# Chess: The Game of Life (Bobby Fischer) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102 "2005-03-24T22:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![puppymeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppymeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppymeister)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/1 "2005-03-24T22:49:11Z")
I hadn’t heard the name Bobby Fischer in a long time until today. It turns out that he’s a wanted man for playing a game of chess 12 years ago. > [@](#): > > Fischer won the rematch. But his playing violated U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic. If convicted, Fischer who hasn’t been to the United States since then could face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has been detained for the past nine months in Japan on charges of an invalid passport. About this he says: > [@](#): > > This was not an arrest. It was a kidnapping cooked up by Bush and Koizumi. Today, though, Iceland decided to take some of the heat off him, and grant him citizenship. Japan did not want to let him go to anyplace else but the US, which had already sworn in a Grand Jury on his aforementioned charge, and is investigating hi for tax evasion. They did, however let him leave the country today and fly to Denmark, where he will layover until his plane to Iceland. > [@](#): > > More ominously for Fischer… Iceland also has an extradition treaty with the U.S. that would compel it to send him to the country of his birth if charged with being a tax dodger unless he could convince its courts not to do so. Why is the US pushing for his arrest so doggedly? Perhaps it’s because of statements like: > [@](#): > > The United States is an illegitimate country … just like the bandit state of Israel the Jews have no right to be there, it belongs to the Palestinians," said Fischer, whose mother was Jewish. "That country, the United States, belongs to the red man, the American Indian. … It’s actually a shame to be a so-called American because everybody living there is … an invader. > [@](#): > > They are war criminals and should be hung," he said in an apparent criticism of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. and > [@](#): > > Fischer, whose mother was Jewish, also said he was being hounded by the United States because it is “Jew-controlled.” Okay, so he’s no shining star or anything, but goin after a guy for playing chess? Sheez! More [here](http://www.brocktonmass.com/news/publish/000270.shtml), [here](http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=610726), and [here](http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=611071). ---
**Author:** ![puppymeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppymeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppymeister)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/2 "2005-03-25T16:59:43Z")
Come on! Let’s discuss this. I find this really interesting and I would love your opinions and interest in it. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/3 "2005-03-25T17:25:57Z")
Sorry, I can’t work up any outrage over this. He violated sanctions. Not travelling to a country that was trying to commit genocide doesn’t seem like a terribly unreasonable restriction. The fact that he’s being such a jerk about it doesn’t help. That said, I say let him go. If he hates the US so much, then he can stay away for all I care. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/4 "2005-03-28T17:09:38Z")
OK, what if we look at it like this: In 1972, Bobby Fischer became the first non-Soviet World Champion in chess since 1948 and, in fact, the first non-Soviet to even play for the championship. On the match’s 20th anniversary, he went to Yugoslavia to play Spassky again, since Yugoslavia was supposed to be the ‘other venue’ in 1972, with Reykjavik. Playing chess was found to be a breach of international sanctions so the man has been in hiding since, a fact that has not helped his already fragile mind. He had been held in prison in Japan for nine months without the US wanting him extradicted and since his US Citizenship had been revoked, he was a man without a country. We remember Bobby from 1972 and feel a terrible injustice has been done so we helped our old friend. While Americans seem to hate him for talking big, we support freedom of speech and really don’t care what he’s spouting now; all we know is that he is ill and he needs help. If his country won’t do that, we will and I am proud to belong to a nation with a heart. He’ll probably be bad-mouthing Iceland too in a couple of months but that’s fine with us, too. It’s just words–he’s not a criminal. What it all boils down to, IMHO, is this: You hate him and don’t want him. We like him and want to help him. Calling that the ‘Shame of Iceland’, as the Washington Post did, is just… I don’t even know what that is, frankly. Did he deserve to die in a Japanese prison cell for being ‘a jerk’? I am almost as disappointed with the US’s reaction to this as I am proud of my government for intervening. God bless my government. In fact, God bless us, every one. ---
