JINKY YOUNG VISITS LEGENDARY CHESS CHAMPION FISHER’S TOMB IN ICELAND

On a snowy and  windy afternoon last December 1, Jinky Young,  the  late  Bobby Fischer´s  Filipino child, finally linked up  with  her father  in  a  small  cemetery  in  front  of  the Laugardaelir church in Selfoss town, southwest  Iceland.

Braving the distance from far-away Philippines and the minus 8 weather of Iceland, Jinky took leave  from school to visit her father´s tomb with her mother, Marilyn Young. The last time they  saw

Fischer was in September,´2005 in Reykjavik when the chess legend had a  3-week  rendezvous with them. Fischer took mother and daughter around central Reykjavik, and rode  with  them  in buses, his preferred means of transportation. Jinky  had a grand time with her dad after  she  missed  him  during

Fischer´s 8-month stay in a Japanese airport prison. Fischer was taking a flight to the Philippines  in 2004  to  be with  a waiting Jinky and Marilyn  at  the airport, but he was stopped from boarding his plane because of an allegedly cancelled passport.

Marilyn recalls that their parting was hard when they returned to the Philippines. ” But there was not a day that Bobby didn’t call us, sometimes 3 to 4 times, except when  I was in school. He would  always ask for Jinky who would say, ´ I love you, Daddy´, ” said Marilyn.

GM Eugene Torre, who accompanied  Jinky and Marilyn to Fischer´s  tomb, also found time  to reunite with his close friend. It was Torre who acted as Bobby´s  chief second during his return match  with Boris Spassky in 1992 in the former Yugoslavia. This match earned for Fischer the ire of the U.S government who pursued him no end until he was placed behind bars in Japan.

Torre accompanied Fischer in various destinations in Europe after the U.S. indictment to the point of even risking his own safety for the sake of his friend. It  was  also  Torre whom Fischer called  for  a  series of radio interviews while he was in prison to drum up worldwide sympathy for his cause.

Samuel Estimo, Jinky´s lawyer , had  already made arrangements with an Icelandic law firm , thru

former FIDE president Frederic Olaffson, who will handle Jinky´s claim to the estate of her father which consists of around 1.5 million euros and gold deposited at the Landsbanki Islands.

Last December 2, Estimo  and a lady Icelandic lawyer accompanied Jinky to a Reykjavik hospital

where her blood samples were taken for DNA testing. It turned out that it was the same hospital  where Fischer died of renal failure on January 17, 2008.

Estimo and Thordur Bogason of the law firm who will handle the claim, are optimistic about Jinky´s chances of getting her due to the estate of her father.

” The Magistrate of Iceland will uphold Jinky´s  claim which means that she will get two-thirds of Fischer´s estate,” said Bogason.

” That is on the assumption that Ms. Miyoko Watai´s  supposed marriage to Bobby Fischer will  be

affirmed  by the Icelandic  Supreme Court. Otherwise, Jinky will  collect  the whole of  Bobby´s  estate,concluded Estimo.

Fischer´s  nephews had appealed their suit against Watai, and now pends before the Supreme Court

of Iceland.

Jinky and her group are staying at the Reykjavik house of Philippine consul Maria Priscilla Zanoria,

who had graciously  offered her services to her countrymen.

The four will fly to London on December 5 for the shoot of a BBC-HBO documentary  on  the life of Fischer.    

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO