ADemocrat and Chronicle Rochester, New York Friday, February 25, 1972 - Page 6
Checkmate Russia?
Around newspapers there is a bit of a problem in how to classify chess. When the University of Rochester announced the UR chess team's recent victory over Princeton, its public relations department addressed the release to sports editors. The win gave the UR the Eastern Intercollegiate Team championship.
The city chess championship at Central YMCA last weekend, won by Dr. Erich Marchand, four times state champion and a former national amateur champion, was treated as a news feature. Robert Fischer, 28, who won his first U.S. title at 14, seldom makes the sports pages but he's a constant subject of general news and magazine features.
Whether its a sport, a form of recreation, or an exercise in concentration, the “game of kings,” dating back to ancient Hindustan, is thought of as a diversion of intellectuals because of its complexity. The total possible combination of moves en route to a checkmate or a draw, according to Dr. Marchand, are infinite. Hence, chess is an endless challenge to the player's resourcefulness. One would assume there's little muscle required in moving the chessmen, thus limiting interest in chess as a sport. But studied have shown that the physical strain of tournament chess can equal five sets of tennis.
Nor should anyone belittle chess as a game of international interest. American prestige will be on the line next June when the inimitable Bobby Fischer matches moves with Russia's Boris Spassky in the world title contest.
Soviet boosters have been saying the U.S. could not produce a world champion because of “defects in the capitalist system.” Viewed thus, more than a chess title is at stake.
