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Time:
The Chessman, by Garry Kasparov
It is hard to say exactly when I first heard the name Bobby Fischer, but it
was quite early in my life. When he was battling Boris Spassky for the world
title in 1972, I was a 9-year-old club player in my native Baku in the Soviet
Union. I followed the games avidly. The newspapers had extensive daily coverage
of the match, although that waned as it became clear the Soviet champion was
headed for defeat. Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games was one of my first chess
books. (It had been translated into Russian and sold in the U.S.S.R. with no
respect for copyright or royalties, infuriating its author.)
Times
Online: Bobby Fischer, chess genius, heartless son
Unpublished letters seen by The Timesnow throw new light on the origins of Fischer’s
precarious mental state and his obsession with beating Boris Spassky at the
so-called match of the century in Reykjavik in 1972. He did not know who his
real father was, and he deeply resented his mother for being an active communist
under constant surveillance by the FBI.
Guardian:
Fischer's 'widow' and nephews in legal tussle for £1m estate
As a chess mastermind Bobby Fischer was capable of executing manoeuvres as complicated
as they were brutal. Now, following his death, the tussle over his million-pound
estate may turn out to be just as convoluted. Last week the Reykjavik newspaper
Visir reported that Fischer's estate, worth an estimated 140m Icelandic kronur
(£1.07m), would go to Miyoko Watai, whom it described as Fischer's widow.
But Fischer's brother-in-law Russell Targ has been in Iceland to instruct a
lawyer to investigate whether Targ's two sons should be the beneficiaries. There
are also confusing accounts of a daughter, now seven, whom Fischer is said to
have fathered during a relationship which blossomed at country club in the Philippines.
Yesterday Watai's lawyer, Arni Vilhjalmsson, said he had received an official
document from Japan confirming the marriage. "It's a copy and I am waiting
for the original," he said. If the document is proved authentic, Vilhjalmsson
will take it to a magistrate in Iceland and ask for a private liquidation of
the assets. Yesterday the Chesbase website carried a letter from John Bosnitch
claiming that Fischer had married Watai in a ceremony at which he had been present:
"I was the male witness to that marriage and the marriage certificate bears
my name."
IceNews
Daily: The complicated legacy of Bobby Fischer
Chess legend Bobby Fischer, who died on January 17th, was recently buried at
a country church in Iceland during a Catholic funeral service. Though the service
itself may have been peaceful, the legal wrangling over Fischer’s million
dollar fortune may be about to turn nasty. Russel Targ, Fischer’s brother-in-law,
has flown to Iceland in order to pursue legal investigations into the matter
of inheritance which he feels should belong to his two sons. Another possible
beneficiary is a seven year old girl, said to be Fischer’s daughter from
a country club romance in the Philippines.
Variety:
Macdonald to direct 'Bobby Fischer'
Universal and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have tapped
Kevin Macdonald to direct "Bobby Fischer Goes to War." The drama about the upstart
chess whiz's triumph over Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship in 1972
is scripted by Shawn Slovo, based on the book by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.
Bevan and Fellner will produce. Macdonald won an Oscar for the documentary "One
Day in September" before making his scripted directing debut on "The Last King
of Scotland."
Cinema
Blend: Bobby Fischer Heading Back To The Big Screen
Variety is reporting that Kevin Macdonald will direct Bobby Fischer Goes
to War, a drama about the American chess champion. Fischer was a teenage
sensation when he became a chess grandmaster at the age of 15. His huge accomplishment
though, came in 1972 when he defeated Russian chess champion Boris Spassky.
Of course, later in life Fischer became known as an eccentric and an anti-Semite.
Macdonald's movie will apparently focus only on the match against Spassky. Fischer
is a fascinating American figure, a hero for many years who later completely
shunned his country. Given that the main character in Macdonald's Last King
of Scotland was a murderous dictator, he's proven he can take on controversial
but fascinating figures. I'm excited to see what he can do with this highly
unusual story.
Daily
Star: Talking about Lebanon with Bobby Fischer
Julie Flint remembers the Match of the Century: "Reykjavik in 1972 was
my first big reporting assignment, for The Associated Press. I went for three
days and stayed for three months". In 1992 she went to Belgrade to meet
Fischer (with the help of Svetozar Gligoric), at 2 a.m., and was grilled about
her reporting from Lebanon. "In the 1980s and early 1990s, I had been reporting
from Beirut for ABC radio – and Bobby had been listening. He quoted myself
to me. Why had I said this? What did I mean by that? Why was I out of breath
when I said such-and-such (because I was recording, live, as I ran down a street
in Mar Mikhael under Lebanese Army tank-fire in February 1984). Why were the
Israelis so 'bloodthirsty'? 'Israelis' was not the word he used."
