PHILIPPINES: CHESS CHAMPION BOBBY FISCHER TAKES PART IN RADIO PHONE IN INTEVIEW FROM JAPANESE DETENTION CENTRE

Record ID: 584714

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: CHESS CHAMPION BOBBY FISCHER TAKES PART IN RADIO PHONE IN INTEVIEW FROM JAPANESE DETENTION CENTRE
  • Date: 20th August 2004
  • Summary: (EU) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AUGUST 20, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE VIEW OF RADIO BOOTH 0.06 2. WIDE VIEW OF FILIPINO CHESS GRANDMASTER EUGENE TORRE WITH OTHER CHESS PLAYERS 0.12 3. SCU ANNOUNCER TIYA DELY SAYING: "Can I call you Bobby?" 0.14 4. GV (SOUNDBITE) (English) DZRH LOGO WITH AUDIO ONLY OF WORLD CHESS GRANDMASTER BOBBY FISCHER SAYING: "I just got a letter this afternoon, a few hours ago actually, and they (U.S. embassy in Japan) say they're willing to come out here now and I can renounce my U.S. citizenship. So, I think that's good news, because hopefully the dirty Jews who run the filthy United States, this will be their pound of flesh." 0.20 5. WIDE VIEW OF RADIO BOOTH WITH ANNOUNCER 0.25 6. GV (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANNOUNCERS LISTENING WITH AUDIO OF WORLD CHESS GRANDMASTER BOBBY FISCHER SAYING: "There was an article in the paper, the U.S. government made an announcement, they said, this was announced: 'All American citizens in Hungary in Budapest, you cannot go to a certain hotel in Budapest to eat or to spend any money in that hotel, because this hotel is owned by the Libyan government. If you go there, we're gonna find out about it and we're gonna prosecute you in the United States. We're gonna put you in prison.' Could you imagine telling Americans in Budapest they cannot eat in a certain restaurant in Budapest? This is the kind of control those fucking Jew dogs in the fucking U.S...This is the kind of control they want over people all over the world. They're criminals!" 1.33 7. CUTAWAY TO FILIPINO CHESS PLAYERS IN RADIO BOOTH WITH LADY ANNOUNCER 1.33 8. WIDE VIEW OF RADIO BOOTH WITH ANNOUNCERS AND FILIPINO CHESS PLAYERS 1.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
  • Country: Philippines
  • Reuters ID: LVA9J8AF3KH9ISGLACOQ3WVPJM4F
  • Story Text: Chess genius Fischer says U.S. embassy in Japan will
    visit him so he can renounce his American citizenship and
    seek asylum in a third country.




    Fischer, 61, has been wanted in the United States
    since 1992, when he violated U.S. economic sanctions by
    playing a match in Yugoslavia in which he beat old rival
    Boris Spassky and won 3 million USD.

    On Friday (August 20) he took part in a phone patch
    interview from his detention centre in Japan which lasted
    for an hour. It was Fischer who called up the talk show
    radio station, where local chess players were invited as
    guests.

    His personal life was never discussed in the radio show
    but he lashed out at the U.S. government.

    "There was an article in the paper, the U.S. government
    made an announcement, they said, this was announced: 'All
    American citizens in Hungary in Budapest, you cannot go to
    a certain hotel in Budapest to eat or to spend any money in
    that hotel, because this hotel is owned by the Libyan
    government. If you go there, we're gonna find out about it
    and we're gonna prosecute you in the United States. We're
    gonna put you in prison.' Could you imagine telling
    Americans in Budapest they cannot eat in a certain restaurant in
    Budapest? This is the kind of control those
    fucking Jew dogs in the fucking U.S...This is the kind of
    control they want over people all over the world. They're
    criminals!" he said.

    The grandmaster was detained at Tokyo's Narita airport
    last month when he tried to leave for Manila on a passport
    U.S. officials say was invalid.

    He is appealing against deportation to the United
    States and his lawyers say he plans to renounce his U.S.

    citizenship and file for refugee status in Japan.

    Speaking on the phone with Filipino chess champion
    Eugene Torre, Asia's first grandmaster, Fischer said he got
    a letter on Friday from the U.S. embassy.

    "I just got a letter this afternoon, few hours ago
    actually and they (U.S. embassy in Japan) say they're
    willing to come out here now and I can renounce my U.S.

    citizenship. So I think that's good news because hopefully
    the dirty Jews who run the filthy United States, this will
    be their pound of flesh", a seething Fischer said in his
    first live interview over Manila's DZRH radio station.

    Fischer, who has stirred controversy with anti-semitic
    remarks, has chosen Philippine radio stations for his rare
    interviews in recent years.

    He continued his tirade against the Jews, which he
    claimed controls the United States.

    Fischer said he got into trouble because "I had beaten
    the Jews in chess."
    Over the radio, he repeatedly cursed and lambasted the
    United States, which he described as "filthy U.S.A." He
    said his "treasure trove" of memorabilias, gold coins,
    silver coins and even cash were stolen.

    Fischer was repeatedly admonished to talk "pleasant
    things".

    "Here's something pleasant. I want to talk about the
    destruction of the U.S.A.," he said.

    After the September 11 attacks, Fischer said in an
    interview with another station in the northern Philippines
    that the United States had got what it deserved for its
    foreign policy.

    The former world chess champion did not spare Japan and
    the Philippines, criticising Tokyo for getting involved in
    Iraq and the Philippines for its high crime rate.

    He praised Manila's decision to withdraw its troops
    from Iraq, but said he believed detained president Joseph
    Estrada was illegally pushed out of office.

    Before his arrest, Fischer said he was working on a
    book project and was developing a clock for a new board
    game he called "Fischer random," a chess variation.

    Philippine chess officials say Fischer's connection
    with the country goes back three decades to when he was
    world champion.

    Manila was in the running to stage Fischer's defence of
    the title he won in 1972 against Spassky of the Soviet
    Union in a Cold War propaganda coup for the United States.

    But Fischer refused to play Soviet challenger Anatoly
    Karpov and was stripped of the crown.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register