**Author:** ![puppymeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppymeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppymeister)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/5 "2005-03-28T21:19:52Z")
Reykjavik. That’s the capital, correct? Or is that just where he went to stay? ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/6 "2005-03-29T00:46:42Z")
I don’t know if this is MPSIMS, but I’ll go with it. You guys know he went on Phillipine radio and publicly cheered the terrorists on 9/11 right? He’s also got a personal site which I believe is here: [http://home.att.ne.jp/moon/fischer/](http://home.att.ne.jp/moon/fischer/) Here’s where I stand, he broke US Sanctions, if the US was upset - they should have acted immediately. What they did do is put an arrest warrant (with no expiration) out when that happened. As it is, they didn’t revoke his passport or really react until he spoke out on 9/11. I think he’s an asshole, but I don’t think the US reacted properly in their revocation of his papers for his use of free speech. I just finished reading a book about the world match he played in and it did a lot to illuminate his character during the 70s. He was always demanding his way and never tired of threatening withdrawal from a tournament. The amounts he demanded for playing in the tournament were exhorbinant for the time. And when the tournament organizers went against him he pulled all sorts of clout. However he never turned his anger against fellow players, only to the organizers. It also notes a story about how he abided by the rules, especially in chess. Tournament matches are touch rule, when you touch a piece, you must move it. The exception being if you say ‘j’dieu’ or something along those lines, which is French for ‘I adjust’ I believe. Some GM he played told the story of how he touched a pawn and the GM could see Bobby recognize the catastrophic results of moving the pawn, but instead of saying ‘jdieu’ he moved the pawn and lost gracefully. He’s an interesting character to say the least. _shrug_ That’s my $0.02 ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/7 "2005-03-29T02:33:22Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > What it all boils down to, IMHO, is this: You hate him and don’t want him. We like him and want to help him. Calling that the ‘Shame of Iceland’, as the Washington Post did, is just… I don’t even know what that is, frankly. Did he deserve to die in a Japanese prison cell for being ‘a jerk’? I am almost as disappointed with the US’s reaction to this as I am proud of my government for intervening. God bless my government. In fact, God bless us, every one. You like this anti-semetic ass monkey? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/8 "2005-03-29T02:51:50Z")
[Marge Simpson] After all his only crime was violating U.S. law [/Marge Simpson] ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/9 "2005-03-29T03:14:43Z")
The following is speculation without anything definitive to back it up. At the time Fischer was arrested by Japanese authorities (where he’d been for quite a while without anyone caring about the state of his passport), Japan and the US were involved in a minor tug-of-war over Charles Jenkins. While in NorK, Jenkins had married a Japanese woman who’d been abducted the 70’s and then repatriated in 2003, and it was good PR for Koizumi if the whole family could stay in Japan together. The US, however, wanted to extridite Jenkins to face charges of desertion. Kim Jong Il, meanwhile, wanted to exploit this embarrassing rift that gave him the opportunity to play the good guy who just wanted to reunite Jenkins with his family. In the middle of all this, Japan suddenly announced Fischer’s arrest for having an invalid passport, and this becomes the big news story while the US quietly agreed to give Jenkins a token probationary punishment at Camp Zama in Tokyo, after which he was discharged and allowed to stay in Japan. Basically, it looks to me like he was part of a diplomatic trade-off, although it doesn’t explain why he wasn’t extradited to the US. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/10 "2005-03-29T04:49:53Z")
> [@puppymeister](#): > > I hadn’t heard the name Bobby Fischer in a long time until today. It turns out that he’s a wanted man for playing a game of chess 12 years ago. Oh, he’s been in the news, but you’d have to be looking. The guy’s a nutcase. Since being effectively exiled from the US, he’s lived in Budapest, the Philippines, Japan, and now Reykjavic. (He may have spent some time in Brazil as well.) Every place he landed he made some news. In the Philippines, you have his famous 9/11 outbursts. Plus [there’s this rather lively interview](http://www.heretical.com/miscella/fischer.html). In Budapest, he went on some nutty anti-Semitic tirade on Hungarian radio (in 1998 or 1999). When the radio announcers pointed out the fact that he’s Jewish he said he’d invite them to the bathroom and prove he’s not. I’m not sure if 9/11 is even when the US started aggressively pursuing him. He definitely was on the media radar before that. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/11 "2005-03-29T05:21:42Z")
