Chess champ Fischer's body to be exhumed

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 17 (UPI) -- An Icelandic court has ruled the body of chess champion Bobby Fischer can be exhumed to settle disputes over his estate, amid claims he fathered a love child.

Fischer left no will when he died in Reykjavik in 2008, 35 years after beating Russian Boris Spassky in a chess match promoted as a "cold war rivalry," Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

His $2 million estate is at the center of a legal battle featuring allegations he fathered a secret love child in the Philippines, the newspaper said.

The Iceland Supreme Court ruled this week Fischer's body could be exhumed to determine if he is the biological father of Jinky Young, 9.

It overturned the ruling of a lower court after hearing evidence Fischer sent money to Jinky's mother, Marilyn Young, 31, just before he died.

The estate is also being contested by Fischer's wife Miyoko Watai, two American nephews, and the U.S. government, which says Fischer owed unpaid taxes.

The court ruled DNA could be taken from Fischer's remains and compared to genetic samples from the girl and her mother, the Telegraph reported.

"In order to obtain such a sample, it is unavoidable to exhume his body," the court ruled.