ICELAND:Bobby Fischer, the eccentric genius who became the US's only world chess champion by humbling the Soviet Union's best but who spent his last years as a fugitive from US authorities, has died aged 64.
A spokesman for Mr Fischer said he died after an unspecified illness at midday on Thursday in Reykjavik, the site of his 1972 victory over Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War.
Once feted as a national hero and seen by some as the greatest chess talent ever, the Chicago-born former child prodigy seemed unable to resist perplexing his public with angry gestures, decade- long sulks and outrageous opinions.
He gave his world title away to Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov in 1975 by refusing to defend it. Later he defied US sanctions to beat Spassky again in former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars.