Chess grandmaster believes Bobby Fischer may be playing on Internet

LONDON - A British chess grandmaster is convinced that Bobby Fischer, one of the game's most legendary and elusive figures, is playing again - anonymously on the Internet.

"I am 99 percent sure that I have been playing against the chess legend," Nigel Short told The Sunday Telegraph. "It's tremendously exciting."

He has remained out of the public eye and his whereabouts are unknown, although the Telegraph said he is believed to be living in Japan. Short said he does not know where Fischer is.

Short, who unsuccessfully challenged Garry Kasparov for the world chess title in 1993, said rumors began circulating last year that the American champion was anonymously playing others in quick, three-minute games at the Internet Chess Club. Short said he was skeptical, even after his friend, Greek grandmaster Ioannis Papaioannou, claimed to have played Fischer.

"I could not help but burst into laughter, much as I would have done had my friend claimed to have seen the Loch Ness monster," Short wrote in an article for the Sunday newspaper.