From an Icelandic chess friend:
Bobby Fischer´s funeral took place this morning in peace and quiet out in the Icelandic countryside. The funeral was not public but a tiny private gathering, with no media or others around, as he wished for himself. He is buried in a small country-graveyard, according to his own wishes, close to the town of Selfoss, an hour´s drive from Reykjavik, called "Laugardælakirkjugarður".
That may drive the Selfoss tourist industry. Did anyone ever check to see if the Morphy mausoleum suffered during Katrina and the flood? I don't have access to the books and other references I wanted to put together a Fischer item here. Will do so in a few days.
Apparently, it was a Catholic burial.
- TCG
The Morphy grave is fine. It resides in the St. Louis no. 2 cemetary at the edge of the French Quarter in New Orleans. That's the one with the reputed grave of Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen, and also where they filmed the trip scene in Easy Rider. So, it's quite the tourist attraction. You and GK might have checked up on Paul's bones yourself on your recent trip to NO, but I guess y'all were too busy hanging out with the frat boys on Bourbon Street (about six or seven blocks away).
;)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Laugard%C3%A6lakirkja.JPG
The above link is a pretty photo of the church where Fischer is now buried.
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My wife and I visited Morphy's grave some years back and yes, the voodoo's queen site with all the various "relics" that were left there was a strange site to behold from our perspective. Then again, there were some various chess pieces left at Morphy's place of rest.
Can anyone translate this?
Stuðningshópur skákmeistarans Bobbys Fischer vill að hann verði jarðsettur í þjóðargrafreit Íslendinga á þingvöllum.
Þeir vilja einnig láta reisa minnisvarða um heimsmeistaraeinvígið sem hann háði við Boris Spassky.
Þeir Einar S. Einarsson og Guðmundur G. Þórarinsson, sem báðir eru fyrrverandi forsetar Skáksambandsins tilheyrðu stuðningshópi Fischers. Einnig Helgi Ólafsson og Magnús Skúlason.
Þeir hittust í dag á heimili Guðmundar í dag til þess að ræða um hinn fallna félaga sinn og hvað nú skuli gera.
Þeir segja að honum hafi liðið vel á Íslandi, en verið að íhuga að flytjast úr höfuðborginni til Stykkishólms.
Bobby átti erfiða sjúkrahúsvist áður en hann lést og þeir félagar voru hjá honum löngum stundum.
Magnús var hjá honum þegar yfir lauk. Hann sagði að síðustu orð vinarins hafi verið "Ekkert linar þjáningar eins og mannleg snerting."
Þeir félagar segja að unnusta Fischers muni taka endanlega ákvörðun um hvar hann verður lagður til hinstu hvíldar.
Þeir ætla þó að leggja fyrir hana tillögur sínar um að hann verði jarðsettur á Íslandi.
from http://www.visir.is/article/20080119/FRETTIR01/80119051
http://www.visir.is/article/20080122/FRETTIR01/80122071
I don't speak Icelandic, but from seeing the English News Reports the first article talks about Fischer's funeral-presumably the discussion to bury him at Thingvellir over the weekend was a distraction tool ahead of his top secret burial on Monday morning- and his last words.
Bill Brock's article is very interesting, as the contents are not discussed in the English media as yet. From what I can tell Fischer left $2M USD to Miyoko Watai, plus his apartment in Reykjavik. The way I read it, it looks like the cash was in Landsbanki- NOT UBS- so maybe Fischer realised he was flogging a dead horse with UBS before passing away.
This is interesting as in one of his radio interviews after he moved to Iceland, Fischer said his plan to marry Miyoko was nothing but a sham to try and get him out of prison. But since they have known each other since the early 1970s I guess maybe not so interesting after all.
Infuriatingly the article also talks about a daughter, and his family in the US, but I don't understand the specifics. One media report said his two nephews attended his funeral, which I found a little surprising as he fell out with one of them over his mother's will and my understanding was there was zero contact and bad blood.
Hence a translation would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.visir.is/article/20080123/FRETTIR01/80123104
This article seems more up to date than Bill's- it would be very interesting for someone with a knowledge of Icelandic to translate.
It is translated here.
http://gothicchess.blogspot.com/2008/01/bobby-fischers-widow-will-inherit-140.html
Interesting points:
a)Claim Fischer was married to Watai. On the May 15th 2005 Fischer gave to a Moscow radio station, he was at extreme pains to point out he and Watai were never married-"No, we are just good friends";
b)I've never seen any serious evidence of Fischer's daughter, and I think the story stems solely from that very dubious magazine article by Rene Chun, and in the endless repetition of that story fiction and fact have got mixed up;
c)It seems there is potential for a big bunfight over his estate if- as Fischer claimed- there was no marriage to Watai. Given Fischer claimed at least one of his newphews swindled him in his sisters will, it is fair to assume he would not have wanted his cash going in their direction.
It seems that Bobby had requested to be buried with the Roman Catholic burial rite. This was done.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Louis_Cemetery, Morphy's grave is in Cemetary #1, not #2. It does not mention any damage to mausoleums due to Katrina in #1. Sadly, it does indicate that it is not safe for individuals to visit this cemetary due to crime.
bobby rip: Fischer does indeed have a daughter in the philipines and she visited him in Iceland. I wonder why chessbase.com did not report this.
I am still really affected by the poignancy of it all; mainly that Bobby didnt seek proper treatment. I'm sure somebody somewhere would have donated a kidney. I'm just so fascinated by exceptionally intelligent minds in any intellectual discipline, being relatively stupid myself, and cant help but be affected when such gifted people self destruct in some way. Every news tidbit that comes out about Fischer just feeds this further. The dichotomy of his mind, genius and medicocrity in two spheres, fascinates and saddens me immensely at the same time. RIP Bobby, you certainly made your mark in this world.
Sad to say, but because of his paranoia, he probably would have rejected the offer.