Fischer's remains exhumed for DNA

Authorities in Iceland have exhumed the body of the American chess champion Bobby Fischer to determine whether he is the father of a nine-year-old girl from the Philippines.

Police district commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson said Fischer's corpse was dug up from a cemetery near Selfoss in southern Iceland early yesterday, in the presence of a doctor, a priest and other officials.

Mr Kjartansson said the exhumation "was done in a professional and dignified way and according to law". He said Fischer was reburied after DNA samples were taken.

Fischer died in Iceland in January 2008, aged 64. He left no will, and legal wrangling continues over his estate. Last month, Iceland's supreme court ruled Fischer should be exhumed so DNA testing could determine whether he was the father of Jinky Young, whose mother, Marilyn, says she had a relationship with Fischer. Jinky, who lives in the Philippines with her mother, flew to Iceland to provide her own DNA sample in December.

Fischer became world famous in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world championship in a tournament, played in Reykjavik, that brimmed with Cold War symbolism.

Fischer became an American hero but his later life was dominated by his erratic, eccentric behaviour. He lived in Iceland from 2005 until his death and is buried about 30 miles east of the capital, Reykjavik.