From 'Reuters'. One could try to count the errors [1], but here is the
article:

from:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackage...ldNews&storyID
=555005&section=news
or click: http://tinyurl.com/4zbsj

***BEGIN ARTICLE***

Ex-chess champ Fischer fights Japan deportation
Wed 28 July, 2004 04:48

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has asked to
be released from custody at a Tokyo detention centre while he appeals
against a Japanese move to deport him, a Canadian advising Fischer says.

Fischer, 61, wanted by Washington for defying sanctions by playing a
match in Yugoslavia in 1992, was detained at Tokyo's Narita airport on
July 15 when he tried to leave for the Philippines on a passport U.S.
officials have said was invalid.

"He has asked for provisional release, which is discretionary, but which
we would hope for immediately," John Bosnitch, a Tokyo-based
communications consultant and journalist, told Reuters on Wednesday.

A Japanese immigration official said Fischer could be held for up to 60
days while his appeal was heard, after which period detainees must be
released but stay in Japan to attend hearings.

Complex cases could take up to six months, but Fischer's case was
unlikely to drag on that long, the official added.

Fischer, one of the great eccentrics of the chess world, has been wanted
for arrest by the United States since 1992 when he played a match
against old rival Boris Spassky -- and won -- in Yugoslavia despite U.S.
economic sanctions.

Fischer arrived in Japan in April, unaware that his passport had been
revoked last December, Miyoko Watai of the Japan Chess Association, a
friend of Fischer, told Reuters last week.

Bosnitch, who offered to advise Fischer after he heard his "boyhood
hero" had been detained, said the former chess champion maintained that
his passport had never been properly revoked.

"He was visiting friends in Japan, as in the past. He did not have any
information to even suggest that the U.S. might want to revoke his
passport and to this day has not received any such written notice,"
Bosnitch said.

POLITICAL ASYLUM?

Bosnitch said he had urged Fischer to consult a lawyer.

"Until now, Bobby Fischer has not engaged a lawyer because he is saying,
'I don't want to dignify this kidnapping by making it look like it is a
legal proceeding'," Bosnitch said.

In a July 15 statement on his Web site, Fischer said he did not wish to
return to the United States, where he could face prison or a fine, and
was seeking an offer of political asylum from a third country.

An embassy spokesman said a U.S. consular official had met Fischer at
the detention centre and that his passport had been returned to the
embassy by the Japanese government since it had been revoked. He
declined further comment on the case.

A Narita immigration official denied allegations by Fischer on his Web
site that he had been mistreated when he was detained.

Fischer won the world chess title in 1972, beating Spassky of the Soviet
Union in Reykjavik, Iceland, in a victory seen as something of a Cold
War propaganda coup for the United States.

He lost the title in 1975 after his conditions for a match against
Anatoly Karpov, also of the Soviet Union, were rejected by chess
officials. Karpov became champion by default.

Fischer disappeared until the 1992 match against Spassky, whom he again
defeated, taking $3 million in prize money.

He then disappeared again, resurfacing after the September 11, 2001
attacks on the United States to give an interview to Philippines radio
praising the strikes.

Fischer, whose mother was Jewish, has also stirred controversy with
anti-Semitic remarks.

***END ARTICLE***


[1] Here are some:

a) he resigned the FIDE title;
b) he had a bag put over his head after he was grabbed at Narita
airport;
c) the US-'Soviet' 'Cold War' ended long before 1972, which was in the
period of 'Détente';
d) he did not 'disappear' in 1992, to 'resurface' only after 2001

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)

In article , banana banana@REMOVE_T
HIS.borve.demon.co.uk writes

From 'Reuters'. One could try to count the errors [1], but here is the
article:

from:

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackage...ldNews&storyID
=555005&section=news
or click: http://tinyurl.com/4zbsj

***BEGIN ARTICLE***

Ex-chess champ Fischer fights Japan deportation
Wed 28 July, 2004 04:48

By Linda Sieg

TOKYO (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer has asked to
be released from custody at a Tokyo detention centre while he appeals
against a Japanese move to deport him, a Canadian advising Fischer says.

snip

[1] Here are some:

a) he resigned the FIDE title;
b) he had a bag put over his head after he was grabbed at Narita
airport;

More than this, he was beaten up, sustaining bruises to his face and
cuts to his arm.

