Fischer to ditch US citizenship

FORMER world chess champion Bobby Fischer, detained in Japan for allegedly travelling with a revoked US passport, wants to renounce his American citizenship, his lawyer said yesterday.

Mr Fischer called the US Embassy in Tokyo from detention at Narita airport outside the capital to tell US officials his demands.

His lawyer Masako Suzuki said she would submit a letter to the embassy on Mr Fischer’s behalf.

“I no longer wish to be an American citizen. Enough is enough,” he said in a handwritten statement issued through his lawyer.

Mr Fischer’s distaste for the United States is well-known. In a radio interview, he once praised the September 11 terrorist attacks, saying America should be “wiped out”.

Fischer’s renouncement of his US citizenship could possibly leave him without a country to call his own, Ms Suzuki said. Fischer is wanted by US authorities for playing a 1992 match for $3 million in the former Yugoslavia in violation of international sanctions and is fighting possible deportation to the US.