How Spassky fought for Fischer

by Frederic Friedel
3/10/2025 – On July 13, 2004, Bobby Fischer was detained in Japan with an invalid U.S. passport. That marked the beginning of a nine-month ordeal for him in Japanese custody. Among the supporters fighting for his release was former World Champion Boris Spassky, whom Fischer had dethroned thirty years earlier. Spassky, who passed last week, even wrote a personal letter of appeal to President George Bush, asking to be locked up in the same cell as Fischer. "And give us a chess set," he said.

ChessBase 18 - Mega package ChessBase 18 - Mega package

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

More...

In 2004 Bobby Fischer was detained in Japan, at Narita International Airport, for attempting to leave the country using an invalid U.S. passport. He was trying to board a flight to the Philippines when Japanese immigration officials arrested him. The U.S. government had revoked his passport because Fischer was considered a fugitive by the United States government. He was wanted for violating economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, by playing a chess match there in 1992 against Boris Spassky.

The charges against Fischer were violating U.S. economic sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there, in spite of receiving Cease and Desist order to refrain from doing so, since it defied a presidential ban on commercial dealings with Yugoslavia, issued by President George H.W. Bush.

The October 29 1991 Fischer indictment and the December 15 1992 warrant for his arrest

If convicted, Fischer stood to face a maximum punishment of ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine and forfeiture of his winnings (approximately $3.35 million). These charges effectively made Fischer a fugitive, unable to return to the United States without facing arrest and prosecution

The chess world – and especially ChessBase – sprang into action. We published dozens of stories on the plight of the former world champion locked in a jail cell in Japan, and his efforts to flee to a neutral country with no extradition treaty with the US. A selection of our articles is given below. Bobby showed great appreciation for our efforts and called me (Frederic Friedel) many times from his later refuge in Iceland. I have described it in this video interview.

Another ardent supporter of Fischer was his erstwhile rival Boris Spassky, who wrote the following letter to President George W. Bush:

Selection of ChessBase articles on the Fischer saga

Bobby Fischer detained in Japan (updated)
16.07.2004 It's the latest twist in the sad tale of American former world champion Bobby Fischer. He has been detained in Japan and faces possible deportation to the US to face charges for playing in Yugoslavia in 1992. Fischer's website says he was "very nearly killed" in Japan. The story has been picked up by news services all over the world.

Will Fischer be extradited?
19.07.2004 Chess legend Bobby Fischer, the hero of millions, languishes in the detention facilities of Narita Airport in Tokyo, waiting for a decision by Japanese Immigration authorities on his deportation to the US. We have collected all the documents and reconstructed a timeline to his arrest. Fischer, who has no legal counsel, is appealing for international assistance.

Game of Life: Kasparov on Fischer - in full
20.07.2004 The news of Fischer's arrest in Japan came as a shock to Garry Kasparov, who was in a holiday camp working intensely on the games of his greatest American predecessor. In today's issue of The Wall Street Journal Kasparov assesses Fischer's chess career – for a public that was being exposed to his current situation. We now bring you Kasparov's full article.

Fischer a sacrificial pawn?
25.07.2004 Bobby Fischer is still in detention at Narita Airport in Tokyo, traumatised but stubborn, "behaving like a Samurai". At the same time news outlets all over the world are covering the story, with Fischer's brother-in-law Russell Targ assailing the Bush administration for playing election year politics with the former chess champion's freedom. There's a lot to be read...

Fischer's appeal rejected
28.07.2004 Bobby Fischer's appeal against his deportation was rejected today by Japanese authorities. Meanwhile the Icelandic Chess Federation has appealed to US president Bush to pardon Fischer and set up a petition web site to collect signatures. In Tokyo a "Free Fischer Press Conference" is scheduled for Thursday. More...

Spassky to Bush: Arrest me!
10.08.2004 Boris Spassky, who played the contentious return match against Bobby Fischer in Yugoslavia 1992, for which the latter is currently facing deportation and incarceration in the US, has appealed to President Bush to show mercy and charity for his tormented successor. If for some reason that should be impossible, Spassky suggests a very imaginative alternative... Fischer.

Fischer renounces US citizenship
15.08.2004 Bobby Fischer has been moved to a new detention facility in Tokyo, pending a decision on his deportation to the US, where he faces a 10-year jail sentence. A lot of new material has surfaced, including Fischer's handwritten renouncement of his US citizenship and a blow-by-blow description and picture of his arrest at Narita Airport. Harrowing stuff...

'Bobby Fischer and I have decided to marry'
17.08.2004 Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion, plans to marry the president of the Japan Chess Association (and four-time Japanese women's champion) Miyoko Watai. This was reported in newspapers and wire services last night. Now Watai-san has sent us a statement explaining the background of her personal relationship with Fischer.

