Bobby Fischer’s longtime companion still angry over treatment of chess icon
The Associated Press
Bobby Fischer is still living the quiet life in Iceland, the home he adopted after being held in Japanese custody for nearly a year. He still refuses to play chess, at least the version that everybody else plays. And he’s still a wanted man, as far as the U.S. government is concerned.
Beyond that, there are many things the world may never know about the reclusive chess icon — and Miyoko Watai, Fischer’s longtime companion, says she isn’t going to break the silence.
“I prefer not to talk about private things,” said Watai, who is in Qatar to manage Japan’s chess team at the Asian Games.
Watai got swept up in the Fischer saga after he was detained — “kidnapped” is the word she and Fischer use — by Japanese authorities at Tokyo’s Narita airport in July 2004. He ended up staying in a Japanese immigration detention center for nine months fighting extradition to the United States before fleeing with Watai to Iceland.
While he was in Japanese custody, Fischer and Watai, who is also head of the Japan chess association, were engaged to be married. At a news conference before leaving Japan, she denied allegations the engagement was just a ploy to confound the Japanese immigration officials, saying Fischer was her king and she wanted to be his queen.
So did they ever tie the knot?
“I’d rather not say,” Watai said Thursday in a rare interview with The Associated Press. “I live in Japan now. But I go back and forth.”
She does not hesitate, however, to say how bitter she remains over the way Fischer was treated.
“It’s very sad,” she said. “He can’t travel anywhere. He’s still on their list. He can’t go back.”
The full article can be read here.
Looks like Topalov seriously wants the title back:
http://64.ru/?/ru/news/item=1418
anon– that made a lot of sense to me — NOT
Boo hoo. Must be the Jews’ fault.
On a more positive note, here’s an example of chess being used against Nazis.
>On a more positive note, here’s an example of chess being used against Nazis.
>
Oh yeah, Colonel Hogan used to pass those out all the time. Schultz kept saying he didn’t see anything, of course. (Sheesh)
>>anon– that made a lot of sense to me — NOT
>>
It makes about as much sense as Miyoko Watai giving an interview to say that she doesn’t want to give an interview. The only people Fischer has a right to be mad at are the ones in his formative years who told him that the rules didn’t apply to him because he was such a good chessplayer. The moral here: Crime doesn’t pay.
Susan, did you see Sofia’s short interview about Fischer on YouTube?
I am broken hearted that Ms Watai feels that Bobby Fischer has been mistreated. He hasn’t played a meaningful chess game since 1972. His remarks about the World Trade Center attack on 9/11/2001 were unconscionable, not to mention his mad rantings against the Jews. If he never comes back to the USA,it will be too soon.
You’ve gotta love that one bit.
Ms. Watai was upset that her engagement to Fischer was regarded as a ploy to get around Japanese immigration officials.
“So, did you two ever tie the knot?”
“Uh… er… Pass!”
As Fischer was the player who inspired me to start playing chess, and IMHO he is still the greatest player ever, I find a lot of the recent sagas quite sad, especially (From a British point of view)the fact that minor US politics have possibly played a part in preventing his return to “normal” chess
Anyway – good luck to the King – I hope he finds happiness
>>the fact that minor US politics have possibly played a part in preventing his return to “normal” chess
>>
It’s played no role whatsoever. 35 years later, it’s time to finally face the reality that Fischer retired in 1972, painful as it may be to admit that.
Much as I admire Fischer as a chess genius, I think otherwise he is a royal nut case. The explanation could be a very long list, so I will skip it.
About the “Watai is bitter about Fischer’s treatment”
Why? How could Fischer think seriously, that for HIM, only for him USA will change the laws, or make him an exception. Yes, perhaps the enforcement could have been less vigorous, but hey, he is badmouthing USA for decades. In the harshest possible way.
About his flaming antisemitism:
The man is Jew. Not half, but full (since it is assumed that his father was not his real father, but the hungarian Neményi). As we know, being Jewish is not only a religion.
So, him not being religious, makes no difference. Every antisemitic word he utters (what utters, screams) is about him as well.
