AThe Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Tuesday, January 04, 1972 - Page 37
Belgrade Bid Tops For Chess Playoff by Isaac Kashdan
A bid of $152,000 by Belgrade, Yugoslavia, is the highest of 15 submitted as prize money for the world chess championship match between titleholder Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and Bobby Fischer of the U.S.
The winner will receive 62.5% of the prize money and the loser 37.5% in the best-of-24-games series expected to last two months starting next June.
Runner-up was Argentina, with $150,000. That country hosted the match in which Fischer defeated the USSR's Tigran Petrosian, former world champion, for the right to become the challenger. The purse there was $12,000.
The players have until mid-January to advise the World Chess Federation in Amsterdam of their order of preference, and after a comparison the federation will announce the site. Each player has one veto of the announced site, with the federation making the final determination. Fischer has said he would prefer the U.S. or Canada, but the highest bidder was expected to win.
Other bids included Iceland, $125,000; Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, $120,000, and the Chicago Convention Bureau and Bled, Yugoslavia, each $100,000. Bidding lesser amounts were West Germany, Brazil, Holland, Montreal, Zagreb, Yugoslavia; Switzerland, Greece, France, and Colombia.
Factors to be considered in the choice include playing conditions such as lighting, air conditioning, control of spectators and weather.
