Photograph of Washington Square Park chess table by Paulo C on Flickr Brilliant, reclusive and eccentric, Chicago-born and Brooklyn-bred Bobby Fischer died at age 64 in Iceland. His spokesman said the cause was kidney failure, after a long illness. Fischer, who grew up playing in chess clubs in Brooklyn and Manhattan, beat Boris Spassky in a 1972 match, becoming the first and only American to become world champion, a Cold War hero, and popularized......

The upgrading of Washington Square Park has attracted a lot of debate, and the NY times tries to summarize the situation before things get underway with the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The main changes the park will undergo: The fountain will move to be aligned with the arch; the elevation will be leveled off; dog runs will be relocated; the asphalt mounds will go; a lawn will replace the plaza; and most notably, a "four-foot-high......

Bobby Fischer, the brilliant but reclusive chess champion, was International > Search for Former Chess Champion Ends at Tokyo Airport" href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Japan-Bobby-Fischer.html">detained at Tokyo's Narita Airport while trying to go to the Philippines. There is talk of extraditing Fischer back to the U.S., because Fischer has been wanted ever since playing a game in Yugoslavia when sports games were sanctioned. A chess player, a wanted criminal, just for playing a game. Yes, sanctions, but it seems......