Oh, and he got solitary confinement during his time in Japan for fighting over a boiled egg at breakfast one day. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/12 "2005-03-29T11:21:04Z")
> [@ronincyberpunk](#): > > It also notes a story about how he abided by the rules, especially in chess. Tournament matches are touch rule, when you touch a piece, you must move it. The exception being if you say ‘j’dieu’ or something along those lines, which is French for ‘I adjust’ I believe. Some GM he played told the story of how he touched a pawn and the GM could see Bobby recognize the catastrophic results of moving the pawn, but instead of saying ‘jdieu’ he moved the pawn and lost gracefully. That’s “j’adoube”, and it must be said _before_ touching the man in question. Fischer was once the recipient of a drastic piece of sportsmanship: in the last round of the US Championship, some time in the 1960s (but not just once, for 20 minutes) his opponent in the last-round match would have taken the title if he had beaten Fischer. With half an hour left on Bobby’s clock, the opponent noticed that he had fallen asleep in his chair. His conscience led him to wake Fischer up before his clock could run down, when he would have lost by default; and after blinking and yawning, Fischer went on to win with his usual consummate ease. I am old enough to remember Fischer’s assholish behavious in 1972, but I have read that it genuinely never occurred to him that it could have upset Spassky, and that Fischer apologised fulsomely to him. I’ve also heard elsewhere of his bizarre statements outside the world of chess. He seems to be borderline psycho (completely valueless amateur opinion) but chess is much the poorer for Fischer not continuing his active playing career into the era of Karpov and Kasparov. Garry versus Bobby, both at the height of their powers, would have been a phenomenal contest. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/13 "2005-03-29T12:50:59Z")
> [@puppymeister](#): > > Okay, so he’s no shining star or anything, but goin after a guy for playing chess? Sheez! In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267419), you have the ravings of 2 different lunatics…Bobby Fisher and **Liberal**. But, in between the rantings, is some information on why the U.S. government is “going after” Bobby Fisher and, in fact, it wasn’t just for “playing chess”. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chess-the-game-of-life-bobby-fischer/296102/14 "2005-03-29T13:02:19Z")
> [@treis](#): > > You like this anti-semetic ass monkey? Like him? I love that old loon! Again, I don’t think he deserves 9 months in solitairy confinement for being anti-semitic or even applauding the 9/11 attacks (although the latter was fairly disgusting of him). Over here, people have rights regardless of their beliefs and assholish behaviour. We like the fact that he openly says what he feels, regardless of whether we agree or not. No matter what you have to say, you have a right to be heard over here without being thrown in jail. Even racists, anti-semites and people who listen to country music have rights here. We want these things discussed in the open rather than imprisoning people for “hate speech” and having all these people underground, where they can actually cause damage. Even the disgusting “nationalist party” was allowed to operate here, despite comments about not importing “niggers too lazy to beat the flies off their faces”, until they dissipated in the face of immense public scrutiny and mockery. If he starts spouting anti-Semitic hate speech here, we’ll probably… I dunno, really, but we won’t like it. So far I’ve only heard him talking about the US being controlled by Israel and Israel having stolen Palestinian land; from what I’ve seen I can’t say I disaggree completely. That and the CIA and US government’s conspiracies against him, of course. Since he’s just a crazy old man anyway, who cares what he’s saying? Bobby is more than a little crazy, suffers from an extreme superiority complex, believes he has supernatural sexual powers (have you heard him talk about his schlong?) and basically thinks the world revolves around him. Heck, he’s just an Icelander caught in an old, crazy anti-Semitic body, really. We’ll feed the bugger, clothe him and help as much as we can; would you rather add him to your grossly overpopulated prison system and pay whatever each prisoner costs per year instead? Which of the following does Bobby deserve his prior treatment for: A) Playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992? B) Being an anti-Semite? C) Hating the USA? D) Being a jerk? Remember, that’s 13 years on the run, living in Bulgaria (shudder), nine months in prison, having your passport revoked by your country and being refused a boiled egg during breakfast on at least one occasion. Enough to drive any man insane.