AP: Chess master Bobby Fischer buried
Reclusive chess genius Bobby Fischer has been buried in a private ceremony at
a churchyard in southern Iceland, a television station has reported. Fischer,
who died of kidney failure on Thursday at the age of 64, was interred at Laugardalur
church outside the town of Selfoss, parish priest the Rev Kristinn Agust Fridfinnsson
said. The funeral was attended by only a handful of people, including Fischer's
companion, Miyoko Watai, and his Icelandic friend and spokesman Gardar Sverrisson.
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Fischer's grave in the Laugardalur churchyard outside Selfoss. Photo: Euruchess
Reuters: Chess champion Bobby Fischer buried in Iceland
Chess legend Bobby Fischer, who died in Iceland last week aged 64, was buried
on Monday in a private ceremony near the city that hosted his famous victory
over the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky 35 years ago. Fischer's spokesman, Gardar
Sverrisson, said the American-born world chess champion was buried on Monday
morning at a quiet ceremony attended by a few friends and his companion, Japanese
chess player Miyoko Watai. The Catholic burial was held on a cold, bright day
at a small country church near the southern Icelandic town of Selfoss, about
60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Reykjavik. One of the attendees, who declined
to be identified, said Fischer had requested that only a handful of people be
at his funeral. He died after an unspecified illness on Thursday in Reykjavik.
Media reports have said he died of kidney failure. Full
story...
Garry Kasparov statement on the death of Bobby Fischer
With the death of Bobby Fischer chess has lost one of its greatest figures.
Fischer’s status as world champion and celebrity came from a charismatic
and combative personality matched with unstoppable play. I recall thrilling
over the games of his 1972 Reykjavik world championship match against Boris
Spassky when I was nine years old. The American had his share of supporters
in the USSR even then, and not only for his chess prowess. His outspokenness
and individuality also earned him the quiet respect of many of my compatriots.
Fischer’s beautiful chess and his immortal games will stand forever as
a central pillar in the history of our game. And the story of the Brooklynite
iconoclast’s rise from prodigy to world champion has few peers for drama.
Apart from a brief and peculiar reappearance in 1992, Bobby Fischer’s
chess career ended in 1972. After conquering the chess Olympus he was unable
to find a new target for his power and passion.
Fischer’s relentless energy exhausted everything it touched – the
resources of the game itself, his opponents on and off the board, and, sadly,
his own mind and body. While we can never entirely separate the deeds from the
man, I would prefer to speak of his global achievements instead of his inner
tragedies. It is with justice that he spent his final days in Iceland, the site
of his greatest triumph. There he has always been loved and seen in the best
possible way: as a chessplayer.
Garry Kasparov
Moscow – January 18, 2008