the USA.
And that is just the way it is.
I look at such comments as yours and laugh…don’t worry, you can always be like L. Ron Hubbard and create a religion based upon Mr. Fischer!
Why not just pray to him now every night?
Silly people. Defend such a vile creature just cause he could play chess.
That is disgusting.
Frankly, i am glad such a match Fischer V Kasparov never took place,imagine what would happen if Kasparov should lose to Fischer, It will be totally devasting indicating that there has really been zero progress in chess, since Fischer relinquished his world championship title.
A previous poster wrote “It seems like the US doesn’t want freedom of speech anymore.” This is an absurd statement. It’s not as though the citizens of the U.S. rose en masse to prosecute Fischer for unpopular statements. No, Fischer was accused of violating trade sanctions and income tax laws, and was being served under due process. Just imagine if some other citizen had refused to pay taxes on $3 million income.
And to say “He did a lot for freedom of speech…” is nonsense. Nobody is disputing his right to express his opinions. Judging his views as offensive or vile is not infringing uopn his rights.
I think Bobby was poisoned.
Anon wrote:
“No, Fischer was accused of violating trade sanctions and income tax laws, and was being served under due process. Just imagine if some other citizen had refused to pay taxes on $3 million income.”
Well, compare Fischer’s case to that of Marc Rich. They both were exiled from the U.S. but look at the difference in treatment that each got. One did business with Iran and another did business (1992 match) in the former Yugoslavia; both violated State Department directives as well as evaded payment of US income tax. However, one got a full pardon and the other gets “detained” in Japan. Politics (not the law) was the determinant of how each was treated. Some well-placed donations helped Marc Rich get his pardon but Fischer’s on air comments (especially regarding 9/11) helped raise the ire of the State Department, which led to his detention in Japan.
The “difference in treatment” between Fischer and Rich comes down to the fact that President Clinton was willing to abuse his powers for a price. That is an indictment of Clinton, not the U.S. justice system (imperfect though the latter is, of course).
Problem is Bobby violated the laws of doing bussiness in Yugoslavia during that time.
However had he paid the tax (some 1.5 M), I believe US govt will pardon him cause he is the hero in chess for american.
The U.S. administration was determined to discipline Bobby and they are the real pharisees in this. They can only be described as ‘mean spirited’. Shame on the U.S.!