Bobby Fischer’s love life

By Frank “Boy” Pestaño
Chessmoso

AT the tender age of 5, Bobby fischer, considered the greatest and most gifted chess player of all time, received as his birthday gift a $5 chess set from his sister Joan. The game completely enamored him that he never had a normal life ever and he never “grew up.

“He never developed the social skills necessary to deal with society in general and lived a life of his own.

It is said that Bobby wouldn’t go out with women who knew who he was but was too shy to ask the ones who didn’t.

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During grade school in Brooklyn, he had an equally famous classmate, Barbra Streisand, who some people believed was a sort of puppy love as they were constantly exchanging gifts especially “Mad” comics. Later in life, he referred to her as his “mousy looking classmate” when interviewed over Philippine radio.

As far as what is known, Bobby had a relationship with four women—Justine Ong, Miyoko Watai, Petra Dautov and Zita Raiczany.

Zita was a 17-year-old Hungarian junior master when she had a relationship with Bobby. It is said that she was primarily responsible for Bobby`s decision to play chess again in 1992 after an absence of 20 years. The 2nd Fischer-Spassky match took place in Montenegro, a part of Yugoslavia, despite United Nations sanctions against that country over its civil war in Bosnia. Bobby was guaranteed $5million plus TV revenues, which has since then made his life tolerable. However, he is wanted in the States for tax evasion and other charges.

Incidentally, his second adviser on this match was Eugene Torre and research was done by a Cebuano friend, Eric Gloria.

Prior to Zita, Petra Dautov, a German, claims that she had a relationship with Bobby in the eighties and has a written a memoir of her life with him. I haven’t read this memoir but Bobby has denied some parts of it.

In May 2000 Bobby, then 57 years old, arrived in the Philippines and enlisted a few close friends, as he had one purpose in mind – he wanted to have a child. He had a long-felt wish to “perpetuate his genes.’

According to reports posted on the Internet, a Filipino friend of Bobby set him up in a cottage in Baguio City, and presented him with a “series of willing gene-carriers, from whom Bobby chose” a 22 year old woman. A contract was signed, “and the woman received the genes, and nine months later she gave birth to a girl, who now grows up in Davao City.”

Whether this is true or not, as the woman has never come out in public as the mother of Fischer’s child, only time will tell. By now, the child should be six years old. There is even a picture of the woman on the Internet and she is very pretty and described as a model.

It is said that when Bobby was arrested in Tokyo (his passport was cancelled by the US government), he was on his way to the Philippines to visit his child whom he gives regular financial report.

When Bobby was arrested in Japan, one of his strategies was to claim that he was married to a Japanese, Miyoko Watai, to escape extradition to the USA over unspecified charges. Miyoko Watai admitted “that he might be using her as "a pawn" in an effort to counter the Japanese authorities' opening move.”

"I could be a sacrifice pawn," conceded Ms. Watai, 59, the acting president of the Japan Chess Association. "But in chess there is such a thing as pawn promotion, where a pawn can become a queen," said Ms. Watai, four times women's chess champion in Japan. Breaking into a smile, she vowed: "Bobby-san is my king, and I will become his queen. We want to win the game by joining hands."

Bobby is now living in Iceland after he was given full citizenship.