Your move, Fischer

The great Bobby Fischer may have died more than two years ago but even from his grave in Iceland, he continues to command a lot of attention.

The latest news to surface is the decision by the Supreme Court in Iceland to have his body exhumed to prove a paternity case. It seemed that when Fischer died in Jan 2008, nobody thought of preserving any blood sample for DNA analysis. But then at that time, nobody expected that he would be at the centre of an inheritance battle.

Yes, there is an on-going court battle for Fischer’s estate. He was said to have left an estate that was worth about USD2 million (about RM6.4 million). This estate is now being claimed by various parties from far-flung reaches of the earth. And all this is because he died without a will.

One of the parties is Fischer’s two nephews, Alexander and Nicholas Targ, who being the sons of his sister would seem to be the closest living blood relatives of the deceased former world chess champion in the absence of other claimants.

However, there are other claimants to Fischer’s estate. In the last years of his life, dating even before his sensational detention at Tokyo’s Narita international airport in 2004 for travelling on a revoked American passport, he had developed a close relationship with Miyoko Watai.

Watai herself is a chess player and holds the title of woman international master. At one time she was the acting president of the Japan Chess Federation. It’s known that Fischer and Watai had been living together in Tokyo. Even after he had been granted Icelandic citizenship in 2005, Watai continued to travel to Iceland to be with him.

Of course, the validity of Fischer’s marriage to Watai loomed large in the battle for the chess grandmaster’s estate, it being disputed by the two nephews. It is believed that an Iceland lower court had accepted that their marriage was registered legally and had been certified in Japan but there are now even conflicting reports about this.

In any case, there now emerges a fresh twist to the inheritance joustings. From the Philippines came word that about 10 years ago, Fischer had a Filipino girlfriend, Marilyn Young, and he could have fathered a young girl named Jinky. That young girl is nine years old today. 

According to Jinky’s mother and their lawyers in Manila, they have proof that Jinky is related to Fischer and he had accepted the girl as his daughter. 

They said that he had been sending Jinky money and toys regularly, and signing off on his letters and postcards to her as “daddy”. Images of the postcards floating on the Internet showed Fischer’s purportedly famous handwriting.

However, the court could not consider them as conclusive or indisputable proof of the blood ties between Fischer and Jinky. To prove a link, Jinky’s lawyers demanded for DNA tests on Fischer. Jinky had already given her blood to a hospital in Iceland but it was then learnt that the hospital where Fischer was last warded before his death did not keep any of his blood samples. 

In the absence of Fischer’s DNA specimens, Jinky’s lawyers then petitioned the court for exhumation, a move opposed quite naturally by the other claimants. When the District Court of Reykjavik turned down the petition, the lawyers turned to the Iceland Supreme Court and won.

It’s now expected that the exhumation process may be carried out soon, maybe within the fortnight. But if anyone thinks that the battle for Fischer’s estate could soon be over, there is yet another twist in the tale. 

The last claimant to Fischer’s estate is, believe it or not, the United States government itself. While he was alive, the United States were already hunting him down as a fugitive from their law.

All because in 1992, Fischer had thumbed his nose at an American-sponsored United Nations embargo on dealings with the former Yugoslavia Republic to play a highly publicized 24-game chess match with his old adversary, Boris Spassky. 

He won millions from this match and now in his death, the US government is claiming for unpaid taxes from the estate. Why the US is doing this is because Fischer, despite dying as an Iceland citizen, was a United States citizen for almost all of his life.

I said “almost” because until 2004, he was still an American citizen. But his detention at the Narita international airport changed all that. During the months that he was detained and fighting deportation to the United States, he gave up his American citizenship and was stateless until the Iceland government voted to give him their citizenship.

I don’t know what other surprises the late great Bobby Fischer can toss up from his grave but in the meantime, the world is closely watching the outcome of the exhumation. It’s still your move, Bobby Fischer.

Up next  

Telok Gong pro-am

The Persatuan Penduduk Telok Gong will hold their pro-am tournament at the Dewan Kampung Hamid Tuah in Telok Gong, Port Klang on July 4. For a one-day event, the total cash prizes on offer is more than RM5,000.

Entry fees are RM30 (for players in the Pro category, that is, with national ratings above 1701), RM25 (for payers in the Am category, rated below 1700) and RM20 (for Telok Gong residents and players below 12 years old). Entries close on Jun 26. To register, contact Zamri Sajari (016.2775005) or Azhar Mohd Said (012.6796193).

MBS chess

The Methodist Boys’ Secondary School in Jalan Hang Jebat, Kuala Lumpur will hold the fifth MBSSKL chess open tournament at the school premises on July 24. Entry fees are RM5 for MBS students and RM15 for non-MBS students. For enquiries, contact teachers Mr NK Chin or Mdm LY Yong at the school (03.20782293).

