The latest brainstorm, contributed by a member of Fischer's support group, involves him claiming German citizenship, based on Regina's marriage to a German at the time of Bobby's conception. This would theoretically provide Bobby with dual citizenship retroactively. Once he was officially declared a bona fide German, the hope is that Bobby could immediately book the next Lufthansa flight out of Tokyo.

This legal strategy may fulfill Bobby's Aryan fantasy, but how would it play in the courts? The German Foreign Office in Berlin was contacted on Wednesday by the Fischer camp and it has confirmed that Germany's "blood law" stipulates that if documents can be produced that prove that Regina's husband was German (which he was) and that Bobby was born before his parents were divorced (also true), he would be issued a German passport. Bobby's passport, birth certificate and Regina's divorce papers have already been located in various parts of the world and are on the way to Tokyo.

The one flaw in this master plan is that the identity of Bobby's biological father is a subject of dispute. While the name "Hans-Gerhardt Fischer" is listed on Bobby's birth certificate, there is circumstantial evidence to suggest that Fischer's real father was Paul Felix Nemenyi, a Jewish Hungarian engineer Regina met in the U.S. while separated from her husband. Beyond that, it seems unlikely that Germany, a country where neo-Nazism still percolates just beneath the surface of society, would provide safe haven for a world-class anti-Semite like Fischer. This fantastic plot to liberate Bobby has been confirmed by the indefatigable Watai, and Russell Targ, who was quick to add that while he didn't endorse the hateful rhetoric that his famous brother-in-law espouses, he felt compelled to assist in this improbable jail break because he was a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But even if Berlin does issue Bobby a new passport, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would still have to agree to grant asylum to his freshly minted countryman. If he doesn't, Fischer will probably take his grievance to The Hague.

The legal maneuverings alone could drag on for months. Yesterday, Japan's justice minister announced that Fischer could be in detention up to 60 days while authorities decide whether or not to complete the extradition process. Asked if it was likely that Fischer would eventually be handed off to American authorities, an immigration official at Narita airport hinted that such a scenario was likely: "[Fischer] was taken into our custody in violation of immigration laws. Generally, the consequence of that is deportation." Listen carefully. The sound you hear is a roomful of Court TV producers salivating.

If only Fischer had listened to his mother. Regina died in 1997, but a letter she wrote to her son 46 years ago is eerily prescient. In the missive, she dispenses the kind of prudent advice that Fischer would have done well to heed later on in life.

The letter, dated July 9, 1958, was written to the 15-year-old Bobby when he was in Europe, waiting for the Interzonal chess tournament in Porotoz, Yugoslavia, to begin. If he did well at Porotoz, he would qualify for the next step on the way to the world title, a feat unprecedented for a player his age. The letter was a response to an incident that occurred in Brussels, in which Fischer enraged Belgium chess officials by refusing to play a scheduled exhibition and acting like an all-around ugly American. Bobby behaved badly in Moscow too -- so badly, in fact, that Russian officials asked him to leave the country before his scheduled departure. The old-guard Soviets dismissed him as "nyekulturni" -- uncultured, the Russian equivalent of trailer park trash.

The U.S. Department of State received an official complaint from Brussels, which notified the United States Chess Federation and informed them that it was opposed to Bobby playing in any chess tournaments abroad. Hearing the news, Regina panicked and dashed off a two-page typed letter informing Bobby that there was new legislation in Congress that proposed greater discretion in revoking the passports of any U.S. citizens whose presence abroad might reflect poorly on the country.

Regina goes to great lengths not to upset her son's mercurial disposition by directly criticizing him. "Please don't think I am just trying to scare you," she writes. "Far from it. Don't think it can't happen to you." She instructs Bobby to be on his best behavior for the rest of the trip. "Play whatever matches they propose -- regardless of financial gain or not. Be as pleasant and friendly as possible. Bend over backwards if necessary. If this is not physically or mentally possible for you, leave the country at once."

"If this is not possible for you to agree to, if you just don't want to and are set to cut your own throat just to prove you are right, at least think it over and come home on your own power before you get kicked out by them or the State Dept. pulls your passport and you have no other choice. If none of these alternatives suit you, remember something has got to give -- three strikes and you are out. I sympathize with you and love you regardless of how wrong you are, or even how right you are and how much harm you do to yourself in trying to prove it."

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