Bobby Fischer’s Detention in Japan

Last week, I came across a piece on Bobby Fischer and it set me on a path to revisit what I remembered about him, and fill in any gaps.  Of course, a large part of his life was out of the public gaze and I wasn’t expecting to gain any insights on that.  It turned out that my memory was especially fuzzy about his detention in Japan over 2004-05.  It’s an important and thought provoking episode in which the actions of the US and Japanese governments don’t stand up well to scrutiny.  Unfortunately, most of the mainstream media coverage was lacklustre.  Thankfully, I could latch on to stuff that shone some light on what happened.  

But both of these pale in comparison to the incredibly detailed and sustained coverage on ChessBase.

In addition, I was able to locate a collection of footage bundled together as part of a documentary, Me and Bobby Fischer.  It is told from the point of view of Saemundur Palsson, who was Fischer’s bodyguard during the 1972 title championship, and with whom Fischer struck up a friendship.  While Fischer was apparently unhappy over how the documentary was put together, it needs to be seen for its astonishing footage of the team that worked on Fischer’s release.

PS: Unrelated to the above, I chanced upon this beautiful clip of Garry Kasparov’s visit to Fischer’s grave on what would have been Fischer’s 71st birthday.