![](/Portals/all/thumbs/028/28277.jpeg)
ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024
It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.
Originally Bobby Fischer was arrested almost eight months ago for presenting an invalid passport at Tokyo's Narita Airport when trying to leave the country for the Philippines. Since then he has been held in the detention facilities of the airport and at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.
After a while officials said that Fischer was wanted in his homeland for playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992, in violation of an executive order forbidding Americans from undertaking any commercial activities in the Balkan state, which at the time was under international sanctions.
Now it looks like the Japanese government is holding Fisher at the request of the US government until early April, when a grand jury will convene in the United States to consider laying tax evasion and money laundering charges on Fischer. If that is the case then the former world champion, although detained on other grounds, may be extradited on these charges and will almost certainly face heavy fines and a five to ten-year jail sentence in the US. Fischer hasn't filed tax returns since 1976. According to CNN Fischer’s case will take place on April 5 at the Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia.
Mainichi Daily News reported last week that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is about to begin legal action against Fischer. The IRS probe against Fischer is being kept under such close wraps, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo were not aware of it. "I haven't heard of that," U.S. Embassy Press Attaché Michael Boyle said Friday, adding that even had he known about the investigation he would not have been able to comment on it.
Asia Pacific News reported in similar vein: Bobby Fischer may be extradited to the United States to face tax evasion charges in his homeland. The maverick genius faces 10 years in prison in the United States for playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992 in violation of sanctions imposed over the Balkan wars. Washington, however, cannot have Fischer extradited on this charge as it is not recognized as a crime in Japan. But the US government is now moving to prosecute him for tax evasion, the Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting an unnamed official from the US Bankruptcy Court clerk's office at Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia. If he was indicted, the chess legend could be extradited from Japan to the United States in line with the extradition treaty between the two countries, the Japanese daily said. The US Internal Revenue Service plans to prosecute him over five tax evasion charges, the daily said, adding that the IRS was likely to secure a grand jury indictment on Fischer, which would allow it to bring charges against him. The grand jury is set to open on April 5.
AZ Central writes: A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is investigating possible money-laundering charges involving former chess champion Bobby Fischer, who is already wanted for violating U.S. economic sanctions, one of his lawyers said. Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena last week to a second lawyer, Joseph Choate Jr., who once represented Fischer, ordering him to appear March 17 before the grand jury to discuss a "possible violation" of money-laundering statutes. Fischer was reported to have received $3.5 million from the event. He boasted at the time that he didn't intend to pay any income tax on the money. Vattuone, who has been working to secure Fischer's release from a Japanese detention center, said he believes U.S. prosecutors are now exploring money laundering and tax charges in an attempt to eventually extradite Fischer from Iceland or Japan.
The New York Times also mentions the new charge: A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating accusations of money laundering involving the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, who is wanted for violating American economic sanctions, one of Mr. Fischer's lawyers said. "This is a pure tactical and propaganda ploy," the lawyer, Richard J. Vattuone, said on Tuesday.
Getting
Fischer on tax evasion charges would be reminiscent of the end of one of history's
most notorious gangster bosses. In 1931 Al Capone (picture), after perpetrating
a number of extremely violent crimes but successfully evading the Prohibition
Buro and the US Treasury department (and most notably special agent Eliot Ness)
was brought down on tax evasion charges.
Initially, Capone pleaded guilty to the charges, hoping to plea bargain. But the judge refused his lawyer's offers and Capone was found guilty on five of twenty three counts and sentenced to ten years in a federal prison. He was fined $50,000, charged $7692 for court costs, and $215,000 in back taxes for tax evasion.
Capone was released in 1939, after serving seven years and paying all of his back taxes. He died of a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947.