About the “Watai is bitter about Fischer’s treatment”
Why?
She has no cause to be bitter. She should be grateful that he’s not in a Federal penitentiary for tax evasion and sanctions busting, rather than moaning about how he didn’t get off even easier than he did.
That’s why they don’t let families or friends on juries. It’s impossible for most of them to be fair about someone they know.
Didn’t Fischer live with the Polgars for a while? It would be interesting to hear some stories about that.
Listen people, I have this on the strictest confidence, the ONLY reason that those secret government agencies (you know which ones I’m talking about) have let Fischer live all these decades is because they realized two things: (1) his views are very unpopular (2) he trusts or cares no one, therefore he will never establish a power base. This said, Fischer has become somewhat of a mischievous icon within these governmental agencies, i.e. if you commit some off-the-wall selfish, uncaring, idiot act you could win that department’s annual “Bobby” award.
President Bush should just pardon him. It will be a popular thing to do, at least with most people, so it will be good for both Fischer and the President.
Given that Spassky was recently in the US (and perhaps still is), no sense blocking Fischer. Who gets to lose anything if he is pardoned?
Btw, Fischer’s sixty memorable games is amongst the best books I’ve studied.
>> Looks like Topalov seriously wants the title back:
http://64.ru/?/ru/news/item=1418
Of course Topalov will want back his title which was stolen in a toilet. Beating Kramnik in his game – the FIDE rule book.
>>Of course Topalov will want back his title which was stolen in a toilet.
>>
Still living in a dream world, are you?
“I believe that [Kramnik’s] play is fair, and my decision to continue the match proves it. We are humans, and sometimes we make mistakes.” — Veselin Topalov, 10-4-2006
>>Beating Kramnik in his game – the FIDE rule book.
>>
Actually, I’m afraid Topalov loses again. The same rulebook that says it’s illegal to make public accusations against other players also clearly states that any championship match must conclude at least 6 months before the start of Mexico City. If he thinks he’s going to be playing a match in April, he’s got a big surprise coming.
But, has Topalov hallucinated that he’s Fischer all of a sudden? (He acts like it sometimes). That’s the only reason why this should be in this thread.
Ahem…Yes friends it’s once again time that we all joined together in a tribute to chess world champions [all together sing, my apologies to the cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz]:
“Oh if I were king of the FOREST…..
not queen
not prince
not duke…”
>>Listen people, I have this on the strictest confidence, the ONLY reason that those secret government agencies (you know which ones I’m talking about) have let Fischer live all these decades is because they realized two things:
>>
I’ve got it on the strictest confidence, straight from a Man in Black himself, that most people on the internet who claim to know what THEY are up to really have no idea, and just make it up as they go along. They don’t see anything dishonest about it, they’re just so sure they’re right that they don’t see any harm in pretending to know something they don’t. As my man in black put it: “You think we’d confide anything in THOSE nutters!?”
“Looks like Topalov seriously wants the title back:
http://64.ru/?/ru/news/item=1418 “
Guess that whole schtick about not really caring about the title was just another one of his lies.
Yeah, if the “Man in Black” was really in the know they never would have screwed up the information about Sadam’s (lack of) weapons of mass destruction. More waste of your tax dollars so kids can play around with computers spying on their boyfriends or girlfriends (modern day techno-peeping toms).
>President Bush should just pardon him. It will be a popular thing to do, at least with most people, so it will be good for both Fischer and the President.
>
Fischer’s gone through his whole life having his misbehavior pardoned or ignored, because he was such a good chessplayer. Since he’s in his 60’s and barely knows right from wrong, hasn’t the thought yet occurred that people who treated him this way weren’t doing him any favors?
Doesn’t the thought also occur that the chess world, maybe even people just like you yourself, might be partly responsible for his current plight. The chess world reinforced the idea that as one of the elite, Fischer’s behavior didn’t matter. He probably naturally expected the real world to operate in exactly the same way. If he didn’t expect to get away with it, would he really have stopped paying his taxes to protest losing a lawsuit against Brad Darrach that he didn’t really deserve to win? Would he have gone out of his way to violate sanctions? He clearly expected to get away with it somehow. You can read it in Watai’s own words, they’re downright bitter that he didn’t get away with it.
