link
July 16, 2004
Search for Former Chess Champion Ends at Tokyo Airport
By TODD ZAUN
OKYO, July 16 After more than two decades of living in near obscurity, the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has been apprehended by Japanese immigration authorities for allegedly trying to leave the country without a valid passport.
A United States Embassy official in Tokyo confirmed that Mr. Fischer was detained at Narita airport today. Japanese news reports said Mr. Fischer could be deported to the United States, where he faces charges for violating an American economic sanctions order against the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition match there in 1992.
An employee of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau at Narita refused to comment on the detention.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman said that a United States consular officer had visited Mr. Fischer. The spokesman, Richard Boucher, said any questions about extradition or charges "would have to be answered by the Department of Justice and the appropriate courts."
Mr. Fischer, 61, has been in exile from the United States since he was indicted on the sanctions violation later in 1992 by a federal grand jury.
The eccentric chess champion collected a $3.3 million purse for defeating Boris Spassky in the Yugoslavia contest, a rematch of the famous 1972 match in which Mr. Fischer dethroned Mr. Spassky, the premier Soviet player, to become the world chess champion.
(more)