25 December 2004	Saturday	12 Ziqa'ad 1425

TOKYO, Dec 24: Fugitive chess master Bobby Fischer, who is fighting deportation to the United States, on Friday asked Japan to allow him to go to Iceland, which has offered him a home.

Fischer's spirits are high since Iceland last week extended a residency permit to the former world chess champion, who has been detainted by Japanese immigration authorities for almost half a year, his lawyer said.

Fischer, 61, is wanted in the United States for violating economic sanctions against Yugoslavia by playing a chess game there in 1992. He has been held in Japan since July when he was stopped with a passport that U.S. officials said was invalid.

His lawyers filed documents on Friday, including a hand-written letter by Fischer, with Japanese immigration officials seeking that he either be allowed to leave for Iceland on his own, or that he be deported to the North-Atlantic country rather than to the United States. -Reuters