 

Epic duels

 

Iconic player

 

The anti-hero

IT HAS been two weeks since the release of Bobby Fischer from a Japanese detention centre. 

The former world champion is now ensconced in Reykjavik, safe from the United States’ attempt to bring him back to New York to face federal charges of violating sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992.

For the present, Fischer is out of bounds to the United States. The respite is temporary. But whether or not it will become permanent is unclear. The United States is still pursuing Fischer, this time for tax evasion, and the long arms of the American law may yet entangle him once again.

The United States and Iceland have an extradition treaty, meaning that one country may request the other country to arrest and deliver a person who is wanted for certain crimes. Already, Interpol is reported to have asked the Icelandic authorities to inform the United States of Fischer’s movements, especially if he should leave Iceland.

But according to the same news report, Iceland will choose to ignore Interpol’s request. As an Icelandic citizen, Fischer enjoys certain privileges or immunities and one of them is that Iceland is not bound to hand over one of their own citizens.

A senior Icelandic government source told Reuters it was "unthinkable" that Reykjavik would agree to the tip-off request. Iceland does not monitor its citizens, the source said.

Foreign Minister David Oddsson said Fischer would not be extradited. "We have always maintained that the decision to grant him Icelandic citizenship is based on humanitarian concerns," he told 

So as long as Fischer leaves out the rest of his days among his Icelandic neighbours, it will truly be a stalemate between him and the United States authorities.

Most Icelanders were rather happy to accept Fischer as their newest citizen although some did express concern about Fischer's continuing sharp barbs thrown at the U.S. government.

"I think he's a little bit crazy," said Runar Berg, an investment banker and recreational chess player. "Everyone has a right to his own opinion but sometimes it's better to say nothing than to say rubbish."

In the week that followed his release, Fischer told reporters that he was finished with a chess world that he regarded as corrupt. 

For a very long time, he has been alleging that the results of many top-level chess games and matches are decided in advance. Because of this, he said that the Icelanders’ enthusiasm for chess "was misplaced, because people don't know how utterly corrupt it is, and has been for many years."

"Just like when you go to watch a wrestling match, right? They are very good wrestlers but anybody with half a brain knows it's almost all prearranged."

"I don't play the old chess anymore," he said. "But obviously if I did, I would still be the best."

He said that he planned to concentrate on perfecting his concept of random chess, in which pieces along the back rank are shuffled at the beginning of each game in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

Fischer is credited with helping to fuel a passion for chess in Iceland through his historic match for the world chess title in 1972. Though Iceland has a population of less than 300,000 people, it has one of the highest per-capita rates of chess playing in the world.

UP NEXT

Klang Parade chess

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Klang Parade will jointly organize this year’s Klang Parade chess tournament in Klang at the end of this month. 

On Apr 23, the Klang Parade age-group chess tournament for under-12 and under-18 categories will be organized, while on Apr 24, the Klang Parade open tournament will be held.

Total cash prize is RM1500, and entry fees are RM15 for the open event and RM10 for under-12 players. Entry forms are available from the Kalng Parade information counter or downloaded from http://tcn.sf.net/downloads/klangp05.doc

For inquiries or registration, contact Greg Lau (tel: 012.9020123).

Royal Selangor open

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organize its 32nd edition of the Royal Selangor open chess tournament at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur from Apr 28 to Jun 2. 

This year’s tournament will be played in three sections: a nine-round Fide-rated open category starting Apr 28, and the under-12 and under-18 seven-round non-Fide-rated events on Jun 1-2. 

Entry fees for the open event are RM35 for CAS members and Fide-rated players, and RM60 for others. For the two junior events, entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM20 for non-members.

For inquiries, call Shafruddin Arshad (tel: 012.3852420), Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or S Balendran (tel: 012.3547011) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg.

The Royal Selangor open is the longest running local chess tournament in Malaysia.

Perak tournament

The Perak International Chess Association (PICA) will organize an open chess event at the Tun Razak Library in Ipoh on Apr 24.

For inquiries on registration or entry fees, contact Yunus Sharif (05.5458453 or 013.3908129).

Fischer freed!

FORMER WORLD chess champion Bobby Fischer was finally released from a Japanese detention camp yesterday. He had been detained there for nine months by Japanese immigration officials after the United States had revoked his original American passport.

But while Fischer was bundled into jail as a United States citizen, he claimed his freedom as a citizen of Iceland, the country that granted him citizenship in recognition of his role in putting the Nordic country on the world map 33 years ago.

