AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, April 14, 1972 - Page 2
Spassky Kept Waiting
Amsterdam, April 13
The first leg of the chess world championship match between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union was cancelled today by the Belgrade sponsors, the International Chess Federation said.
The Federation, in a communiqué, said the matches to be played in Belgrade on June 22 to July 18 were cancelled because the American Chess Federation failed to provide a £13,430 guarantee that Fischer would play in Belgrade. The Federation said the Russians agreed to a similar guarantee for Spassky.
The communiqué said that on March 20 the International Federation asked for a financial guarantee that Fischer would agree to match arrangements reached in Amsterdam on March 20. The US Federation replied on April 4 that Fischer would play at the agreed sites and times but did not mention financial aspects, the Federation said.
On April 5. the communiqué said, the International Federation asked for the £13,430 guarantee. The Soviet reply was positive, the American reply was negative, the Federation said.
“As a gesture of goodwill the International Federation gave the US Federation respite until April 13 at 8 am, stressing that an insurance policy to the same value was also acceptable,” the communiqué said. The Federation said the guarantee request was ignored. — UPI.
