Yesterday, January 17, was the day Robert James Fischer (1943-2008), the reclusive 11th World Chess Champion, died in Iceland at the age of 64. Here is some trivia on his last years in Iceland.
Bobby Fischer was in a Japanese detention center for nine months before he was released and came to Iceland, where he lived for the past three years.
In 1972, Saemundur (Saemi, a.k.a “Saemi Rock”) Palsson, an ex-policeman, was Bobby Fischer’s bodyguard while in Iceland. He was the first person that Fischer called (collect from Tokyo in the middle of the night) when Fischer was in jail in Japan. Fischer told Palsson that he had been kidnapped at the airport and was put in a detention center and wanted to know if he could help him. He was looking for a country to go to.
Einar S. Einarsson is a former President of the Icelandic Chess Federation and was the chairman of a committee (the RJF committee) that helped free Bobby Fischer from his Japanese jail. RJF were the initials to Robert james Fischer and it also meant Rights-Justice-Freedom.
The RJF Committee was organized by Gudmundar G. Thorarinsson, who was the organizer of the 1972 world championship match between Fischer and Spassky in Reykjavik. At the time, he was President of the Icelandic Chess Federation.
The RJF Committee consisted of Gudmundur Thorarinsson, Gardar Sverrisson, GM Helgi Olafsson, Magnus Skulason, Saemundur Palsson, and Einar Einarsson.
The Japanese released Fischer on March 23, 2005. Fischer went to the Tokyo airport to fly to Keflavik Airport in Iceland. At the airport, he said, “This was nothing but a kidnapping, pure and simple! Bush and Koizumi (Japanese president) are criminals. They deserve to be hung.”
Fischer arrived in Iceland (via Tokyo, Copenhagen, and a small airport in Sweden) at 11:30 PM on March 24, 2005. He avoided the big Keflavik International Airport because it was a NATO and US military base, and there was a theoretical chance that Fischer would be arrested by the U.S. authorities. Fischer was flown to Reykjavik on a private jet, leased by one of Iceland’s most influential businessmen, Jon Asgeir Johannesson.
Fischer arrived with his Japanese wife, Miyoko Watai. Fischer and Miyoko reportedly married in August 2004, while Fischer was in detention.
Fischer was granted full Icelandic citizenship in March, 2005. It was passed in law unanimously – a measure that had never been applied before, nor since.
Gardar Sverrisson was Bobby Fischer’s best friend in Icleand. They did have a falling out when Gardar put Bobby’s shoes in the display window of a shoe store in Reykjavik, and there was a picture of it in the papers. Fischer blamed Gardar for the picture and for using him.
When Fischer first arrived in Iceland, he stayed in the Presidential Suite at the Hotel Loftleider in the same room that he stayed in 1972. Initially, he got his suite for free, but then was asked to play. He them left and rented an apartment on Klapparstigur Street in the center of Reykjavik.
Fischer later moved into an apartment in the same building as Gadar Sverrisson. When he arrived in Iceland, his only possessions were his clothes and a few books.
In May, 2005, Boris Spassky visited Iceland with the intent of getting Fischer to return to chess, even if it was Fischer Random chess.
On January 26, 2006, Spassky visited Fischer in Iceland and they all helped to celebrate Fridrik Olaffson’s 71st birthday.
Fischer was afraid to leave Iceland because Interpol was asked by the FBI to keep track of him if he ever came to a country where they could extradite him, put him in jail for 10 years and fine him $4 million.
Fischer’s favorite radio program was the BBC. He trusted it as a reliable source.
Fischer regularly ate at the 3 Frakker (Three Coats) restaurant around 3 pm, when it closed for their afternoon break. Fischer wanted to avoid other customer and the old chef, whom he knew in 1972, did not mind cooking a meal for him. He also ate at Anaestu Grosum (The First Vegerarian), his favorite vegetarian restaurant and two blocks away from his partment. He always carried books with him to read or listen to his iPod while dining.
Fischer drank Oxford Gold, an organic beer, or tea. He said that Icelandic bottled water made him sick.
Fischer had thousand of songs on his iPod and knew all the words to all the songs. His favorite singer was “Mr. Excitement,” Jackie Wilson (1934-1984).
While in Iceland, Fischer liked to go salmon fishing and stay in country cottages when he could.
Fischer considered buying a house at 101 Reykjavik, but didn’t like the windows because someone could peek in.
