Bobby Fischer's Stalemate

Former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer’s arrest in Japan has certainly grabbed some headlines. He is in trouble with the US government for playing a rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992 against sanctions
 
Fischer had always been a bit of an eccentric. The Soviets had subtly harassed Fischer for years. Fischer’s response was to disagree with everything: time controls, playing conditions, match setup, no matter how fair they actually were, just to try to annoy the Soviets. It also stemmed from paranoia that if the Soviets agreed to it, it must be bad. One big reason the 1972 match happened at all was because his opponent, Boris Spassky is a very nice guy who just wanted to play chess.
 
As rational people, we can all be surprised and upset by Fischer’s decision to not play in 1975. Fischer laid out a list of 10 demands, most of which FIDE accepted. The big disagreement came with the match victory conditions. Previously, the World Championship match would be made up of 24 games, with the first player to 12.5 points, but Fischer was a proponent that the the first player to score ten wins winning the match, draws not counting. FIDE (the world chess body) refused and Fischer resigned. It is ironic that less than 10 years later, FIDE switched to a similar format. Although Fischer’s childish attitude wasn’t unfounded, he wasn’t able to rise above it and become a leader for the game. Thus the world was robbed of perhaps one of its greatest champions. It’s like as if Ali never fought after his jail time or if Jordan kept trying to play baseball.
 
The 1992 match was merely for money, but he had visions of grandeur that it was for the world championships. His post 9/11 anti-American and anti-Semitic rants are inexcusable and embarrassing as chess player and former fan. It is a little ironic how the American, Bobby Fischer is so vile, and the former “Soviet”, Gary Kasparov is intelligent and likeable. However, I’m not sure what extraditing him and trying him will actually achieve. I will watch US policies towards Fischer and Charles Jenkins, the soldier who defected to North Korean war during the war who has surfaced in Tokyo for surgery. Similar policies should be applied.