Dramatic moments around Fischer's deportation
25.08.2004 First the Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa issued a deportation order against former world champion Bobby Fischer's, then Fischer's lawyers filed a lightning appeal on the grounds that physical deportation would be a flagrant violation of Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection under Japanese law. Here's the full story by Fischer's legal coordinator.

Listen to Bobby Fischer
26.08.2004 In emotional phone calls from his detention cell in Tokyo ex world champion Bobby Fischer gave a Philippine radio station two lengthy interviews. Fischer is facing deportation and incarceration in the US, and voices his nightmare fears: "I will be tried, convicted, sentenced, imprisoned, tortured and murdered." We have summary transcripts and audio files.

'We want to live together forever'
01.09.2004 She collected pictures of her chess hero after his match with Boris Spassky in 1972. One year later they met in Tokyo – the start of a romance spanning decades. Since four years the two have lived together in downtown Kamata in Tokyo's Ota Ward. In an exclusive interview for ChessBase Miyoko Watai tells us the story of her life with Bobby Fischer.

Fischer to Bush and Koizumi: 'You are going to pay for this!'
18.10.2004 Bobby Fischer, still in detention in Japan, has spoken out again in an interview, this time threatening the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and US President Bush: "You are going to pay for this, and you are going to pay for your crimes in Iraq too." His new lawyer, Richard J. Vattuone, plans to release documents to prove US government involvement in a plot against Fischer.

Returning to the 'scene of the crime'
30.11.2004 Twelve years ago Boris Spassky played a match against Bobby Fischer in Yugoslavia. That got Fischer into a lot of trouble, while for Spassky, a French citizen, there were no repercussions. Now the tenth world champion returned to Belgrade to open the Belgrade Chess Trophy. Quick interview...

Fischer to get refuge in Iceland?
12/16/2004 The news today on Bobby Fischer, who is currently being held in a Japanese detention facilities pending extradition to the US, is that the Icelandic government has offered to grant him a residence permit. In a telephone interview Fischer speaks about his plight in Japan and reacts to statements by Garry Kasparov on Fischer Random Chess. Full details...

RJF Committee mobilizes pro-Fischer forces
18.12.2004 While Bobby Fischer remains incarcerated in a Japanese prison a special committee in Iceland is moving to get him free and find him a home on the North-Atlantic island country. Iceland's foreign minister and a prominent political scientist have spoken out. Here's a report on Fischer's Iceland Connection...

Bobby Fischer applies for Icelandic Citizenship
25.01.2005 After the Japanese authorities last week refused Fischer's request to be extradited to Iceland the chess legend, who is being held in a Japanese detention facility, has today written to the President of the Icelandic Althingi (picture), applying for Icelandic citizenship. A special law would have to be passed to grant Fischer's request.

If you want to follow the story of Fischer's escape to Iceland, Google has a list of the ChessBase stories covering this phase of his life.

<< The Ultimate Underdog? - The Underdog
Norwegian Elite Series: Valerenga claims title, Carlsen scores 3/3 >>
Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Grand Chess Tour celebrates tenth anniversary with elite field

3/2/2025 – The 2025 Grand Chess Tour marks its 10th anniversary with a record $1.6 million prize fund and the return of the GCT Finals - held for the first time in South America, in São Paulo. Featuring an elite field, including world champion Gukesh Dommaraju and past GCT winners, the tour will span classical and rapid and blitz events across multiple cities. With legendary support from the Saint Louis Chess Club and Superbet Foundation, this milestone edition promises thrilling battles at the highest level of chess.
More...
 3

See also

Prague R4: Pragg beats Keymer, catches Aravindh

3/2/2025 – Vincent Keymer continues to go all-in at the Masters section of the Chess Festival in Prague: the German went for an attack against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, and lost. As a result, Pragg caught up with his compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram in the lead. Meanwhile, Wei Yi bounced back from his loss on Friday with a win over David Navara. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
More...
 4