The latest article comes from a March 15 2005 report filed by Ryann Connell for Mainichi Daily News. In it we learn, as we had done from
Mainichi Daily News is reporting that Bobby Fischer will not be released from Japan to any other country but the United States. This is what Immigration Bureau Chief Masaharu Miura told the House of Councilors Committee on Diplomacy and Defense in Tokyo on Tuesday. "He will be deported only to the country of his citizenship," Miura said. In the first time Fischer's case has been discussed in the Diet since his arrest at Narita Airport in July last year, Miura argued that Article 53 of the Immigration Law says those ordered to be deported from Japan must be sent to their homeland unless exceptional conditions apply. "We have made the decision that this case is not an exceptional one," Miura said.
Democratic Party of Japan Upper House member Kazuya Shimba pointed out that the main purpose of a deportation order is to get the person who it is issued against out of the country. He then asked the Justice Ministry to explain why Fischer was being kept at taxpayer's expense in a cell at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, when he had expressed a willingness to leave Japan at his own expense and Iceland had said it was willing to accept him. Miura answered only that the Immigration Law required Fischer to be deported to his homeland, the United States.
Shimba said he felt some may see the Justice Ministry's handling of Fischer's case as not abiding by the laws it is supposed to protect. He added that it would not be a surprise if the ministry was accused of trying to hold Fischer until early April, when a grand jury will convene in the United States to consider laying tax evasion charges on America's only World Chess Champion. Shimba said Japan's treatment of Fischer could jeopardize the drive to secure a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Michael J. Boyle, Press Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, said that the U.S. government has spoken to its Japanese counterpart to ensure Fischer is returned to the United States. Fischer is wanted in his homeland for playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992, allegedly in violation of an Executive Order forbidding Americans from undergoing commercial activities in the Balkan state then wracked by civil war and under sanctions.
Kazuya Shimba of the Democratic Party of Japan making a case for Fischer
If you are able to understand Japanese you may want to watch the following CSPAN-like clip in which Kazuya Shimba appears to be addressing the Fisher problem in a governmental committee meeting. He comes on after about the first third of the video stream. Anyone who can understand the proceedings is welcome to send us a short summary (click on the news feedback link in the left navigation of this page).
![]() 08.03.2005 We had just reported about Fischer's new passport, which an Icelandic delegation had carried to Japan. A minor mystery was why it had not been handed over to him last Wednesday, as planned. Now we learn that Japanese authorities had put the former world champion into solitary confinement. For five days. Over a hard-boiled egg. We are not joking. |
|
![]() 2/23/2005 Immigration authorities in Iceland have decided to issue full travel documents for former world champion Bobby Fischer, who is being held in Japanese detention for not possessing a valid passport. Fischer's new passport will be sent to Japan by diplomatic mail, and a delegation is traveling there to escort him to Iceland. |
![]() 02.02.2005 Is Japan buckling under pressure by the US? Bobby Fischer, 61, former World Champion of Chess who has been jailed in Japan for six months now, is applying for Icelandic citizenship. But Tokyo seems to be balking at a constructive solution entailing his release to Iceland. Fischer's lawyer Masako Suzuki has given us an exclusive interview. |
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
![]() 18.12.2004 While Bobby Fischer remains incarcerated in a Japanese prison a special committee in Iceland is moving to get him free and find him a home on the North-Atlantic island country. Iceland's foreign minister and a prominent political scientist have spoken out. Here's a report on Fischer's Iceland Connection... | ||
![]() 12/16/2004 The news today on Bobby Fischer, who is currently being held in a Japanese detention facilities pending extradition to the US, is that the Icelandic government has offered to grant him a residence permit. In a telephone interview Fischer speaks about his plight in Japan and reacts to statements by Garry Kasparov on Fischer Random Chess. Full details... |
||
