Checkmate

Chess grand master Bobby Fischer was placed in solitary confinement at a Japanese immigration detention center for four days after a fracas with guards at breakfast, his fiancee and ex-bodyguard said Monday.

 

The former world chess champion is fighting deportation from Japan to the United States, where he is wanted for violating sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there in 1992. He has been in custody in Japan since he was arrested last July for traveling on an invalid U.S. passport.

 

Fischer’s fiancee, Miyoko Watai, a four-time Japan women’s chess champion who last year announced plans to marry Fischer, said he told her during a meeting Monday morning that he had been in solitary confinement from last Wednesday to Sunday morning at the detention center in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo.

 

“There was a bit of trouble with some of the staff,” Watai told a news conference.

 

Watai said Fischer became involved in a dispute with guards when he asked for an additional boiled egg at breakfast. The dispute escalated to a scuffle, leading Fischer to be placed in solitary confinement.

 

“Both psychologically and mentally, he is reaching his limits,” she said.

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An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.

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