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FISCHER-IRS, 1/2 - 1/2

January 18, 2008

Bobby Fischer has died at age 64, enabling him to salvage a draw in his battle with the IRS.

His tax troubles got serious when he won $3 million in Belgrade in a rematch with his old foe Boris Spassky, vowing never to pay tax on it. As a U.S. citizen, he was subject to U.S. tax on his worldwide income. He also faced federal charges for violating the economic sanctions regime then in place against Yugoslavia.

He spent over half a year in jail in Japan after being arrested on a revoked passport, but he avoided U.S. prison when Iceland granted him citizenship and, in effect, asylum. Now he's beyond the reaches of earthly tax authorities, though the executor of his U.S. estate, if there is one, will have his hands full.

Like a lot of nerdy kids, I was caught up in the chess mania that Fischer caused in the early 1970s. It's hard to imagine there was once live television coverage of chess matches, but I remember watching. Maybe if there's ever an ESPN 23 we'll see that again. Now Fischer, and chess, have declined so much in public interest that his death is back-page news. My own interest in chess is rekindled because I help out at my fourth grader's school chess club; next time I'll ask the kids if they even know who he was. I doubt if more than two or three kids have any idea.

ChessBase has detailed coverage of Fischer's tax and legal troubles. Grandmaster Susan Polgar somehow maintained a friendship with this difficult and often ugly man; she reminisces here.

Garry Kasparov was Fischer's true successor in chess, but unlike Fischer is also magnificent away from the chessboard. He remembers Fischer here.

Tags: tax crime.