Chess Champion Bobby Fischer
Posted on 01/24/2008 5:53:32 AM PST by NYer
.- Legendary chess player Bobby Fischer, who made history by dethroning the Soviet chess king Boris Spassky in 1972, asked to be buried as a Catholic, according to officials of the Catholic Church in Iceland, where he had been living since 1992.
The famous and eccentric chess player, who died last Thursday at the age of 64, was buried Tuesday in Iceland during a private Catholic ceremony.
The French news agency AFP reported that Fischer, who was born into a Jewish family in New York, expressly asked to be buried according to the Catholic rite. Father Jakob Rolland of the Diocese of Reykiavik, the capital of Iceland, presided at the funeral.
The former champion “had expressed his desire to have a catholic burial and we honored that” with a ceremony that took place in Laugardaela, a small city 50 kilometers south of the capital,” Father Rolland said.
Only five people attended the ceremony, including his Japanese friend Miyoko Watai, who traveled from Japan to attend to the funeral. Father Rolland said she organized the funeral together with a group of Fischer’s friends in Iceland.
“I don’t know if he converted to the Catholic faith, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t,” said Father Rolland, in reference to the reserved manner in which Fischer discussed his private life and his personal decisions.
By becoming a citizen of Iceland, Fischer escaped serving a prison sentence in the United States for money he earned during a tournament in 1992 in the former Yugoslavia—at that time under a UN embargo—where he again faced and defeated Russian champion Spassky.
Perhaps the aesthetics appealed to him.
I had no idea that he had converted to Catholicism. Good for him.
What am eccentric, yes, and he figured out how to avoid the tentacles of the American tax apparatus. Too brilliant for our sheeple
Awe, no flaming warship?
Is this a big time typo? (she)
I hope he converted and repented of his previous hateful statements. From what other freepers have said, he may have been mentally ill. I can see how Catholicism can provide shelter and comfort to someone who needs structure in their lives.
Miyoko Watai is female.
Ah thanks.
The “she” refers to Miyoko Watai, not to the priest himself.
Father Rolland said "She organized the funeral together with a group of Fischer’s friends in Iceland."
Father Rolland was referring to Miyoko Watai.
Thanks...
None of us, none of us knows what can happen between a man and God in his final days and hours.
“Only five people attended the ceremony, including his Japanese friend Miyoko Watai, who traveled from Japan to attend to the funeral. Father Rolland said she organized the funeral together with a group of Fischer’s friends in Iceland.”
Are you saying that Miyoko is a “he?”
From the sounds of the article, neither did the priest.
talk about making the best move at the right time....!!!
Bobby, you had an amazing influence on my life, i hope you are in peace in heaven...playing for hours with the greatest players who had gone before you....
“From what other freepers have said, he may have been mentally ill. I can see how Catholicism can provide shelter and comfort to someone who needs structure in their lives.”
Wow - was that intentional Catholic bashing? - or just a perchance juxtaposition.
What made him turn away from his Jewish roots? Was there a particular incident?
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