Ex-World Chess Champion Fischer in Custody in Japan

Articles: Ex-World Chess Champion Fischer in Custody in Japan

Posted by admin on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - 01:44 AM

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer is in custody in Japan after being detained last week over a possible immigration law violation and could be deported, a Japanese official said Tuesday.
Fischer, 61, was the only U.S. citizen ever to become world chess champion, taking the title in 1972 after beating Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a match considered something of a Cold War propaganda victory for the United States. He was taken into custody last Wednesday when he tried to leave Tokyo's Narita airport, an official for the Justice Ministry's immigration bureau said. Kyodo news agency, quoting Japanese chess officials, said last week that Fischer was detained on suspicion of holding an invalid passport when he tried to leave for the Philippines. Immigration authorities are still checking to see if has broken any law, the Justice Ministry official said. "Generally speaking, if it turns out there are no suspicions, he would probably leave the country since that is his intent, and if he is found to have violated immigration laws he will be forcibly deported," he said. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman confirmed that Fischer had been detained but would give no other details, citing privacy concerns. Fischer's victory over Spassky in what was billed as the "Match of the Century" in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1972 brought chess tremendous publicity in the United States and made him an instant celebrity. Some of the games were even broadcast on television and his win was regarded as a propaganda victory because chess had been dominated by the Soviets since World War II. In 1975 he resigned his title after demanding a number of conditions for a match against Anatoly Karpov, also of the Soviet Union. Chess officials refused his demands and Karpov became champion by default. Fischer then disappeared from sight until 1992, when he played in a match in Yugoslavia, a move that brought him into conflict with the U.S. authorities since economic sanctions against Yugoslavia were in force at the time. He again dropped out of sight, although Kyodo said he was discovered living in Japan in 2001 by a Japanese chess player.

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