[JURIST] Japan's Justice Ministry [official website in Japanese] said Wednesday that despite US requests to hand over fugitive former US chess champion Bobby Fischer, it would release him so that he could go to Iceland [government website], which Monday granted him citizenship [JURIST report]. Fischer became a hero in Iceland in 1972 when he played and defeated Russian chess champion Boris Spassky in Reykjavik at the height of the Cold War. He is currently wanted by the US government for playing a chess match in Yugoslavia in the 1990s in contravention of sanctions then in force against that country. The US has expressed disappointment at Iceland's decision to offer citizenship to Fischer, but Iceland's Foreign Minister defended it on the grounds of Fischer's "historical connection with Iceland." Fischer has become notorious in recent years for extreme anti-Semitism and anti-American remarks. Reuters has more.