Twelve minutes were all it took for the Icelandic Althingi, the world’s oldest existing democratic parliament, to approve a special legislation to grant Fischer full Icelandic citizenship.

The legislation, passed on Monday with 40 Icelandic law makers voting in favour with two abstentions, became law immediately.

Fischer’s freedom was met with rejoice from his fans worldwide who had campaigned hard for his release. He had been incarcerated since July last year, awaiting deportation to the United States to face federal charges of violating economic sanctions against the former Yugoslavia when he chose to play a chess match there with Boris Spassky in 1992.

During his nine months in jail, Fischer had mounted successful short-term challenges to the Japanese legal system in order to delay deportation.

However, all these legal battles still could not win him his freedom. According to the Japanese Immigration Bureau, the Japanese government would only consider releasing the former world champion if a country grants him full citizenship.

Thus, even the special foreigner’s passport that Iceland issued Fischer, which would have allowed him to leave Japan and travel freely in most parts of Europe, was not enough to convince the Japanese government to let him go.

Worse, it soon became known that the United States was preparing a more serious charge against Fischer. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service asked a U.S. federal grand jury in Washington to investigate possible tax evasion charges involving Fischer who was reported to have received US$3.5 million (RM13.3 million) from his 1992 chess match with Spassky.

To Fischer’s worldwide supporters, the reluctance of the Japanese government to release him was seen as a delaying tactic to detain Fischer until the American grand jury had made a decision in early April. If Fischer could not be deported on a sanctions-busting charge which was not a crime in Japan, certainly the Japanese was obliged to deport him on tax evasion charges.

But while the United States considers Fischer as a fugitive from justice, Iceland looks at him as a hero because of his celebrated first chess match against Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972. It was at the height of the Cold War and Fischer’s victory symbolized the triumph of democracy over communism.

It is partly for that reason that Iceland made its latest move to make Fischer an Icelandic citizen. 

Last Friday week, an Icelandic parliamentary committee recommended that Fischer be granted citizenship and this was followed on Monday by the Althingi voting in favour of the committee’s recommendation.

Another delegation is due to leave Reykjavik for Tokyo soon to bring home Iceland’s latest grandmaster.

UP NEXT

Union open

The Union High School Chess Club will organise an eight-round open tournament at their school hall this Sunday. Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM15 for adults, RM10 for under-18 players and RM7 for under-12 players. For non-members, the entry fees are RM20, RM15 and RM10 respectively.

For more details or to register, contact Beh Sze Ping (tel: 04.2290595), Lee Kar Kheng (tel: 04.2282761) or Lim Jiin Ying (tel: 04.6569478).

PCMM tournament

The Persatuan Catur Melayu Malaysia (PCMM) will hold a six-round open tournament at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Setapak in Kuala Lumpur this Sunday. Entry fees for PCMM members are RM11 for under-12 players and RM16 for others. For non-members, the entry fees are RM15 and RM25 respectively.

For inquiries, contact Mohd Suhairi (tel: 012.3631591), Haslindah (tel: 019.2069605) or Najib (email: alinashab@scicom.com.my). 

Terengganu tournament

The Terengganu Chess Association (TCA) will organize their President’s Trophy chess tournament at the Dewan Jabatan Laut in Kuala Terengganu on Apr 1-2.

This seven-round event is open to TCA members only and will be played in the open and under-12 categories. Fees are RM5 for under-12 players, RM10 for secondary school students and RM15 for others. For details or to register, contact Adnan (tel: 012.9375722, email: ad6sal@gmail.com) 

Selangor junior grand prix

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will hold the third leg of their Royal Selangor junior grand prix tournament on Apr 2-3 at the Sunway College. 

Entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members. For inquiries or reservations, contact Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg. 

 Grand Prix points won from this event will be accumulated with points from the first and second legs and at the end of this junior grand prix, the top 40 players will qualify for the Final on Apr 23-24.

According to the CAS, the top 10 players from the Final will be eligible to take part in the association’s annual chess camp which, this year, will be conducted by Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers in May. This chess camp is also open to chess players born in or after 1987 with a national rating of less than 1600 points or without a national rating.

Floored by an egg

IF YOU do not believe how much trouble a single hard-boiled egg can cause, you just need to ask the former world chess champion, Bobby Fischer, about it. That is, if you can ever get to meet this chess hero in person.

Fischer, however, is still languishing in a Japanese jail, awaiting deportation to the United States where he faces federal charges of violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia when he chose to play a chess match there with Boris Spassky in 1992.

He was nabbed eight months ago by Japanese immigration officials when he was leaving Japan and his American passport was seized and revoked by the American embassy in Japan.