Video

MiddleGame 08594EC Springing pawns

A pawn move can change the character of the whole position. Jussupow-Anand (Linares 1991) is all about such powerful pawn moves.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

arzi arzi 8 hours ago
Autist-like behavior maybe allready in adolescence and the associated obsessive need to control everything is not a mental illness, but later when the behavior is accompanied by paranoia and anger, then one can assume that something is wrong. Of course, it is possible that the US authorities have been following Fischer because of his radical speeches and during an era when the fear of communism was great in the country and terrorism as part of world events. The authorities' monitoring may have worsened Fischer's obsessive behavior, but not everything that happened can be put on other people´s blame. Part of the reasons must also be attributed to Fischer's uncompromising actions and speeches. The problem, however, is that if two unyielding beings meet, the one that exceeds its own endurance will break and lose, just like in chess. That's what happened to Fischer, the world was too tough for him and Bobby refused to bend. We also don't know if Bobby was mentally ill in his later years. We can only assume so, but the fact seems to be that doctors did not examine a patient named Fischer. Fischer's "mental illness" comes from what others and the media have said and written about him. A person can speak "stupid" things and have radical opinions without being really "crazy". I`ll like to remember him as an uncompromising but a sane World Champion, one of the greatest.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 11 hours ago
I would leave a diagnosis of mental illness to a treating psychiatrist. However, Fischer had developped patterns of behaviour deviant from what is acceptable within his culture, and which seemed, unlike nonconformism, hardly controllable and at least partly without a logical basis. Which is quite like the definition of a personality disorder. You don't need to be mad to be bad, and neither do you need to be totally bad when you are more or less mad.
fgkdjlkag fgkdjlkag 3/14/2025 07:08
These comments are full of misinformation. Why would one attribute chess to causing his mental illness? Not only growing up in poverty in a single parent household was mentioned, but the FBI had a 1000 page file on his mother whom they suspected of being a communist. They were secretly following the family around when he was a child. No wonder he developed paranoia, surely noticing this but probably not knowing what it meant, this only became public after Fischer's death? His biological father had OCD or paranoia, and there is a hereditary component to mental illness. A lot of ppl who met him personally have said he was completely different and more normal than what they expected based on the national press coverage. It's rather obvious he had mental illness, why vilify ppl for conspiratorial delusions caused by mental illness? Something sad and pitiable for sure.

And regarding his premature death, of course it was logical for him due to his mental illness, but it was reported that he was paranoid about getting treatment, the hospital, doctors, etc. So also the result of his mental state.
marcwordsmith marcwordsmith 3/13/2025 08:53
What an incredibly poignant letter and what an extraordinary gentleman was Mr. Boris Spassky. What a heart that man had, to write a letter like that.

As for Bobby Fischer, obviously he was profoundly wounded psychologically and mentally ill. Perhaps we can say the same about all hateful people. In any case, I draw a distinction between the man's personality and his art. He bequeathed a world of beauty to us on the chessboard and he profoundly changed my life and the lives of I don't know how many others who became lifelong devotees of the game as a result of his phenomenal career.

My personal favorite Fischer game of all time was R. Byrne - Fischer, '63/'64 USA Championship. In fact, I think that's my favorite chess game of all time, period. That game is like a polished jewel.
arzi arzi 3/13/2025 07:42
It seems that Fischer's mother was aware of her son's "oddities" even when he was young, of some degree of autism and obsession. If Bobby "knew" something was a certain way, he would not change his mind afterwards, unless it was related to chess, and even then only after he had proven it himself. At some point, his obsession turned into hatred towards society and the authorities, and conspiracy theories began to fascinate the mind. The saying: "My way or highway", describes Bobby.

His playing the 1992 rematch with Spassky in this light even seems logical, that's what Bobby would do. Playing chess in a country where the USA has imposed various restrictions and prohibitions. Can chess be such a strong and dangerous weapon that Bobby had to spend the rest of his life abroad because of it? After all, he was penniless and destitute before the match, because the prize he won in 1972 had disappeared like ashes in the wind in a couple of decades. A former US hero had become a great enemy of his country. Sad.

