Fischer makes gambit for asylum

FUGITIVE US chess master Bobby Fischer has applied for political asylum in Japan in a new bid to avoid being deported to the United States, where he could face a jail term.

Masako Suzuki, the lawyer representing Fischer, said she was filing documents seeking refugee status for the chess genius while he appeals against the deportation process.

“Procedures in the application are near completion,” Suzukisaid after she met the outspoken chess master, who has been held at Tokyo’s Narita airport since July 13 for using a passport which US officials said had been revoked.

“It is unusual to seek a refugee status against the United States ... no one knows if the application can be accepted by the Japanese government,” Ms Suzuki said.

Washington has sought to arrest Fischer, 61, since 1992 when he defeated Boris Spassky in the former Yugoslavia in defiance of an international embargo on the country at the time. He scooped up over $3 million (€2.5m) in prize money.

Fischer, who became an American hero for wresting the world chess crown from Soviet domination during the Cold War, faces up to 10 years in prison.

There are also reports that that Fischer had decided to go to Serbia-Montenegro.

“I can tell you that Bobby Fischer likes Serbia-Montenegro and that he would be pleased to go there”, said John Bosnitch, head of the Committee to Free Bobby Fischer.

Bosnitch said Fischer had German nationality because his father was German, and he might apply for a German passport to avoid deportation to the US.