But Fischer proved to be a tougher nut than the Americans or the Japanese could reckon. 

Firstly, he promptly renounced his American citizenship in an effort to delay the deportation. Secondly, Fischer had the unwavering support of his fiancée Miyoko Watai who had stood steadfastly by him during these eight months. 

And thirdly, his loyal legion of fans worldwide launched a campaign to have him freed. After all, they argued, what could the American government hope to achieve by arresting the apparently harmless but eccentric Fischer?

Fischer certainly had friends in high places around the world and Iceland was one such country that rallied to Fischer’s aid. To the Icelandic people, Fischer was their hero because of his celebrated chess match against Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972. 

But short of offering him Icelandic citizenship, the Icelandic government approved a special foreigner’s passport for Fischer which would have allowed him to leave Japan and travel around freely in most parts of Europe. Iceland even sent two groups of official representatives to escort Fischer out of Japan.

It would have been a satisfying end to this saga but for the fact that the Japanese government still refused to let Fischer go. Instead, he ended up being placed in solitary confinement for four days, all because of a single hard-boiled egg.

Apparently, Fischer had not been given an egg for his breakfast. He grabbed a guard by his shirt to ask him, but the garment ripped.

A group of about 14 or 15 guards then came into Fischer's cell to drag him away. When he resisted their efforts, the guards slapped handcuffs on him with his hands behind his back, holding him that way for two hours.

A middle-aged guard approached Fischer, told him he had to behave himself, then started to free him from his bindings. When the handcuffs were released, another scuffle broke out and a guard was hit in the face, breaking his nose. Fischer was then promptly placed in solitary confinement.

Fischer would have been 62 years’ old two days ago. His supporters had hoped that he would be freed before then, but at this point of writing, it looked very unlikely. 

Rather, it has become clearer that if Fischer is not freed by today, he has instructed his supporters and lawyers to sue the Japanese Ministry of Justice and Immigration Bureau.

According to his lead lawyer, Masako Suzuki, there are no legal grounds to detain Fischer further. However, the Japanese immigration has refused to say anything and their only argument was that Iceland’s invitation to Fischer was irrelevant to his case.

"The attorney for the Ministry of Justice says only that and then she looks down at the table. That's all. They cannot find any justifiable reason to detain him right now, especially with a country that is now willing to accept him. There is no legal ground for the Japanese government to hold him," Suzuki said.

UP NEXT

National age-group 

This year’s national age-group chess championship starts tomorrow at the Wilayah Complex in Kuala Lumpur. 

Organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), this three-day championship will see some of the best junior players in the country competing in 12 separate age-group events for boys and girls, namely, the under-20, under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8. 

According to the MCF, the winners of the various events will be considered for selection to the Asean and Asian-levels age-group chess events, subject to MCF regulations. 

Sri Aman junior chess

The Sek Keb Sri Aman in Penang will hold a junior open tournament at their school on Mar 19. The seven-round event will constitute the first leg of Penang’s junior chess circuit for this year.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM10 for under-16 players and RM8 for under-12 players. Non-members are required to pay RM15 and RM13 respectively. According to the organisers, this event will have five age-group categories: under-16, under-14, under-12, under-10 and under-8.

For inquiries, contact Eoh Hook Kim (tel: 04.8260196) or Eoh Thean Keat (tel: 016.4540070).

Seremban Parade chess

The Malaysian Chess Federation and Seremban Parade will jointly organize this year’s Seremban Parade age-group tournament for under-18 and under-12 categories on Mar 19 and the Seremban Parade open tournament on Mar 20. 

For the age-group event, entry fees are RM15 for under-18 and RM10 for under-12. For the open event, all players are charged RM15 except for under-12 players who need to pay only RM10. Only the first 100 players will be accepted in either event.

For inquiries or registration, contact Amy Yap of Seremban Parade (tel: 06.7648282, fax: 06.7619177) or Greg Lau (tel: 012.9020123).

Selangor junior grand prix

The Chess Association of Selangor (CAS) will organize the second leg of their Royal Selangor junior grand prix tournament on Mar 19-20 at the Sunway College. 

Grand Prix points won from this event will be accumulated with points from the first and third legs (to be played on Apr 2-3) and at the end of this junior grand prix, the top 40 players will qualify for the Final on Apr 23-24.

According to the CAS, the top 10 players from the Final will be eligible to take part in the association’s annual chess camp which, this year, will be conducted by Australian grandmaster Ian Rogers in May. This chess camp is also open to chess players born in or after 1987 with a national rating of less than 1600 points or without a national rating.

Entry fees are RM15 for CAS members and RM25 for non-members. For inquiries or reservations in this event and the chess camp, contact Lim Tse Pin (tel: 012.2984922) or email chessmate@cas.com.kg. 

