The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada Saturday, April 29, 1972 - Page 6
Sarajevo to Open Play In World Chess Match
By David Spurr
Belgrade (UPI) — Promoters in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, said Friday they have “replied favorably” to an International Chess Federation (FIDE) offer to play host to the first leg of a world championship match between Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and his American challenger Robert (Bobby) Fischer.
But the organizers said they could not longer offer the $120,000 originally bid for the match more than two months ago.
“The previous conditions are out of the question.” a director of the huge Skenderija sports palace said. “We are now under more financial pressure and the entire situation has been complicated.” he said.
“We replied favorably to an offer from FIDE President Max Euwe asking us if we could stage the first part of the Fischer-Spassky match,” he said. “We are now waiting for Fide's answer.”
An FIDE spokesman said Friday any proposals for organizing the first leg of the championship matches would have to await Euwe's return to Amsterdam next week from a chess-promoting world tour.
Sarajevo was turned down earlier in favor of a match split into two phases in Belgrade and Reykjavik, Iceland. Belgrade backed out late last month when Fischer, of Brooklyn, N.Y.. refused to agree on financial arrangements with organizers in the Yugoslav capital.