Fischer had limited stamina in his later life and could only walk short distances without stopping to rest. He loved going to swimming pools, thermal pools, and Jacuzzis.
Fischer always dressed down, almost always wearing a cap, denim jeans, and he had his beard.
Fischer laundered and ironed his own clothes daily.
Fischer refused to buy anything made or from Israel.
He never learned to drive and took the bus or had friends drive him around. He hated taxis and never took a taxi. He thought it was idiotic to pay for taxis.
Fischer wanted a bulletproof door to his apartment, but it was too expensive.
Fischer asked for criminal records of his neighbors but was declined.
In September 2005, Fischer was looking for a big house to rent because his Filipino friend Marylin Young and her daughter Jinky were coming to visit in early 2006. They stayed for only one month.
Viswanathan Anand once visited Iceland and met with Fischer. Fischer was interested in playing Anand in a match, but with Fischer random chess and not classical chess. Fischer to Anand to a park and Fischer pulled out an old pocket chess set. They both analyzed a couple of games between Karpov and Korchnoi in 1974. Fischer was trying to prove that all of these moves and games were prearranged.
On April 7, 2005, Fischer received a letter from the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) that they were closing his account of $3 million and no longer wanted Fischer as a customer. The money was transferred to the Landsbanki in Reykjavik in August 2005. Fischer claimed a sizable amount was lost in the transaction. Fischer wanted to make his own decisions about his money and sent it back again. Fischer had an account with UBS for over 13 years since 1992 with around $ 3 million deposited. The bank also liquidated all of Fischer’s gold coins without his prior approval and at a time when the rat for gold was very unfavorable.
Fischer was interested in supernatural phenomena and discussed such subjects to local experts in Iceland. Fischer was fascinated by UFOs and aliens.
Fischer often visited Bokin (The Book), a second-hand bookstore owned by Bragi Kristjonsson. Fischer liked biographies, history books, books on American and international politics, comic books, philosophy and literature. Fischer visited the bookstore almost every and sometimes took a nap for several hours there. Fischer purchased several Russian chess books from the store. Fischer spoke and read Russian fluently. Fischer’s last request for a book was They’ll do It Every Time by Jimmy Hatlo (1897-1963). That was a comic strip created by Hatlo in 1929.
Fischer seriously asked the owner of the bookstore to hire him to organize the books in the store since many were just thrown in five-foot piles.
Fischer bought books almost every day, keeping most, discarding a few, and giving others to friends. When not visiting the book store, Fischer would frequent the Reykjavik Public Library.
Many local residents came by to the bookstore and left books for Fischer to sign. Fischer gladly signed them all.
Fischer never became fluent in Icelandic as everyone could speak English in Iceland.
Fischer occasionally played chess with some of the children in Iceland.
Fischer was paranoid about letters sent to him from the United States, thinking they were poisoned by the CIA. He had others in Iceland open his mail.
There is no evidence that he ever played chess on the Internet. He used the web to search for books and information on supernatural phenomenon. He also used the web to send email to his wife Miyoko in Japan.
When Fischer came to Iceland, a laptop was donated to him, but he didn’t use it very much. He was more interested in mobile phones and sending messages from his mobile phone.
The subject of religion always made Fischer angry and he avoided it. At the end of his life, he started reading The Rajneesh Bible, and then began exploring Catholicism. His best friend in Iceland, Gardar Sverrisson, was Catholic in a country in which 95% are Lutheran.
Fischer rarely smiled because of his broken and missing teeth.
Fischer was fascinated by Robert Oppenheimer and the making of the atomic bomb.
On December 10, 2006, Fischer phoned in to an Icelandic television station and pointed out a winning combination which was missed in a chess game that was televised in Iceland.
Miyoko Watai, Fischer’s wife from Japan, visited Fischer at least 14 times and usually stayed for two weeks. Not very many people in Iceland knew that they were married.
By the fall of 2007, Fischer was calling Iceland a “God-forsaken country” and referred to Icelanders as “Special but only in the negative sense.” He once said, “I don’t owe these [people] anything!”
Fischer always had a chess board and set, with pieces in their traditional positions, sitting on the coffee table in his apartment, always ready for a game or analysis. Sometimes he would play over a Kasparov-Karpov game for the 100th time, trying to prove that all the moves were pre-arranged.
