Bobby Fischer
Thu, 2005-03-24 18:54
#1
Bobby Fischer
Apparently the chess grandmaster is now safely in Iceland, or maybe changing planes in Denmark, much to the disappointment of the US State Department who wanted to extradite him back to the States from Japan to face criminal charges.
So what had he done? Joined Al-Qaeda? Murdered people in a drive-by shooting or a high school massacre? No, apparently he'd played in a game of chess in former Yugoslavia when it was under sanctions.
Well done Iceland for granting him citizenship, a compassionate and decent deed.
Radiodenver
He violated a US Sanction against Yugoslovia by doing a chess match there. There are also issues that he may be a tax evader and not like Jews. All of these will get him in deep shit with the government here, that and wearing a baseball hat and a beard, which I can personally attest to as well.
mississippi
Well Iceland WOULD grant him asylum. It was the scene of his greatest chess triumph and it effectively put Iceland in the international spotlight.
They owe him.
neil_the_auditor
Well, when he finds that beer's fifteen quid a pint and all he can afford to eat is puffin he might regret it (just joking this time)
mississippi
He's tee-total and probably likes a nice bird to chew on.
justyn_thyme
I think the tax dodger charge is a red herring. That was 1992. If the IRS (America's Inland Revenue) seriously thought he'd avoided taxes on his earnings from that match, they would have tracked him down to the ends of the earth LONG before now. Even if he had paid tax but not filed a tax return, they would have tracked him down. Not filing a return, even if you owe no tax, is a serious crime for a US citizen. If there are no actual tax charges against him by now, I doubt the IRS has a case.
Technically, he is probably guilty of the other charge, but it's really stupid. Typical Anglo-Saxon way of looking at the world. BTW, merely being in Iceland and being an Icelandic citizen does not mean he is home free on this one. Iceland has an extradition agreement with the US, so they could persue him there as well. Now that he is suing the USG for 'kidnapping' him in Japan, they might retaliate and go after him in Iceland. They guy should keep his mouth shut and leave well enough alone. Once he has his new passport, the next stop is probably France. It would be mine. You have to wonder about his wife, though. She's the head of the Japanese Chess Association. It will not be easy to keep that job and live in Iceland at the same time.