Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Sunday, March 12, 1972 - Page 356
Chess Mail
Chicago—Congratulation on your weekly chess column. The growth of chess in recent years has been nothing short of sensational; in metropolitan Chicago alone, there are almost 2,000 regular tournament players, 20,000 to 30,000 avid followers of chess news, and hundreds of thousands of persons interested in the impending Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky world championship match.
You might be interested to learn that New York chess masters are picking Fischer over Spassky by a score of 12½-9½, the Las Vegas oddsmaker say Fischer 12½-8½, and in Chicago the top chess masters are predicting Fischer 12½-7½. World chess opinion—even in Communist Bloc countries—favors Fischer to defeat Spassky. -Richard W. Verber, President, Chicago Chess Club.