Union open

The Union High School Chess Club in Penang will organise an eight-round open tournament at their school hall on Mar 27. There are eight cash prizes with a first prize of RM200.

Entry fees for members of the Penang Chess Association are RM15 for adults, RM10 for under-18 players and RM7 for under-12 players. For non-members, the entry fees are RM20, RM15 and RM10 respectively.

For more details or to register, contact Beh Sze Ping (tel: 04.2290595), Lee Kar Kheng (tel: 04.2282761) or Lim Jiin Ying (tel: 04.6569478).

Political move

 

Playing musical chess

READERS in the northern region who receive The Star's North section may have noticed that my interests are not solely confined to chess. Indeed, music has played such a big role in my life that at times it is hard even for me to say whether chess or music holds a greater fascination.

Accordingly, as a chess player and music lover, I have always been on the lookout for music or songs which feature a chess theme. In the last 30 years however, I have not found many and in fact, I have come across only one instance where chess has had such a high musical profile.

This was in 1984 when the song One Night in Bangkok first hit the airwaves. At that time, who could forget Murray Head's famous lines like I get my kicks above the waistline or the queens we use would not excite you.

One Night in Bangkok came from the concept stage musical show called CHESS which was written and produced by ex-ABBA members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus in collaboration with English lyricist Tim Rice of Jesus Christ Superstar fame.

The musical, which ran at London's Barbican Centre and later on Broadway, was based very loosely on the 1972 world championship match in Iceland between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky.

There was a lot of excitement when the music album was released locally. Besides Murray Head, the other notable singer in the cast was Elaine Paige (who was even more successful later on in the musical Cats).

Today, 17 years later, CHESS continues to be staged by various production companies in Europe, Australia and the United States. Apart from the CHESS musical album, I have come across only two other chess-related music on audio compact discs.

Several years ago while wandering through the music shops in an Ampang shopping mall, I chanced upon a New Age audio compact disc by Manuel Gottsching with the very enigmatic title E2-E4.

The whole CD was made up of only one track in which Gottsching used his electronic wizardry to produce one long piece of instrumental music measuring 59 minutes and 20 seconds.

But it was nearly an hour of marvellous music: a racey, sparkling and subtly changing rhythm over which was added a very fluid understated guitar line. The result was hypnotic, refreshing and ideal for relaxation.

However, there was one point which rather irked me. Either Gottsching was just an average chess player or he could not be bothered with the translations of the cover notes from German to English.

For instance, Gottsching roughly divided his hour-long piece into nine segments and had subtitled one of them in German as Damen Eleganza. This was translated as "queen a pawn''" although I felt that "elegant queen'' was closer to the mark.

While CHESS was about a chess story set to music and E2-E4 was music with various chess themes, I have my doubts whether their authors or song writers--Rice, Andersson, Ulvaeus or Gottsching--had ever played competitive chess in their lives.

In terms of real chess and musical talent, none of them can really hold a candle to the next performer who is my third feature.

When I first came across this classical music CD, the first thing that struck me was the signature on the CD cover. It looked familiar; I had seen it before and here it was again, staring me in the face!

If that was not enough, there was also a photograph of a man and a woman at their pianos. The lady was not recognisable but the man, though younger than in any other photographs I had seen of him, was familiar enough. Further, the CD's title confirmed everything.

The man in the photograph was none other than Mark Taimanov, previously one of Russia's top grandmasters and more recently, a senior citizen world chess champion. There are encyclopaedic entries about Taimanov's chess career but very little about his musical side.

In chess, he had suffered greatly after losing spectacularly to Fischer in 1971. The Soviet Chess Federation blamed him and punished him by taking away his chess stipend and preventing him for a very long time from leaving the Soviet Union to play in international chess events.

Luckily, Taimanov could find solace in his music. In the Soviet Union, he was already a very talented concert pianist. He practically grew up together with his future wife, Lyubov Bruk. As teenagers, they had studied music at the Leningrad Conservatory and were brought together to play as a piano duet.

It was a very successful combination. Their duet won wide acclaim and though they could not tour outside the Soviet Union in the early days, the scope for concert activity within their country itself remained extremely broad. Much later, they were permitted to travel together to the Iron Curtain countries such as East Germany, Czechoslavakia and Hungary.

However, their personal and professional relationships ended in the early 1970s, no doubt contributed in part by Taimanov's disastrous showing against Fischer. Taimanov turned to a solo concert career in which he was not altogether successful, while Bruk teamed up with their son Igor, and later their granddaughter Kira, to continue with the duet and trio combinations.

