Fischer finished with 'corrupt' chess world

Bobby Fischer met the press today, his hair and beard neatly trimmed but his opinions still bristling, and declared he was finished with a chess world he regards as corrupt.

The flawed chess genius Fischer said he was happy to be in Iceland, which granted him citizenship to pave the way for his release from detention in Japan, where he was held on a US extradition warrant.

In a rambling news conference at his Reykjavik hotel, the combative Fischer sparred with US journalists who asked about his anti-American tirades.

“The US is evil. They talk about the axis of evil. What about the allies of evil … the US, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers,” Fischer said.

He thanked his “wonderful friends” in Iceland but said the country’s enthusiasm for chess “was misplaced, because people don’t know how utterly corrupt it is, and has been for many years”.

Declaring that he was “finished” with chess, Fischer added: “I don’t play the old chess. But obviously if I did, I would be the best.”

Fischer, who let his hair and beard grow to impressive lengths during his detention, had been neatly barbered before the news conference, though he was still wearing a baseball cap as he had done on the flight to Reykjavik yesterday.