Fischer plans to marry Miyoko Watai

A court in Tokyo has rejected his request to halt his deportation, but his lawyer said other efforts to prevent his extradition would continue.

Moves include an appeal to allow Mr Fischer to stay in Japan, given that he plans to marry a Japanese woman.

He is wanted in the US for violating sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992.

The controversial player was detained in Japan last month while trying to travel on a revoked US passport.

He has fought deportation since then by applying for political asylum in Japan and renouncing his US citizenship.

Earlier this week, Miyoko Watai, head of the Japan Chess Association, announced that she and Mr Fischer were engaged.

Brilliant but mercurial

Mr Fischer has been on the run from the US authorities for more than a decade, after being accused of breaking international sanctions by visiting Yugoslavia to take part in a chess match in 1992.

He had managed to live undetected in Japan for three years, sometimes travelling abroad.

Demise of a chess legend

A brilliant but mercurial player, Bobby Fischer became a grandmaster at 15 and shot to fame in 1972 when he beat Boris Spassky of the then Soviet Union.

He held the title of world chess champion until 1975, and resurfaced in Yugoslavia for the dramatic 1992 rematch against Mr Spassky.

He won the game, but disappeared when the US authorities announced they wanted to prosecute him over the $3m he earned for playing, which Washington said violated US and United Nations bans on doing business in the country.