Rather than feeling responsible, you just want the rest of the world to enable his behavior too. How heartless.
>>
Considering how he turned out,
Given that Spassky was recently in the US (and perhaps still is), no sense blocking Fischer. Who gets to lose anything if he is pardoned?
>>
Anybody who plays by the rules stands to lose. Spassky isn’t in trouble because he didn’t break any laws, a small difference between the two cases, perhaps, but worth mentioning.
The “world” doesn’t want Fischer pardoned. Only his personal friends and a few fanatics do.
I’ve got a non-chessplaying friend, who’s been in trouble with the tax officials herself, for money she didn’t even owe. They made a mistake. Her accountant advised her to go ahead and pay it anyway, and try to get it back later (which she did), or risk serious penalties.
It was awfully hard to explain to her how a guy who had deliberately not paid his taxes at all for 30 years was somehow entitled to more consideration than she was just because he used to be good at a board game. When she found out that he was a neo-Nazi and a wanted criminal, but people made excuses for him anyway just because of how he played a board game 35 years ago, she somehow got this idea that chessplayers were stark raving mad. I don’t think I was entirely successful in dissuading her of this idea, maybe you’ve got some ideas how to do it.
Sooner or later you’ll just have to face the fact that:
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!
[If you don’t know the film’s plot line and how it relates to this discussion, I suggest you read the film’s synopsis in the Amazon link below]
http://www.amazon.com/Its-Mad-World/dp/B00005LOL8
http://www.povonline.com/MadWorld.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057193/
“President Bush should just pardon him. It will be a popular thing to do, at least with most people, so it will be good for both Fischer and the President.”
You’re kidding, right? Popular with who? The 12 apologists who continue to think he did nothing wrong because he played a few good games 35 years ago before he chickened out on defending his title because he was afraid to lose and then blamed everyone else for his cowardise.
Nobody born in the last 30 years has a clue who Bobby Fisher is. Most of them think he is the little kid in the movie. Most of the public doesn’t care about chess. Most Americans if they heard the facts of what he has done and what he has said about 9/11 would want to bomb Iceland. I love chess miopia. Maybe it’s time to pull yourself away from the board long enough to catch up with the rest of the world. There’s a lot going on out there…
“President Bush should just pardon him. It will be a popular thing to do, at least with most people, so it will be good for both Fischer and the President.”
You’re kidding, right? Popular with whom? The 12 people who continue to defend him because he played a few good games 35 years ago. That is before he chickened out on defending his title and went mad blameing everyone else.
Nobody in the world born in the last 30 years knows who the guy is. And nobody else cares. George Bush doesn’t have the fogiest idea who Fisher is and could care less. There is no consiracy, stop trying to invent one. Most people think Bobby Fisher is the cute little kid in the movie. If most Americans heard what he did and what he said about 9/11, they would want to bomb Iceland.
I love chess miopia. Maybe it is time to pull yourself away from the chess board long enough to look around and see what’s going on in the rest of the world. Pick up a newspaper and try to catch up. People like you are part of the reason kids want nothing to do with this game.
Let me guess, why is Susan fascinated with Bobby Fischer?
Is it for lack of material?
Bobby’s lack of personality?
Susan loves championing lost causes?
Did something that we don’t know and don’t want to know happen between Susan and Bobby during Bobby’s visits to her family which evokes Susan’s sympathy and a fond memory?
>>Let me guess, why is Susan fascinated with Bobby Fischer?
>>
Probably for a more reputable reason than your fascination with finding some seedy tabloid motivation to explain her motivation. People tend to feel sorrier for people they’ve met in person, especially if that person is probably suffering from some mental condition that isn’t entirely their fault. That’s her excuse. I have no idea what yours is.
>>> That’s her excuse. I have no idea what yours is.
With fools like you extant,
I need no explanation.
I need no excuse
With fools like you in life,
I need no reason,
To shoulder your abuse.
Most Americans have no clue.