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)

..
a) he resigned the FIDE title;


It would be possible to allow the resignation of a title, and have it default
back to the previous titleholder [here, Spassky], until the next cycle is
completed. But for all intents and purposes, FIDE seems to prefer the
simplicity of just ignoring said resignation, and saying that Fischer held the
title until the date they set, whereupon the winner of the next cycle is
declared the new championm -- no fuss, no muss.



b) he had a bag put over his head after he was grabbed at Narita
airport;


The account I read described a struggle in which Fischer attempted to *bite*
one of his adversaries, and I see no reason to assess the bag-over-the-head as
anything other than an attempt to stop Bobby from biting, spitting, and cursing
them.
One alternative is a good thwomp over the head with a baton. Another is a
good right cross to the jaw, rendering the victim unconscious. But I think the
bag idea is less brutal, and while it does allow the victim to continue to
struggle, it nevertheless prevents biting and has a pacifying effect, in that
the victim is forced to reinhale his own carbon-dioxide.
I know the Fischer cronies will of course, insist that the Japanese
authorities had "no authority" to man-handle their idol, no matter how he
behaved. "Transfer the blame!", is their motto.




d) he did not 'disappear' in 1992, to 'resurface' only after 2001


The Phillipino radio "interviews" Bobby gave in 2001 are widely known, but
much less widely reported are his other activities after 1992.
Overall, this report contained fewer significant gaffes than previous
articles by either news service [Rueters or API].

In article ,
NoMoreChess writes

.
a) he resigned the FIDE title;


It would be possible to allow the resignation of a title, and have it default
back to the previous titleholder [here, Spassky], until the next cycle is
completed. But for all intents and purposes, FIDE seems to prefer the
simplicity of just ignoring said resignation, and saying that Fischer held the
title until the date they set, whereupon the winner of the next cycle is
declared the new championm -- no fuss, no muss.

Which is amazing really, because it means they not only believed they
allowed someone to be champion tout court - they also believed they had
the right to continue to designate someone to be FIDE champion even once
that person had resigned the FIDE title.

b) he had a bag put over his head after he was grabbed at Narita
airport;

The account I read described a struggle in which Fischer attempted to *bite*
one of his adversaries, and I see no reason to assess the bag-over-the-head as
anything other than an attempt to stop Bobby from biting, spitting, and cursing
them.

Weren't you talking about 'denial'?

d) he did not 'disappear' in 1992, to 'resurface' only after 2001

The Phillipino radio "interviews" Bobby gave in 2001 are widely known, but
much less widely reported are his other activities after 1992.

Er yes but it depends on what you mean by 'less widely'. Anyone with web
access, half a brain cell, and a reasonable knowledge of the English
language, would quickly find Fischer's website and the details of the
various radio interviews beginning in 1999, material about Fischerrandom
chess, etc.

It is just bull**** to say he 'disappeared', and it goes together with
the picture that has been painted of him as a 'wanted fugitive' who has
'finally' been cornered or 'checkmated'. As in , the 'search for Bobby
Fischer' is finally over - surely you have seen this sort of 'news'
report, which also contains a reference to a parasitic cultural
production. In actual fact it is well-known to anyone interested that he
has been giving radio interviews, working with Seiko on his chess clock,
hanging out with the Polgar family, etc. etc. etc. Now it is also known
that he has visited the US embassy in Berne, and so on. This is not
'disappearance'. US officials could have revoked his passport any time,
but didn't. They could also have applied for extradition, but haven't.

Overall, this report contained fewer significant gaffes than previous
articles by either news service [Rueters or API].

Maybe so. I haven't totted them up in the various pieces of ****ty
journalism.

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)

In article ,
NoMoreChess writes

d) he did not 'disappear' in 1992, to 'resurface' only after 2001

The Phillipino radio "interviews" Bobby gave in 2001 are widely known, but
much less widely reported are his other activities after 1992.

The 1996 press conference in Buenos Aires at which he launched Fischer
Random Chess was attended by hundreds of people.

--
banana "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you
give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to
Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the
rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)

..
d) he did not 'disappear' in 1992, to 'resurface' only after 2001


The Phillipino radio "interviews" Bobby gave in 2001 are widely known, but
much less widely reported are his other activities after 1992.


The 1996 press conference in Buenos Aires at which he launched Fischer
Random Chess was attended by hundreds of people.


The world if filled with *billions* of people, and this seems to make
"hundreds" look kind of puny by comparison.
I bet if you ask a hundred different people where that press conference took
place, you will get a lot of blank stares, though most may have heard about his
new clock, somewhere.

The trouble is, others had already developed similar ideas, though they did
not have the marketing advantage of the Fischer name. The old "Master Quartz"
chess clock had a slight delay, where if you managed to press the button fast
enough, your minute hand would not move. Others followed with digital clocks,
some of which were programmable or at least had several modes, including
delays.


My beef with the earlier press articles is that they were clearly written by
non-chess people, who got even the simplest of facts wrong. For example, even
a checkers player knows the difference between a game, and a match -- yet these
so-called reporters could not fathom the difference, and their handiwork is
broadcast all over the world.
I don't expect the Associated Press or Reuters to hire Yasser Seirawan or Jan
Timman to write every chess-related news item, but they might at least involve
someone who knows how the pieces move.