1/18/2008

Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies

Radio Netherlands: Chess legend Bobby Fischer dies

Published: Friday 18 January 2008 13:06 UTC
Last updated: Friday 18 January 2008 14:52 UTC


Reykjavik - Icelandic national radio reports that chess legend Bobby Fischer has died at home there. He was 64 and had been ill for some time.

US Grandmaster Bobby Fischer became world champion after a legendary game against Soviet player Boris Spassky in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik in 1972. After winning the world title, he did not play another match for 20 years.

In 1992, he played a rematch against Boris Spassky in Serbia, thereby violating UN sanctions. As a result, he faced a ten-year jail sentence if he ever set foot in the United States again.

He went to live in Hungary, and later moved to the Philippines and Japan. He was arrested at Tokyo's Narita airport in 2004 for travelling on a passport that had been revoked by the US government.

After spending months in Japanese custody, Bobby Fischer was granted Icelandic citizenshp as a tribute for making the country famous in 1972.


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