![]() 30.11.2004 Twelve years ago Boris Spassky played a match against Bobby Fischer in Yugoslavia. That got Fischer into a lot of trouble, while for Spassky, a French citizen, there were no repercussions. Now the tenth world champion returned to Belgrade to open the Belgrade Chess Trophy. Quick interview... |
||
![]() 18.10.2004 Bobby Fischer, still in detention in Japan, has spoken out again in an interview, this time threatening the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and US President Bush: "You are going to pay for this, and you are going to pay for your crimes in Iraq too." His new lawyer, Richard J. Vattuone, plans to release documents to prove US government involvement in a plot against Fischer. |
||
![]() 01.09.2004 She collected pictures of her chess hero after his match with Boris Spassky in 1972. One year later they met in Tokyo – the start of a romance spanning decades. Since four years the two have lived together in downtown Kamata in Tokyo's Ota Ward. In an exclusive interview for ChessBase Miyoko Watai tells us the story of her life with Bobby Fischer. |
||
![]() 26.08.2004 In emotional phone calls from his detention cell in Tokyo ex world champion Bobby Fischer gave a Philippine radio station two lengthy interviews. Fischer is facing deportation and incarceration in the US, and voices his nightmare fears: "I will be tried, convicted, sentenced, imprisoned, tortured and murdered." We have summary transcripts and audio files. |
||
![]() 25.08.2004 First the Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa issued a deportation order against former world champion Bobby Fischer's, then Fischer's lawyers filed a lightning appeal on the grounds that physical deportation would be a flagrant violation of Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection under Japanese law. Here's the full story by Fischer's legal coordinator. |
||
![]() 17.08.2004 Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion, plans to marry the president of the Japan Chess Association (and four-time Japanese women's champion) Miyoko Watai. This was reported in newspapers and wire services last night. Now Watai-san has sent us a statement explaining the background of her personal relationship with Fischer. |
||
![]() 15.08.2004 Bobby Fischer has been moved to a new detention facility in Tokyo, pending a decision on his deportation to the US, where he faces a 10-year jail sentence. A lot of new material has surfaced, including Fischer's handwritten renouncement of his US citizenship and a blow-by-blow description and picture of his arrest at Narita Airport. Harrowing stuff... |
||
![]() 10.08.2004 Boris Spassky, who played the contentious return match against Bobby Fischer in Yugoslavia 1992, for which the latter is currently facing deportation and incarceration in the US, has appealed to President Bush to show mercy and charity for his tormented successor. If for some reason that should be impossible, Spassky suggests a very imaginative alternative... |
||
![]() 28.07.2004 Bobby Fischer's appeal against his deportation was rejected today by Japanese authorities. Meanwhile the Icelandic Chess Federation has appealed to US president Bush to pardon Fischer and set up a petition web site to collect signatures. In Tokyo a "Free Fischer Press Conference" is scheduled for Thursday. More... |
||
![]() 25.07.2004 Bobby Fischer is still in detention at Narita Airport in Tokyo, traumatised but stubborn, "behaving like a Samurai". At the same time news outlets all over the world are covering the story, with Fischer's brother-in-law Russell Targ assailing the Bush administration for playing election year politics with the former chess champion's freedom. There's a lot to be read... |
||
![]() 20.07.2004 The news of Fischer's arrest in Japan came as a shock to Garry Kasparov, who was in a holiday camp working intensely on the games of his greatest American predecessor. In today's issue of The Wall Street Journal Kasparov assesses Fischer's chess career – for a public that was being exposed to his current situation. We now bring you Kasparov's full article. |
||
![]() 19.07.2004 Chess legend Bobby Fischer, the hero of millions, languishes in the detention facilities of Narita Airport in Tokyo, waiting for a decision by Japanese Immigration authorities on his deportation to the US. We have collected all the documents and reconstructed a timeline to his arrest. Fischer, who has no legal counsel, is appealing for international assistance. |
||
![]() 16.07.2004 It's the latest twist in the sad tale of American former world champion Bobby Fischer. He has been detained in Japan and faces possible deportation to the US to face charges for playing in Yugoslavia in 1992. Fischer's website says he was "very nearly killed" in Japan. The story has been picked up by news services all over the world. |