October 20, 2004

Bobby Fischer's decent into madness

Chess Genius Bobby Fischer has been having some issues with reality over the past twenty years or so. Here is the latest manifestation from the Japanese Mainichi News: bq. Bobby Fischer vigorously defends his manhood Chess genius Bobby Fischer has lashed out against what he sees as doubts about his virility, boasted of being hugely endowed and claimed his incarceration near the site of Japan's worst nuclear accident is aimed at making him impotent. bq. Fischer, speaking from the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Tochigi Prefecture, was slamming an article in the Aug. 30 edition of Time magazine in which its Tokyo Bureau Chief Jim Fredrick said the chess champion's anti-Semitism and status as a fugitive from the U.S. justice system "might not sound like Mr. Right" to the average lonely heart. bq. "I wear size 14 wide shoe. Just keep that in mind when you say I'm not a dreamboat, or not Mr. Right," Fischer said in an Oct. 11 interview he gave a Philippine radio station and posted on the Internet over the weekend. And where is he being held? bq. Fischer believes that Ushiku's proximity to Tokai, scene of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident following a critical reaction at a plant in 1999, makes him susceptible to the effects of leaked radiation. Ushiku is about 50 kilometers from Tokai, where the government has deemed radiation levels are fit for human habitation. Fischer said repeated requests for a transfer and provisional release, the Japanese equivalent of bail, have been rejected. bq. Fischer is in the Ushiku detention center while he fights a deportation order issued Aug. 24. The Tokyo District Court granted an injunction against the execution of the order on Sept. 8. His American lawyer is due to speak about the case at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo on Monday afternoon. The Tokai accident was caused by a worker not following the procedure which led to criticality, about 24 people being exposed to large doses of radiation (not that large actually but over the limit for annual exposure which are pretty conservative) and no fatalities. There was radiation released into the environment but not much and it was quickly cleaned up. Fischer is getting worked up over nothing... Posted by DaveH at October 20, 2004 11:18 AM