Honolulu Star-Bulletin Honolulu, Hawaii Saturday, August 01, 1992 - Page 5
Fischer In Yugoslavia For Chess
AP. Belgrade, Yugoslavia—U.S. chess master Bobby Fischer has been in seclusion for 20 years and now that he's ready to play Boris Spassky, he says the United Nations isn't going to stop him.
Fischer, 49, said yesterday that he wasn't concerned about the political implications of the chess match in Yugoslavia, which is under U.N. sanctions for its role in the Bosnia-Herzegovina fighting.
It was announced this week that Fischer would play a rematch of his 1972 championship game with Russian Boris Spassky. The match is scheduled to begin Sept. 2.
It was organized by Jesdimir Vasiljevic, a Serbian bank owner who offered $3.35 million to the winner and $1.65 million to the loser. Fischer was interviewed by Vasiljevic on Yugoslav television.
When asked if playing the match in a country under sanctions was a political event, Fischer said: “I don't know much about that. I came here to play chess and that's what interests me.”
Vasiljevic asked Fischer if audiences could count on the match taking place as planned.
“Sure, if Spassky comes here,” Fischer replied.
The U.S. government has had no comment on the competition.
Vasiljevic was quoted as saying he orchestrated the event as an “open war” on U.N. sanctions against Yugoslavia.
On May 29, U.N. sanctions prohibiting most trade and sports contact with Yugoslavia were imposed to punish the government for its role in the war in Bosnia, formerly part of Yugoslavia.
Now we know “Jesdimir Vasiljevic,” was willing to throw ([Complex-PTSD, Autism Spectrum]) Bobby Fischer under the bus, to do the time, alone, for Vasiljevic's personal capitalist dispute with the overreaching tentacles of the Imperial U.S. Behemoth.
