Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer blames "world Jewry" for his 20-year self-imposed absence from public competition and called the world's top players "creeps and criminals."
Fischer also said Friday he had not decided if he would return to the United States, where he faces possible civil and criminal charges for playing his Russian arch-rival, Boris Spassky, in violation of U.N. economic sanctions imposed on the rump Yugoslav federation of Serbia and Montenegro."I will rest a few days, clear my head and decide on my next move," he told a news conference a day after triumphing over Spassky in what was billed as a rematch of the 1971 world championship that he won.
Fischer, who took a first-place prize of $3.35 million, launched his anti-Semitic diatribe as he expounded on what he claimed to be unfair international competition rules instituted by the World Chess Federation.
"The world Jewry kept me out of chess while creeps and criminals like (Anatoly) Karpov, (Victor) Korchnoy and (Gari) Kasparov had a privilege to play under the system," Fischer said.
Fischer was referring to his 20-year absence from international competition that began after he won the 1972 world chess championship against Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland, and ended with the rematch in rump Yugoslavia.
The 49-year-old resident of Pasadena, Calif., has been known for making anti-Semitic statements in the past.
He was stripped of the world title in 1975 by the World Chess Federation for refusing to play Karpov. Karpov lost the title to Korchnoy, who was in turn defeated by Kasparov, the reigning champion.
Fischer played the rematch with Spassky despite a U.S. Treasury Department order that he withdraw because he would be violating the U.N. sanctions imposed on May 30 against Serbia and Montenegro for underwriting the ongoing Serbian "ethnic cleansing" conquests in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He publicly spat on the "cease-and-desist" order during a news conference on the eve of the Sept. 3 opening game of the rematch on the Montenegrin resort island of Sveti Stefan. The tournament moved after 12 games to Belgrade.
Fischer could face a fine up to $250,000 and a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail if charged and convicted in the United States of "knowingly and willingly" breaching the U.S. government directive.
Fischer said that he was unaware that any charges had been filed against him yet.