MANILA, Philippines - The Filipino lawyer of Marilyn and Jinky Young, who are laying claim to the $2 million estate left behind by Bobby Fischer, yesterday questioned the procedure that was used during the exhumation of the American chess icon.
Lawyer Sammy Estimo said the exhumation “was not done the normal way” and he raised a question on whether the body from which seven tissue samples were taken was that of Fischer, who died in 2008, and left no will.
Marilyn, who is based in the Philippines, claims that Fischer had fathered Jinky during her relationship with the former world champion. But they had to prove it by submitting DNA samples which should have matched Fischer’s.
The Reykjavic District Court, however, announced the other day that DNA tests show that Fischer was not the father of the nine-year-old Jinkee, therefore bringing the Youngs paternity case to a sudden close.
There are other claimants to the Fischer estate. They are Miyoko Watai, head of the Japanese Chess Association, who said she was married to Fischer in 2004, and Fischer’s nephews, Alexander and Nicholas Targ.
But Estimo said putting their case to rest is easier said than done.
“Indeed, the procedure undertaken borders on the doubtful. The lot where Fischer was buried belongs to the family of Gardar Sverisson, a close friend of Miyoko Watai, one of the claimants to the estate of Bobby,” said Estimo.
“He had complete access to the area, and in fact, Fischer was buried there in front of the church in an early January morning without the church pastor knowing it. Who knows what could have taken place there between the date of burial and on the days before the exhumation?”
Estimo said there could be other means to pursue the case but did not categorically say if he would push on.
“I never knew that this DNA matter will be the end of this case. What I know is there are alternative remedies, failing which, there is still the Supreme Court to go to,” he said in his e-mail to the Young’s lawyer in Iceland, Thordur Bogason.
“I will not stop talking to the media, and I will continue making stories about this unless you email to me the twin documents,” added Estimo of his request for a copy of the DNA results.
Estimo said as it is, the Targs may end up with the Fischer estate, but added that if only the chess icon managed to write his last will, it should have been a toss-up between Young and Watai, the women he loved most.”