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Ex-chess champ arrives in Iceland
Associated Press
Published March 25, 2005
ABOARD SAS FLIGHT SK984 - Sitting in the first-class cabin whisking him away from nine months detention in Japan, chess icon Bobby Fischer on Thursday launched a rambling diatribe against the United States, calling it "an illegitimate country" that should be given back to the American Indians.
The reclusive Fischer - who is taking up residence in Iceland to avoid arrest in the United States - also unleashed his anger at Israel and likened President Bush to a comic book character.
Fischer said that he was "kidnapped" in Japan and that Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were in cahoots trying to return him to the United States, where he is wanted on criminal charges.
Late Thursday, Fischer arrived in Iceland to accept an offer of citizenship from the country still grateful for its role as the site of his most famous match. In 1972 Fisher won his world championship victory over Russian Boris Spassky.
Fischer, 62, is wanted by the United States for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition match there in 1992.
He was detained by Japanese officials last July for using an invalid U.S. passport.
Iceland's Parliament stepped in this week to break the standoff by giving Fischer citizenship. But Fischer is by no means in the clear, as Iceland, like Japan, has an extradition treaty with the United States.
[Last modified March 25, 2005, 01:01:16]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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