Iceland says it has offered a residency visa to former US chess champion Bobby Fischer.
Bobby Fischer has been on the run for more than 10 years
Mr Fischer is detained in Japan and is wanted in the United States for violating international sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992.
Mr Fischer's 1972 match against Russian Boris Spassky took place in Iceland.
However, Mr Fischer currently has no valid passport and is awaiting a German decision on whether to grant him one, on the grounds he had a German father.
At present, he remains in detention, after being stopped at Tokyo international airport on 13 July.
Mr Fischer has argued that his US passport had been cancelled without due process.
He is also applying to have his deportation order reversed, and is applying for asylum in Japan.
He gained an injunction in September preventing him being deported while his case is being decided.
While in detention, he has become engaged to the head of the Japan Chess Association, Miyoko Watai, but the authorities are still studying their marriage application.
Mr Fischer gave an interview to Icelandic television earlier this week, stating "I hope the Icelandic government grants me political asylum".
After the Icelandic decision was announced, his supporters were in a buoyant move.
Fischer's troubles began after his Yugoslav rematch with Spassky
"We're in a happy mood today," said John Bosnitch, head of the
Committee to Free Bobby Fischer.
"If Bobby Fischer has a passport in hand and a country
invitation, then we expect the Japanese government to release him,
to drop this procedure against him and to allow him to go to
Iceland," Bosnitch said.
An immigration bureau official confirmed that Mr Fischer might in the end leave for Iceland.
"The possibility is not zero," said spokesman Shoichiro Okabe.
On the run
Mr Fischer has been on the run from the US authorities for more than a decade, after being accused of breaking international sanctions by visiting Yugoslavia to take part in a chess match in 1992.
Before his detention, he had managed to live undetected in Japan for three years, sometimes travelling abroad.
A brilliant but mercurial player, Mr Fischer became a grandmaster at 15 and shot to fame in 1972 when he beat Boris Spassky of the then Soviet Union.
He held the title of world chess champion until 1975, and resurfaced in Yugoslavia for the dramatic 1992 rematch against Mr Spassky.
He won the game, but disappeared when the US authorities announced they wanted to prosecute him over the $3m he earned for playing, which Washington said violated US and United Nations bans on doing business in the country.
He could face 10 years in jail if prosecuted in the US.