“…88 percent of those questioned could not find Afghanistan on a map of Asia despite widespread coverage of the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and the political rebirth of the country.
In the Middle East, 63 percent could not find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map, and 75 percent could not point out Iran or Israel. Forty-four percent couldn’t find any one of those four countries.
Inside the United States, “half or fewer of young men and women 18-24 can identify the states of New York or Ohio on a map [50 percent and 43 percent, respectively],” the study said….”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/
“Nobody born in the last 30 years has a clue who Bobby Fisher is. Most of them think he is the little kid in the movie. Most of the public doesn’t care about chess. Most Americans if they heard the facts of what he has done and what he has said about 9/11 would want to bomb Iceland.”
You do realize that in Hungary, Fischer is a god.
“Let me guess, why is Susan fascinated with Bobby Fischer?”
>>With fools like you extant,
I need no explanation.
I need no excuse
With fools like you in life,
I need no reason,
To shoulder your abuse.
>>
That’s your excuse?? That you imagine anyone who proves you wrong is a fool, no matter what the evidence says? LOL.
Don’t be childish. Apologize to Susan for your salacious speculations, and have done with it. Don’t do it for me, or even for her. Do it for yourself. You need to grow up a bit.
You’ve got all the classic rationalizations down pat Raven, but honestly, none of them make a lick of sense.
>>
I agree, Fischer should be pardoned. He’s a chess legend and the second greatest player the US has ever produced.
>>
He’s not wanted for not being a good enough chessplayer, he’s wanted for tax evasion and economic crimes. Your argument makes no sense. I agree with you that if he were wanted for only being the 3rd greatest US player, that he should be pardoned, for whatever that’s worth.
>>
So what if he doesn’t agree with US foreign policy or is anti-semitic.
>>
So what indeed? He’s not wanted for his views, merely derided for them. He’s wanted for his crimes.
>>
First of all, most of the world disagrees with US foreign policy.
>>
So?
>>
Second, freedom of speech.
>>
What about it? Seems irrelvant.
>>
Third, he IS a Jew.
>>
Even they’re not above the law.
>>
Fourth, he is mentally unstable.
>>
If you think he should be institutionalized, rather than jailed, it’s a nice idea but he hasn’t been enough of a danger to himself to be forcibly institutionalized, and he’d never submit to it voluntarily.
>>
So why go after an anti-semitic, Jewish, mentally unstable, American legend and make him even more unstable when it serves no purpose?
>>
Because he committed a crime. Several in fact. Your idea that the law should be selectively enforced only against people you personally dislike is, frankly, scary as heck. I’m glad you don’t have any power, you’re dangerous.
>>
You would figure the US has more to worry about, such as… oh, the war on terror, Iraq, Afghanistan, Al-Qaida.
>>
Everyone who gets nailed for speeding says that. “Why aren’t you out chasing the real criminals.” This is known as a Faulty Dilemma Fallacy.
>>
If the government wants to catch somebody, it should probably be Osama bin-Laden.
>>
You’re nuts if you think the entire legal system is going to go on hold until bin Laden is caught. No muggers caught, no rapists caught, no tax evaders caught, everything else is ignored, just because bin Laden is the most important. Another Faulty Dilemma Fallacy, the idea that only the single most important crime, and no others, can be pursued. It’s not only ridiculous, it’s clearly not what you believe. You don’t want to let ALL criminals go, you just want to make an exception in this one particular case. But your argument doesn’t lead to that conclusion.
Is there any evidence that Fischer even wants to return to the US? It seems he preferred the position of being a tax exile and that is surely his right. Perhaps his mistake was not to seek citizenship of another country before he was unexpectedly trapped in Japan.
I agree with the earlier post that most of the rest of the world thinks the US is pretty screwed up anyway and views about the US like those of Fischer’s are not at all uncommon outside the US. I think that does not make him unstable or insane.
As for his views on Jews, racist views are pretty commonplace everywhere. However, he should not have voiced these views in public.
He still remains one of the greatest and enigmatic players of all time, despite all the rantings of self-righteous Americans that we are getting in this thread.