In October, 2007, Fischer was admitted to Landspitali Hospital in Reykjavik for physical problems. He had troubles urinating and his lungs were bothering him. He had a blocked urinary tract and problems with his kidneys. Bobby refused to take any medicine. He needed dialysis treatment, which he refused. He remained in the hospital until November and returned to his apartment on Espergerdi Street in December. He lived on the 9th floor of the apartment and his friend Gundar lived on the 7th floor.
Fischer did not believe in prolonging life with machines. He could have had dialysis or undergone kidney surgery to save his life, but declined. He avoided painkillers and died in enormous pain. He believed that the body could heal itself.
Fischer’s doctor was Dr. Erikur Jonsson, who supervised his limited amount of treatemanet and created a list of potential visitors who were allowed to see him, and another of people barred from seeing him.
While in the hospital, the man most comforting to Bobby was Dr. Magnus Skulasson, who was a psychiatrist and the head doctor of Sogn Mental Asylum for the Criminally Insane. He brought Fischer food and carrot juice to the hospital and was a good friend.
Pal Benko believes that Fischer was committing a slow suicide by refusing to be treated and rejecting any pain medicine to ease his agony.
One of his last wishes was to see a picture of his mother, Regina. Russell Targ emailed a picture of Regina to Gardar Sverrisson, who printed it out and gave it to Fischer. Fischer kept the picture of his mother in a drawer, instead of on his bedside table.
Without Bobby’s knowledge, the nurses applied morphine patches to his body to ease the pain. Fischer still refused proper treatment and was released from the hospital in December 2007.
The last movie that Fischer watched, in December 2007, was American Gangster. He had gone to the movies with Sverrisson’s 20-year-old son.
Gardar Sverrisson’s wife, Kristin Porarinsdottir, a nurse, looked after Fischer as a terminally ill patient.
Around January 10, 2008, Fischer had grown substantially more ill and was taken to the hospital by Sverrisson by car. Miyoko was called in Tokyo and she returned to Iceland.
On January 17, 2008, Bobby Fischer died from degenerative renal (kidney) failure at the Reykjavik hospital. He was 64. His last words were “Nothing is as healing as the human touch.”
Fischer was buried at the Laugardaelir Lutheran Church in Salfoss, 60 kilometers southeast of Reykjavik where he was secretly buried.
On January 21, 2008, at 8 p.m., a hearse carrying Fischer’s body left Reykjavik and headed for Salfoss. A Catholic priest, Father Jakob Rolland, oversaw the burial.
The regular parish preist, Reverend Kristinn Agust Fridfinnsson, did not arrive until after the burial was over. He first knew of Fischer’s burial through the local media. The cemetery is owned by Gardar Sverrisson and the priet’s permission was not needed for the burial.
Only five people attended his funeral service. The only people at his funeral was the priest, Sverrisson’s family and his wife, Miyoko Watai.
After Fischer died, his ex-brother-in-law, Russell Targ, flew from California to Iceland and visited Fischer’s grave.
The United States Chess Federation sent the Icelandic Chess Federation a letter, asking for Fischer’s remains to be sent back to the USA for proper burial. The letter was ignored.
The U.S. State Department stated that Fischer died a U.S. citizen because he was never issued a Certificate of Loss of nationality.
On April 17, 2009, a documentary called Me & Bobby Fischer (originally titled My Friend Bobby), was released. It was about Fischer’s last years and how Saemi Palsson got Fischer out of jail and helped him settle in Iceland. Fischer was upset about this documentary, claiming that the material used in the film was obtained by fraud. The film was produced by Icelandic filmmaker Fridik Gudmundsson. The film cost $500,000 to make, but the film was a box office dud, bringing in only $40,000.
On July 5, 2010, Bobby Fischer’s grave was opened to get a DNA sample. It was used to determine if Bobby was the father of 10-year-old Jinky Young. It turned out that Bobby was not the biological father.
In April 2011, auction house Philip Weiss Auctions sold one of the chess sets used in the 1972 world championship match between Fischer and Spassky for $76,275. The chess set was presented to Gudmundur Thorarinsson in 1972, who auctioned it off because he had lost a lot of money in 2008 in Iceland’s economic collapse. The other chess set is in the Icelandic National Museum.
Fischer never wrote a will. His money and estate went to Miyoko Watai.
Major Sources: Frank Brady, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (New in Chess), Helgi Olafsson, Russell Targ, ChessBase articles
Here is Fischer’s last chess game.