How serious a crime is it to do business when there are santions?
How much does this sort of trial cost the government?
What is the potential “sentence” if he’s found guilty?
I realize this could turn into a great debate type discussion, but for now my questions have factual answers I think, so I’ve put it here. Beg pardon to the mods if it should have been elsewhere.
This is pure rubbish. Deporting Bobby Fischer for playing a chess match in Yugoslavia in 92’ is completely insane. No wonder Fischer is a reclusive grand master, he clearly hates the US, that has never been news. But this recent stunt in Japan, is A) a relief that he is indeed alive still and B) that he very much wants to remain in seclusion. Geez wouldn’t you?
But to answer your Q, what is the potential sentence? I am not sure? But our Gov’t can be quite snarky about that sort of conundrum…
I feel it’s rather stupid as well, but since I’m not a debater I was just hoping to get a better understanding of the seriousness of the “crime” from a legal standpoint.
Here is a posting of the indictment. The penalties are listed as:
The link has the full text of the penalties, and links to more documentation, including the letter sent to Fischer prior to his 92 match:
From the cited article:
To correct the record, his title was retired by FIDE when he elected not to defend it. If this moves to the Pit, I will make further remarks on the matter.
And it was in 1975, not 78.
Alternately, perhaps to GD–Gary Kasparov, who is writing a book on Fischer, had some interesting things to say about the deportation in The Wall Street Journal. Unsuitable for this forum, but perhaps worth discussing.
Duke I can get a hold of Wall Street Journals here at the office. What day was the article?
It was on yesterday’s Opinion page (in the guest column, at the bottom of the page). The interesting parts were more inferred than anything else, but it could lead to a good debate.
BTW, it’s “Garry,” not Gary. Sorry about that.
Thanks for both of your links.
Anyone who could play the black side of this game — at 13 years old, for cryin’ out loud — deserves every ounce of deference the world can muster.
I participated in a grass roots effort back in the 1980s to recruit Fischer to return to active play. We went to Florida to attend a USCF meeting, where we drafted a letter essentially begging him to return. We passed a resolution recognizing him as the Undefeated World Chess Champion. We offered him life insurance, health insurance, a generous stipend, and to pay every expense he might incur for life if he would return to active play. We also offered him a job with a generous salary, which would consist of tutoring grandmasters, writing articles, or anything else that he might want to do. We went through all the proper channels that he required, corresponding through Claudia Mokarow, the only person he trusted at that time. After a heated battle, then USCF president (I think it was Steve Doyle) reluctantly agree to include an official apology on behalf of the USCF and “all chess players everywhere” for failing to give Fischer the proper support in his fight against FIDE (otherwise known then as the Soviet Chess Federation) and vowing that in any and all future negotiations he would have the full backing of USCF officials and staff. We mailed the letter and anxiously awaited his response. About two weeks later, we received a post card from Claudia. It said simply, “He will open your letter if you send him $10,000”.
Doyle. Was. Furious. He screamed and ranted that he was “not gonna shove ten thousand dollars down a hole just to see what happens!” We begged him to reconsider. He refused, and the board, filled with his sycophants, folded. Alas, it was over. The world had lost its greatest chess mind, and a bitter fart of a man could not be persuaded to see beyond his own petty indignity. It was one of the saddest days of my life. And now, to see a national treasure be treated as a common criminal because snot-nosed power-mongers believe they have a right to live our lives for us just galls me beyond words. It is like digging up Thoreau’s grave and putting his corpse in jail because he did not finish serving his time.
Damn. Just plain damn.
Since the factual parts of the question have been answered, I’ll move this to GD for further discussion.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
Or the white side of this one.
I find the whole situation depressing. At least his games will always be around.
So what’s the debate? Whether his playing in Yugo. should have been illegal? What USA/Japan should be do with him now, if anything?
Be it noted that my previous post actually followed the move to Great Debates. Xash apparently waited a while to post his notice. Regarding the debate, I don’t know what it is, buy you can feel free to rant here:
And thanks for that link. I had forgotten about that game. What a beauty.
Your position is so silly and bizarre that I am almost inclined to believe you are joking.
Let me get this straight; You essentially went down on your knees and offered the man free money for life and everything he had asked for and an apology and more or less offered to blow him, meeting his previously stated demands, solely because you’re all fans of his, and his response was to tell you he wanted ten thousand dollars just to open the letter? And you think that’s okay? I mean, isn’t it obvious he would have taken the money and thrown the letter out?
This Mr. Doyle was a hundred percent right. Being good at chess doesn’t entitle you to be treated as a god. I find it embarassing how we treat people who happen to be good at high profile jobs. Bobby Fischer is no more entitled to be treated like some sort of god-king than is Barry Bonds or Tom Hanks.
I mean, I agree that Fischer should not be chased by the government for this silly Yugoslavian bit - as a matter of fact I think it’s patently ludicrous. But Christ, man, he’s just a guy who’s good at a board game. He doesn’t deserve to have you set aside all dignity and common sense to appease his inflated ego.
Why, in Move 12, did Byrne not just take Fisher’s knight with his own? Granted, it would leave his king’s pawn open to Fisher’s other knight, and expose the queen, but he can still move his queen then and enjoy the benefits of a knight-for-pawn trade. I don’t understand that move at all.
Actually, my comp hung after moving the thread. So had to reboot. 
Went for a snack and forgot about the thread 
I usually post to a thread after moving it, so I don’t bump the thread in the incorrect forum.
Possibly. But the risk was well worth it. As far as we were concerned, it was a fine that the USCF owed for its negligence.
If White takes the Knight, he is disadvantaged in every variation. See this analysis.
'S’okay.