APress and Sun-Bulletin Binghamton, New York Thursday, January 06, 1972 - Page 8
Chess King Fischer Said 'Mercenary'
Moscow (AP) — The Soviet Union's leading sports newspaper today accused U.S. chess master Bobby Fischer of a mercenary attitude toward his match against Russia's Boris Spassky for the world crown.
Sovietsky Sport charged Fischer with “anarchy” and “disrespect” because he said he would only meet Spassky in a city that offered to pay them enough.
The paper's chess commentator, A. Roshal, expressed fear that Fischer's demands will force the world chess community to raise the stakes at future international competitions.
“Other players will probably share his point of view—to see chess primarily as a means of enrichment,” Roshal wrote.
He said Fischer was putting money before the game and thus “inflicts damage on the art of chess.”
Roshal also complained that Fischer ruled out Moscow as the site of the championship match.
“It is unjust that the International Chess Federation did not stipulate the match should be held in the reigning champion's motherland,” he added.
To date, Belgrade has put up the highest big with $152,000. Spassky has said that if he cannot play in Moscow, he would prefer a Scandinavian site where the climate is close to that of his native Leningrad.
