Fischer’s Filipino heirs going after estate
By Francis Ochoa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:31:00 02/07/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Bobby Fischer’s Filipino daughter is staking her claim to the late chess great’s estate. And the lawyer hired by the girl’s mother to take care of the legal proceedings admits that they are in for a tough battle.
“We have started by already asking the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA),” said lawyer Sammy Estimo, who was hired by Marilyn Young to represent her seven-year-old daughter with Fischer in a bid to recover the 1.07 million-pound estate in Iceland left by the iconic chess genius.
“She (Marilyn) told me she would like to manifest her claim of Bobby’s estate in behalf of their daughter,” Estimo told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
The Inquirer tried to reach Young to no avail.
The bid of the mother and child, however, is expected to be contested by Miyoko Watai, the alleged Japanese wife of Fischer and the chess great’s brother-in-law, Russel Tang.
“Miyoko is already in Iceland and she hired a lawyer there,” Estimo, an official of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, revealed. “They have presented a photocopied marriage certificate and promised an Icelandic court that they will present the original, which is still in Japan, very soon.”
Estimo said the claim of the Youngs is more credible, adding that he doubts whether Watai is indeed Fischer’s wife.
“I know for a fact that Bobby is not the marrying kind,” Estimo said. “I met [Watai] in Turin during the 2006 Chess Olympiad and she never mentioned anything about being married to Fischer.”
Estimo said Grandmaster Eugene Torre, a close friend of Fischer, is set to execute an affidavit expressing the same doubts.
That will be part of the documents Estimo will provide the courts to prove the Youngs’ rightful claim to Fischer’s estate. Other documents include birth and baptismal certificates of Fischer’s daughter, Jinky, who was born on May 21, 2001 in Baguio City.
Marilyn Young also turned over to Estimo the child’s passport, her photos with Fischer and their child with signed notes, and the latest bank remittance by Fischer of 1,500 euros to their daughter on Dec. 4, 2007. The remittance was sent to a Philippine National Bank branch in Davao.
Estimo said Marilyn told him that the last time she and her daughter visited Fischer in Iceland was in 2005. The two spent three weeks together with the chess genius there. But Fischer regularly kept contact through text messages.
Estimo said Marilyn received her last text message on Jan. 16, the day before Fischer died of a lingering illness.
“In fact, Fischer was calling Marilyn up at around 11 p.m. the night before he died, but Marilyn left her cell phone and failed to take the call,” Estimo revealed. “She cries every time she remembers that because had she not missed the call, she could have spoken to Fischer one last time before he passed away.”
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