Bruk died in 1996 while until today, Taimanov remains active with his dual concert and chess careers.

The double CD on the Taimanov-Bruk duet is a compilation of their surviving works which were recorded in Leningrad. It is part of the Great Pianists of the 20th Century series under the Philips Classics label which appeared two years ago.

Among some of the music in this set are compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Frederic Chopin and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A truly commendable collection.

UP NEXT

The Johor Baru District Chess Club and the Southern City Hyper Market will jointly organise the Southern City Open at the hypermarket's premises in Taman Suria, Johor Baru on Sept 17.

Entry fees are RM12 for the open section, RM7 for the under-16, and RM5 for the under-12. The winner of the open section will receive RM200, while the other seven prizes range from RM100 to RM15. Winners of the under-16 and under-12 sections will get RM100 and RM80 respectively. Both these sections offer seven other smaller cash prizes each.

Closing date is Sept 15 and only the first 300 entries will be accepted. For more details, contact Narayanan Krishnan ( 07-333 8215 / email: naraa@tm.net.my) or Zarida Ran ( 07-331 9787 / 012-7222 709).

Fischer in the news again

I WAS looking through back copies of The Star before consigning them to the kacang putih man when I came across an article in the racing pages heaping accolades on the horse which won the Lion City Cup in Singapore last Sunday. No, I haven't become a racing correspondent, neither am I a particular fan of horse racing. But this horse caught my eye--Fischer was its name. Surely it had been named after American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer.

Who has not heard of the legendary Fischer, the only man to have spooked the Soviet chess machinery when he beat Boris Spassky in a world chess championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland, back in 1972 and then failed to defend his title three years later or play another competitive chess game for the next 20 years?

Fischer reappeared on the chess scene in 1992 when he played Spassky again in another match that took place in Yugoslavia. But this time, Fischer was no longer a hero in the Americans' eyes. By playing in Yugoslavia which was in the midst of a civil war that was breaking it up into four or five pieces, Fischer brought the fury of the American government down on his head.

The US Government claimed that by playing the match, Fischer was contravening a United Nations resolution on sanctions against Yugoslavia. He was warned of "dire consequences" upon his return to the United States. As a result, after the match ended Fischer chose to remain behind in Europe rather than face the music at home.

So what has he been doing since then? I don't really know, but two weeks ago, Fischer resurfaced when he consented to be interviewed by grandmaster Eugene Torre over a Filipino radio station. During the interview, a really upset Fischer complained about the way that the "Jewish-controlled" US Government had seized his personal belongings and auctioned them off.

He claimed that a safe and cabinets in his home were broken into and memorabilia like books and photographs taken away and sold for a few hundred dollars. Throughout the 10-minute interview, he ranted and raved about a Jewish conspiracy against him.

If you are interested in this interview, you can retrieve it from the Internet. It can be downloaded from (http://www.philchess.com.ph) but you will need a software program like RealPlayer or MediaPlayer to listen to the soundclip.

Fischer the man may be down on his luck with the US Government, but Fischer the horse is currently basking in glory here in Malaysia and Singapore.

Reading about its exploits brought another chess-horse racing connection to mind. Datuk Tan Chin Nam, the honorary life president of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF), has a penchant for naming his horses after chess players and chess terms. I have heard his horses have been named Gufeld and Bishop's Opening, among others; though it turns out that Fischer doesn't belong to him.

There's an even closer connection between racing and chess, thanks again to Tan. A horse of his called Saintly (not all his horses have chess names) won the prestigious Melbourne Cup in Australia two years ago so Tan has allowed this name to be used in conjunction with an international chess tournament in Sydney.

The QVB Saintly Cup tournament, touted as Australia's strongest chess event, will end on Sunday; there are 10 grandmasters and international masters taking part. Malaysia's Mas Hafizulhelmi is one of the players while the others are GM (grandmaster) Ian Rogers, GM Darryl Johansen, IM (international master) Alex Wohl, IM Stephen Solomon, IM Guy West (all Australians), GM Joel Benjamin (United States), GM Zhang Zhong (China), IM Tomas Oral (Czech Republic) and IM Mathias Roeder (Germany). You can follow the tournament at its website at (http://www.eagles.bbs.net.au/).

Mas Hafizul seems to be holding his own against the other top-notch players. Many are becoming admirers of this local lad. Certainly, he is now Malaysia's top chess player. If you are interested in seeing how he plays, you can download some of his games from my web page at (http://come.to/my.library).

The site also has games from several international events where Malaysian players have taken part: events such as the 1996 and 1998 Chess Olympiads in Erevan (Georgia) and Elista (Russia) respectively, the 1998 World Youth Chess Festival in Spain, the recent Cairnhill open tournament in Singapore and the Yangon zonal tournament late last year.

