Bobby Fischer's remains to be exhumed for paternity test
9-year-old girl Jinky Young seeks to establish whether she is US chess player's daughter
Thordur Bogason, a Reykjavik-based lawyer, said Iceland's supreme court made the decision earlier this week in order to allow for tests so his client, Jinky Young, can find out who her father is.
"At this point we are just trying to establish this," he said. "And if she is confirmed as the daughter of Bobby Fischer, then by Icelandic law she is his legal heir."
Fischer, 64, died in Iceland in January 2008. He left no will, Bogason said, adding that legal cases over who has the right to the chess player's estate are ongoing.
Bogason said he had no information on the size of the estate and that Fischer's long-time partner and relatives in the US are also involved in the dispute.
Gudjon Olafur Jonsson, who represents the relatives, said his clients accepted the court's ruling and awaited the results of the paternity tests. Representatives of Fischer's partner could not be reached.
The supreme court's decision came on appeal after one of Iceland's lower courts denied permission for an examination of Fischer's remains, Bogason said, adding that the move was a "last resort", as it had been hoped that blood samples might have been stored in an Icelandic hospital. Fischer is buried 30 miles from Reykjavik. He had lived in Iceland since 2005.
Bogason said evidence was presented to the court that showed that Fischer had sent Jinky and her mother Marilyn Young "considerable" amounts of money on eight occasions in the years before he died, ranging from €1,000 (£836) to €5,000.
In today's ruling, the court said Jinky's interest in determining her paternity was important and that more significant interests would have been required to prevent Fischer's exhumation.
Jinky, who lives in the Philippines with Young, flew to Iceland to provide her own blood sample in December.
The judgment said Fischer had regular contact with her and her mother and that they had visited him in Iceland.
Their lawyer in the Philippines, Samuel Estimo, said, "We are very happy with the way the supreme court of Iceland ruled on our request." Young could not be reached.
The woman who was described in the judgment as Fischer's "partner for many years and a close friend and confidante until his death" said in court papers that Fischer never mentioned that he had a child with Young. The partner described that as being out of character because he was "a very precise man".
Fischer, who was born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, New York, became world famous in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spassky for the world championship. He held the title until 1975.
• This article was amended on 18 June 2010. In the original we refered to Jinky Young as being Icelandic. This has been corrected.
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