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master, who has been held at Tokyo’s Narita airport since July 13 for using a passport which US officials said had been revoked.