I would like to expand this collection of Malaysians' games as much as possible, so if any reader has anything to contribute by way of a chess database of games, you can send them to me at (ssquah@schach.pc.my).

National allegro circuit

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the national allegro Grand Prix chess circuit which is being re-introduced by the Malaysian Chess Federation after a lapse of several years. This 15-leg event, sponsored by Bank Pertanian Malaysia, will kick off with the first leg at the Bank Pertanian building in Jalan Lebuh Pasar, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.

Following are dates for the other legs which will be played in various parts of the country:

Second leg--Kuala Terengganu, Feb 25

Third leg--Kuching, March 7

Fourth leg--Johor Baru, March 21

Fifth leg--Kota Kinabalu, April 4

Sixth leg--Penang, April 25

Seventh leg--Petaling Jaya, May 9

Eighth leg--Kuantan, June 13

Ninth leg--Alor Star, July 1

10th leg--Kangar, July 4

11th leg--Seremban, July 27

12th leg--Kota Baru, Aug 5

13th leg--Ipoh, Sep 26

14th leg--Malacca, Oct 10

The Grand Prix final will be staged in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 23 and 24.

Each leg consists of six rounds with a total cash prize of RM1,500. The bulk of this prize money will go to the main winners while RM500 is set aside for the minor winners. The winner of each leg will qualify for the Grand Prix final.

Entry fees are RM10 for members of the state chess associations organising their respective legs, Bank Pertanian employees, women, under-12 and veteran players, and RM15 for all other participants.

The closing date for entries for the first leg this Sunday is tomorrow. However, the MCF is prepared to receive last-minute entries provided such players pay an additional RM10 as a late penalty.

Entry forms are available from the Bank Pertanian building foyer, and also from MCF secretary Abdul Latif Mohamad ( 03-282 6341) or Ibrahim Yaacob ( 03-636 3082).

UP NEXT

THE Perak International Chess Association (PICA) is organising its own state-level Grand Prix chess circuit beginning with its first leg next weekend at the Sekolah TAR library in Ipoh.

Category A is a six-round event with a time control of 60 minutes per player for each game; it will be played on Feb 6 and 7. It's open to all players who have a Fide (the international chess governing body), MCF, Perak or Penang rating of 1,700 or better. Entry fees are RM10 for PICA members and RM15 for non-members.

Category B is a one-day event on Feb 7, open to players without a rating or rated below 1,700. Entry fees are RM5 for PICA members and RM8 for non-members.

Registration will start at 2pm on Feb 6 for the Category A event, and 8.30am on Feb 7 for the Category B play-off. For details, call W.K. Wong at 05-366 1692.

Further north in Penang, the fourth preliminary leg of the Penang Grand Prix will be played this Sunday at the Berjaya Georgetown Hotel in Pulau Tikus.

Only members of the Penang Chess Association can take part.

Qualified readers interested in playing in this event should contact Goh Yoon Wah ( 04-644 5687 in the evening) or Ooi Kiem Boo ( 04-657 4596, office hours).

For details of this tournament, visit (http://come.to/the.pca.homepage).

On Monday (Feb 1), the FCLCHESS club will hold its third local rating tournament at the Holiday Villa hotel in Subang Jaya, Selangor, beginning 9am. The event will have four categories: the under-15, under-12, under-9 and beginners.

The entry fee is RM20 if you register before Sunday, and RM25 if you register on the day of the competition, though these entries will only be accepted if there are vacant places. The total prize fund is RM900 but the organisers may reduce the prizes if there are fewer than 30 players in each of the categories.

For more information, contact Foong Chee Leng ( 013-332 3380).

Also in the same area, the SMK Subang Jaya will hold its open tournament in its school hall on Feb 11 and 12.

On the first day, the boys' under-17 and girls' under-17 individual events will be held; this will be followed by the boys' and girls' team events on the next day.

Entry fees are RM10 per player for the individual events and RM45 per team for the team events. The prizes for the boys' individual and team events will be RM150 for the winner, RM100 for second position and RM50 for third. For the girls' individual and team events, the three winners will receive RM120, RM80 and RM40 respectively.

For details, contact Chan Wei Wei ( 03-747 1822), Lee Su Ann ( 03-733 7526) or Edward Teoh ( 03-733 0875) in the evenings.

The making of a grandmaster

So, what did you do during the long holiday break last week? Were you playing chess? Not me, anyway. Rather, I found the long festive break just perfect for some indulgence in other activities.

I'll tell you what I did. Apart from the normal obligatory visits to relatives and friends to redistribute my income, I decided to become a couch potato.

