Bobby Fischer in the limelight again

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

When Bobby Fischer disappeared from public view more than 30 years ago, he left most of his private belongings in a storage unit in Pasadena, California and apparently forgot or was unable to pay the rent. The landlord sold off all his belongings and now the memorabilia has appeared on e-bay (item No.8736084948) and entitled “Bobby Fischer chess book collection and other items purchased at a CA flea market, BF storage locker.”

The source of this news, the Chessbase website, further reports that the belongings were purchased six years ago and the buyer tried to contact Bobby but was unable to get a response from the former champion. Briefly, here is a description of the items.

a) Original manuscript of his best selling book “My 60 most memorable games.”

b) A ceramic plaque given to Bobby, Bahia Blanca, 1971.

c) About 20 notes for tournament preparation all written by hand and categorized by opening moves containing hundreds of games.

d) Informates No.2-38.

e) About 300 foreign chess books described by Bobby himself as one of the best collections anywhere and some signed by him.

f) About 200 English chess books, many inscribed to Bobby with a personal message. One is signed by his mother on his birthday.

g) Legal papers about Bobby’s attempt to copyright a chess move, which pretty well describes his frame of mind.

h) Non-chess reading materials containing a wide variety of spiritual, political and other materials considered personal in nature.

Bobby is now living in Iceland after being in a Japanese jail for almost a year when the US cancelled his passport. There has been no news about him although there were some reports that he is willing to play again random chess, his own invention.

There has been some questions about the legality of this sale as most contend that these are Bobby’s personal properties. In fact, Bobby contends that these are stolen properties and the payment for the storage bills were sent to his agent in California.

Apparently, this is the second time that the collections were placed on e-bay. The first was withdrawn after a few days. Most of the feedback has been to return these items to Bobby as these are very private in nature.

Anybody who will buy these items should consider that in the event Bobby is pardoned by the US government, Bobby can take legal actions to recover his belongings.

CEPCA BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Mandy Baria, the energetic new president of the Cebu Executives and Professionals Chess Association, has called for a meeting of the newly elected board of the club for 2006 at the Pestaño residence in Mabolo at 6 p.m. today. Mandy will present for approval his plan of action for the coming year as well as the vision and mission of the club.

CHESS PUZZLE. Solution to last week’s puzzle: Rd4! This was an extremely difficult puzzle and only one was able to answer correctly: Paul Ceral. Claim your P100 Globe prepaid card at Handuraw Café in Mabolo.

Solve the puzzle and win a prepaid card from the Corporate and Regulatory Board of Globe Telecom. There will be five winners of P100 prepaid card each. Text your name and key move to 0915-5070286.