Bobby's death also seems to follow a familiar logic. On January 17, 2008, Fischer died of degenerative kidney failure at Landspítali Hospital (the National University Hospital of Iceland) in Reykjavík at the age of 64. He initially had a urinary tract obstruction, but refused surgery or medication. Is that a rational person's decision? No, but it's logical for Bobby.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 3/13/2025 12:31
MPeters,
As an English GM (Simon Webb I think, I quote from memory) wrote: maybe chess isn't what makes sane people mad, it is what makes mad people keep some kind of sanity. Fischer was as I recall sixteen when his single mom, to earn a living, left him alone in Brooklyn. It's not the only factor, but I think it is quite relevant. Others in that situation would go for drugs, juvenile delinquency or mass shootings; Fischer went for chess. That gave him some kind of social environment, but maybe couldn't cure all the damage. So don't blame chess. Many great artists are monomanical, that makes them so special in what they do. It is worth some ink to look at people like Fischer from more than one angle.
MPeters1945 MPeters1945 3/12/2025 10:42
To arzi. In regards to free speech I personally do not advocate that only pro-US/positive speech/words are acceptable free speech. I am old enough, and a student of history, to know that free speech can be, and will be, the opposite of your statement, but that still makes it free speech, and yes, even if I disagree with it. Fischer could say what he did and not be under threat of imprisonment for what he said. However, despite it being his right of free speech, I don't have to agree to it, and I can be disgusted with it (rightly or wrongly), and I honestly have a hard time being sympathetic to Fischer. The seeds of his own personal destruction were being sown during his chess playing years with his behavior. For me, at least, Fischer's monomaniacal chess achievements weren't worth what I think it did to him mentally. There is much more to life than chess, and he's an example of what a single-minded obsession can do to destroy a person. All my opinion, and in polite but well-intentioned response to your post. :) To Frits Fritschy, noted on Fischer's response, I honestly did not know if he even knew of the letter. Thank you for letting me know on that.
ChessTalk ChessTalk 3/12/2025 04:02
Bobby was never a politician. Never politic. Probably not an empath. But people wanted to hear his opinions. It's like asking a leading sports figure to expound on human rights. If your the best at something, you probably had to sacrifice a lot to be the best. Spassky was the exception. Loved his letter.
arzi arzi 3/12/2025 12:05
To PhishMaster and MPeters1945 about 9/11/2001

In the European Parliament on 10 March 2003 Wurtz:
"President Bush has made the most cruel and unforgivable decisions and dares to mention honor and moral principles and invoke God. He has decided to suspend the peaceful disarmament of Iraq and launch an attack on a country that is exhausted by previous wars and an illegal embargo, and where, according to our information, 50 percent of the population is under the age of 15. President Bush intends to attack this country with 600 fighter jets, 70 warships, 6 aircraft carriers, a tank column and 300,000 soldiers. The 600 journalists who have infiltrated the military may be able to provide us with pictures of the people's joy. Perhaps we will see the Iraqi people greeting their liberators with sweets and kola nuts. This is what George W. Bush and Kanan Makiya, a famous pro-American Iraqi refugee, have promised."

Maybe the US president thought at that time that he would also find the 9/11 terrorists here and Bobby Fischer? Two birds with one stone. Some claim that free speech also means how it is written, but free speech should only be used for positive thoughts and in a pro-US way. Anything else is against free speech, even if it is true.

https://magazine.tank.tv/issue-30/features/bobby-fishcers-strangest-endgame

Frits Fritschy is on the right track. Fischer probably had a worsening mental illness that could have involved several different characteristics.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 3/12/2025 09:56
Fischer's reaction to Spassky's letter is well known: he preferred to have a nice girl in his cell. I guess Spassky could appreciate a remark like this, calling himself a small-time anti-Semite, while his friend was of full jewish descent. Which by the way gives a nice view of Fischer's apparent personality disorders, given that he blamed the jews for everything, at the same time in his later years having good relations with his mother and looking for traces of his father in Hungary. Where he estabished good relations with the Polgar family, also of jewish descent.
On a daily basis, several stories give another picture of Fischer. My favourite one is about queen of punk Patty Smith visiting him in Iceland, who reacted to his rants with 'let's cut out the crap and talk about music', leading them to listen to and dance on motown records all night.
When you look at his rants as something akin to Gilles de la Tourette's syndrom, it may be easier to see the relaxed and pleasant person he could be in personal relations, however how unpleasant his behaviour could be.
MPeters1945 MPeters1945 3/11/2025 10:49
So much ink has been spilled on Fischer, that if he had been an average human being, who behaved like he did in so many unacceptable ways, he probably would have been avoided on a daily basis. Yet because he could play what is basically just a board game on a level greater than virtually anyone else, we still continue to hear about him and his paranoid rants and applause for 9/11. I would be happy to never hear the man's name again, much less see a list of over a dozen articles about his histrionics. To Spassky's well-intentioned letter, if Fischer was aware of it, I wonder if he would have appreciated Spassky charitably doing so. I suspect in his arrogance Fischer would have felt he naturally deserved that letter and put his own self-serving martyr complex on full display yet again if he had mentioned it.
PhishMaster PhishMaster 3/11/2025 09:29
He knew that there were sanctions, and he ignored them. It is hard to feel sorry for a guy, who applauded 9/11.
arzi arzi 3/11/2025 06:42
It took too long to keep Fischer in prison, just for playing chess. Shouldn't the focus have been on arresting and prosecuting the decision-makers who sold US weapons to dictators in various countries, and who spent their money on weapons and thereby enabled genocide? Freedom requires sacrifice, even in chess. Sacrifices are a natural part of chess and politics.
TacticWarGeneral TacticWarGeneral 3/11/2025 12:26
What a great letter
1
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.