I think during the seven days away from the office, I watched more shows on television than I had ever done in the past two years. Honest!

I caught up with several old movies which I said that I wanted to watch but could not find the time. You may be interested to know that among some of the movies I saw were Black Rain, Gremlins, Dumb and Dumber, Mission Impossible and ... Innocent Moves.

Innocent Moves. I am sure some of you readers will recognise this movie. It is the story of American international master Josh Waitzkin as a seven-year-old child, adapted from the book, Searching For Bobby Fischer, written by his father, Fred Waitzkin.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. For once, here was a movie all about chess and chessplayers, and with a very believable storyline.

It opened with Josh Waitzkin celebrating his seventh birthday in Washington Park where he chanced upon a group of chess hustlers. From there, his interest in the game grew.

After moving through various sub-plots, the movie culminated with Josh playing in and winning the United States' national scholastic championship.

I found the most interesting parts of the movie to be the historical footage showing Bobby Fischer arriving in Reykjavik to play his world chess championship match with Boris Spassky in 1972, how he won the title and the general euphoria and adoration in the United States that followed Fischer after his win.

In another historical scene, there was a young Fischer, 14-years-old at that time, giving a simultaneous chess display to a group of adults in the Manhattan Chess Club.

The most amusing scene in Innocent Moves occurred during Josh Waitzkin's first-ever junior tournament. Before the tournament started, the organiser was lecturing not the children, but their parents!

"You are expected to conduct yourselves as adults. You can stand behind your children, but there must be no throat noises, no comments and no eye contact," the organiser said, glaring at the parents.

Yet despite the warning, some of the parents still managed to get themselves too involved with their children's games. There was a scene showing two fathers arguing and shoving one another.

Can this actually be happening in the United States? Parents fighting and quarrelling over their children's games? Really, I can't see this ever happening in Malaysian chess and I hope it will not happen.

The organiser's solution was simple. Before the next round began, he locked up all the parents in a room away from the tournament hall.

When the story first unfolded in Washington Park, I was surprised to see one man who looked very familiar to me. There was no mistaking his features.

The man was Kamran Shirazi who had escaped from the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Iran in 1979. What was interesting about Shirazi, now a naturalised American, was that he had played in Malaysia before. I knew him in 1976 when the Penang Chess Association organised the first leg of the inaugural Asian grandmaster chess circuit.

Shirazi was not the only chess player who appeared in the movie. American grandmasters Joel Benjamin and Roman Dzhindzhihashvili also made brief appearances as themselves.

I think one aspect of the movie which was not very apparent was that it was not only about Josh Waitzkin. The show was essentially about Bruce Pandolfini too. Pandolfini is an author of many chess books but it is clear from this movie that he also teaches chess in the United States.

In Innocent Moves, Pandolfini was played by Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley (for his role in Gandhi). His character came across as a man wrought by conflicting emotions. On one hand, he seemed disillusioned about teaching chess but on the other hand, he was very concerned about Josh Waitzkin's progress as a chess player.

Was Kingsley's portrayal of Pandolfini correct? Well, I think we have to ask Pandolfini himself one day. After all, Pandolfini was mentioned in the movie credits as the technical advisor.

The highlight of the movie was, of course, the showdown at the national scholastic championship where Josh Waitzkin found himself playing Jonathan Poe in the final round.

In Searching For Bobby Fischer, Poe was actually a talented junior player named Jeff Sarwar. I suppose legal issues prevented Sarwar's name to be used in the movie, thereby forcing the producers to use a fictional character like Jonathan Poe.

Poe was a dark brooding kid who, at the critical point of the game, turned down an offer to share the championship title with Josh. Somehow, the movie managed successfully to capture the tension of a chess game and the build-up came when the opposing pawns raced down the edges of the chessboard.

Poe queened his pawn first, only to see Josh queening his and skewering Poe's king in the middle of the board.

All in, Innocent Moves is a fascinating movie. I had seen it three or four years ago, but seeing it again after all these years simply renewed my interest in the game.

Union chess

The Union High School, Penang, will organise their first Union open tournament on Feb 15. This will be played over seven rounds.

The entry fee for the one-day tournament is RM7 per player, and participants are required to register themselves at the school hall at 7.30am on the day of the event.

Six cash prizes ranging from RM150 to RM20 will be offered. In addition, trophies will be given to the best under-12, under-18, women's and Union High School players.

For more details, contact Lim Chu Ai (tel: 04-226-7067), Lim Swee TIn (tel: 04-262-9824) or Wong Wai Quan (e-mail: waiquan@tm.net.my).

Fischer's chess clock

 

Fischer's resurrection