Chess Legend Bobby Fischer to be Exhumed

(AFP) - Iceland's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the remains of chess legend Bobby Fischer can be exhumed for a paternity test to settle a dispute over his estate, public broadcaster RUV reported.

The Supreme Court overturned a ruling by the District Court of Reykjavik last month and decided to allow the disinterment of Fischer's body to test if he was indeed the father of nine-year-old Jinky Young, from the Philippines, as her mother claims.

Fischer, who died on January 17, 2008, is buried at the cemetery of Laugardaelir Church in southern Iceland.

His estate is estimated to be worth about US$2 million and is reportedly contested by three parties in addition to Young: a wife, two American nephews and the U.S. government, to which he owed unpaid taxes.

According to RUV, new evidence had emerged that Fischer had transferred money to Young's mother in 2006 and 2007, boosting her case that he was in fact her father.

The court therefore allowed DNA to be taken from Fischer's remains and compared to genetic matter from the girl and her mother.

U.S.-born Fischer, who made world headlines when he defeated Soviet world champion Boris Spassky in their Cold War showdown in Reykjavik in 1972, took Icelandic citizenship in 2005 to avoid being deported to the United States.

He was wanted for breaking international sanctions by playing a chess match in Yugoslavia in 1992.