The Herald-News Passaic, New Jersey Thursday, January 06, 1972 - Page 20
Chess Goes Big Time
The prospect of prize money of $150,000 or more for the coming world championship chess match between the U.S.'s charismatic star, Bobby Fischer, and the current titleholder, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, makes one thing abundantly plain: chess can no longer be laughed off as a funny game for little old Europeans. Just as Joe Namath's $400,000 bonus for signing with the Jets made the turnstiles click, so the largest chess prize in history is bound to turn on people whose knowledge of the game is slight.
Even Fischer, who has said often in interviews since he started his climb towards the championship match that he was interested in money and the more the better, professed himself not displeased. The prize money bids offered by 15 difference cities in 10 nations were “not bad,” he said, adding that anyway, “they'll have to do.”
The top offer of $152,000 came from Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Other high offers were $100,000 by Argentina, site of last October's semi-final between Fischer and Tigran Petrosian of the U.S.S.R.; $125,000 by Iceland, $120,000 by Sarajevo, Yugoslavia; $100,000 by Bled, Yugoslavia, and $100,000 by the Chicago Convention Bureau. The Chicago offer is expected to be ruled out by Spassky, since each player has the right to reject any site in his opponent's homeland. The glamour of the Fischer-Spassky title match is dramatized by the fact that in the last 30 years the highest cash prize on record was the $12,000 put up by Buenos Aires for last October's Fischer-Petrosian semifinal.
There will now be negotiations between the players' representatives before the site is finally selected. Each will submit preferences to the World Chess Federation's president, Dr. Max Euwe, by mid-January. If their top preferences are the same, the choice will be decided. If they are not, negotiations will follow. If they still can't agree, Dr. Euwe will make the decision, subject to one veto by each player.
Of the total prize, 67½ per cent goes to the winner, or about $100,000. The loser will get 32½ per cent, or about $50,000. Funny game for little old Europeans? Forget it!
