Boris Spassky appeals to Bush to pardon Bobby Fischer

[allemand]

He sent Bush this open letter:

Mr. President,

In 1972 Bobby Fischer became national hero. He smashed me in the match in Reykjavik. The Soviet chess hegemony collapsed. One man won against a whole army. Soon after that Fischer stopped playing. He repeated the sad story of Paul Morphy. At the age of 21, legendary Paul had beaten all leading European masters and became unofficial champion. He stopped playing and finished his tragic life at the age of 47 in New Orleans in 1884.

In 1992, twenty years after Reykjavik, there was a miracle. Bobby resuscitated and we played a match in Yugoslavia. But at that time there were sanctions against Yugoslavia forbidding American citizens any sort of activity on the territory of Yugoslavia. Bobby violated the instructions of the State Department. He became the subject of a warrant for arrest issued on December 15, 1992 by the US District Court. As for me, as a French citizen since 1978, I did not get any sanctions from the French government.

Since July 13, 2004, Bobby has been detained at Narita airport on immigration violations. Further events have been described by media.

It is clear that the law is the law. But Fischer’s case is not usual. I am an old friend of Bobby since 1960 when we played in Mar-del-Plata and shared 1-2 places. Bobby is a tragic personality. I realized this at that time. He is an honest and good natured man. Absolutely not social. He is not adaptable to everybody’s standards of life. He has a very high sense of justice and is unwilling to compromise as well as with his own conscience as with surrounding people. He is a person who is doing almost everything against himself.

I would not like to defend or justify Bobby Fischer. He is what he is. I am asking only for one thing. For mercy, charity.

If for some reason it is impossible, I would like to ask you the following: Please correct the mistake of President François Mitterand in 1992. Bobby and myself committed the same crime. Put sanctions against me also. Arrest me. And put me in the same cell with Bobby Fischer. And give us a chess set.

Boris Spassky
10-th Chess World Champion
08.07.2004

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1843

[bluestateguy]

1. Why would we want a piece of crap like that back in this country?

He is virulently anti-semetic and he applauded the 9/11 attacks. He chose to live outside of this country for almost 30 years and then broke the law, not because of a humanitarian mission, but to play a chess game.

People are entitled to their views, but pardons must be earned, and this fucker has forfeited his rights to citizenship, and ought not to be welcomed back to the US ever again. We have thousands of non-violent drug offenders in jail or just out of jail who are many times more worthy of a pardon than this national disgrace, who was a "hero" because he can play a board game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

Mind you, this isn't just a question of opposing Ariel Sharon and the Likud Party, nor is it just an "I told you so" rhetoric in the aftermath of 9/11.

Here, Fischer gave a broadcast interview to Bombo Radyo, a Baguio City-based small public-radio station. "This is all wonderful news," Fischer said. "I applaud the act. The U.S. and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians, just slaughtering them for years. Robbing them and slaughtering them. Nobody gave a shit. Now it's coming back to the U.S. Fuck the U.S. I want to see the U.S. wiped out."

and

In recent years he has given interviews with Pablo Mercado and Grandmaster Eugenio Torre on the Philippine radio station Radio Bombo, in which he has confirmed his fanatical anti-Semitism - among other things, he has spoken of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, and has denied the Holocaust happened.

he is also a sexist

In it, Fischer is reported as making disparaging comments about women chess players ("They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men.") and Jewish players ("there are too many Jews in chess. They seem to have taken away the class of the game. They don't seem to dress so nicely, you know.").

[allemand]

2. Fischer is mentally ill

How many sane Jewish anti-Semites do you know?

As Spassky correctly states in his letter: "He is a person who is doing almost everything against himself."

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. I think if we put them together in a cell with a chess set

it might be the best possible thing for Fischer's mental state.

[unblock]

4. risperdal/thorazine would be the best possible thing for his mental state

fisher has it in him to the next unabomber. it would not surprise me in the least.

[allemand]

6. ChessBase already offers a live relay of the games

"directly from Guantanamo"...

However, I do hope you agree that a prison cell is not the right place for a mentally ill person.

There are already too many mentally ill people in U.S. prisons:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1003/

[JSJ]

5. fischer's persecutors have you all in check- free bobby, now

After all, Bobby's foes are the same people you have been railing against lo these many years. I'm with Spassky.

[UTUSN]

7. Bwahah, Shrub? Pardon? He Don't Even Pass on Executions

Otoh, paranoid, racist fascists just might make the cut.