SVETI STEFAN : Chess or Politics?

It took two decades and the promise of a $2.5-million payday, but reclusive American chess master Bobby Fischer comes out of retirement with a controversial 18-game rematch beginning Wednesday against the man he beat for the world championship in 1972.

Fischer later refused to defend his title in a dispute with the International Chess Federation. But now, a Yugoslav banker has lured the American and the Russian Boris Spassky to this Adriatic resort just 50 miles away from war-torn Bosnia.

The banker, said to be close to Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, claims the match symbolizes “Yugoslavia’s victory” over Western trade sanctions on Serbia.