Yes, I was 10 and an avid chess player in 1972 when we hosted the Match of the Century.

But it gets better. My uncle Sæmundur Pálsson (my father's identical twin) was Fischer's best friend and "bodyguard" during the match and travelled with him for a few months afterwards.

After the match was over, Fischer came to my home for dinner, on my 10th birthday. I, and my brother and sister, each played a couple of games with him, which I have to admit, he won handily. He was a weird guy and got on better with us kids than with the grownups. There are photos floating around the internet from him playing with us kids (wearing pyjamas).

Facebook photo

Left to right: My brother Páll, Bobby Fischer, my cousin Ásgeir, uncle Sæmi, me, sister Iðunn.

At the time, the local kids would play chess in the local library and I was probably around 3rd best there. However, during and after the Fischer-Spassky match, there was an explosion in the popularity of chess and several kids in the neighbourhood turned out to have (a lot) more talent for chess than I had. I was quickly relegated to the mid-ranks of the library chess group and never recovered my previous standing. Two of the library players, Jón L. Árnason and Margeir Pétursson, went on to become grand masters.

In 2004, Fischer was arrested in Japan. The Icelandic government petitioned for his release and in 2005 my uncle Sæmi went to Japan to pick him up. He lived here in Iceland until his death in 2008. He was even stranger than when he was younger. My father and Sæmi helped him out a lot and did him all sorts of favours, sorting out his life and affairs. He came to our home a couple of times, including my father and uncle's 70th birthday. He was very difficult to talk to, very anti-semitic and full of conspiracy theories and all sorts of nonsense.

No, I haven't been to see the museum or the grave. I'm not really into memorabilia.

It's a little hard for a local to recommend sites that tourists will like. But most of the usual ones are pretty good but tend to be crowded, especially the really accessible sites in the south of the country.