Bobby Fischer's Body Exhumed

The remains of US-born chess champion Bobby Fischer have been exhumed in Iceland to establish a paternity claim.

Lawyers for nine-year old Jinky Young and her mother, Marilyn, who had a relationship with Fischer, claim she is entitled to Fischer's fortune.

The Supreme Court in Reykjavik ruled last month a tissue sample was needed to prove she was Fischer's daughter.

He died in 2008 having become an Icelander in 2005. Apparently, there are a lot of people after his two million dollar estate.

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Why would one need to exhume an entire body just to get a tissue sample?

By NewEnglandBob (not verified) on 06 Jul 2010 #permalink

Why would one need to exhume an entire body just to get a tissue sample?

I suppose you could just dig up the coffin, stick a knife in the corpse in the middle of a graveyard, dig out a blob of flesh, plop it into a jar then reseal and rebury the coffin.

But some people might consider that creepy. Even if it weren't done at midnight by a cackling man in a stained lab coat.

The whole business is a bit sad. Fisher was weird already before the chess game in Reykjavik 1972, and then got weirder.
That a world chess champion, with a potential for books and film rights died with *only* 2 million dollars in his estate shows things got rocky for him.

By Birger Johansson (not verified) on 06 Jul 2010 #permalink