After nearly nine months in a Japanese detention cell on a U.S. warrant, American chess legend Bobby Fischer appears headed to freedom after receiving citizenship in Iceland, site of his world championship victory three decades ago.

　　Iceland's parliament voted Monday to give Fischer citizenship as he fights an order to deport him from Japan to the United States.

　　Masako Suzuki, one of Fischer's lawyers, said she expected Fischer would be released within the week.

　　"Unless something very unexpected happens, that would be the natural course of events," she said.

　　Bolstered by the news, supporters visited Fischer at the immigration detention center on the outskirts of Tokyo. Miyoko Watai, his longtime companion, said Fischer was "very happy" after hearing the news.

　　Fischer, 62, has been in Japanese custody since his arrest at the Tokyo airport in July. He is wanted in the United States for violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there.

　　In Washington, the State Department declined comment Monday, citing laws governing rights to privacy in such situations. Fischer has the authority to waive his privacy rights but has not done do.

　　Fischer has said he wants to renounce his U.S. citizenship. He has demanded political refugee status in Japan and said he intends to marry Watai, who heads Japan's chess federation.

　　Japanese Justice Minister Chieko Nono said Icelandic citizenship would make it legally possible" for Japan to deport Fischer to that country.

　　"We will consider (the possibility) and make an appropriate decision," she said on TV Tokyo.

　　The process still required a formal presidential signature, which was expected later Tuesday, Suzuki said.

　　"It is clear that there is no need to detain him anymore," she said. "He wants to leave Japan immediately."

　　Fischer became an icon in 1972 when he dethroned the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in a series of games in Reykjavik to claim America's first world chess championship in more than a century.

　　But a few years later he forfeited the title to another Soviet, Anatoly Karpov, when he refused to defend it. He then fell into obscurity before resurfacing to play an exhibition rematch against Spassky in the former Yugoslavia in 1992.

　　Fischer won that rematch on the resort island of Sveti Stefan. But the match was played in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites). If convicted, Fischer could face 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

　　A federal grand jury in Washington is also investigating possible money-laundering charges involving Fischer, Richard J. Vattuone, one of his lawyers, said this month.

　　Fischer was reported to have received $3.5 million from the Spassky rematch. He boasted at the time that he did not intend to pay any income tax on the winnings.