AThe Central New Jersey Home News New Brunswick, New Jersey Monday, June 26, 1972 - Page 18
First Move In Match - A Dispute
New York (AP) — The long awaited chess match between the Russian world champion Boris Spassky and the American challenger, Bobby Fischer, in Reykjavik, Iceland, may be stalemated in a dispute over lighting, Fred Cramer, past president of the U.S. Chess Federation, said Sunday night.
Cramer, a consulting illumination engineer and a friend of Fischer, said a battle is brewing between Fischer and a television producer who has arranged for the right to televise the 24-game match scheduled to start July 2.
Speaking to newsmen at Kennedy International Airport before boarding Icelandic Airlines Flight 508 to Reykjavik, Cramer said, “Fischer won't play under anything but fluorescent lighting—it is very important to him.”
Cramer said that the television contract, “in six figures,” calls for filming the match in color and that fluorescent lighting does not have “the proper color spectrum for color film.”
“The television people have insisted that they will use additional lighting such as incandescent or tungsten-halogen,” Cramer said. Fischer is opposed to any additional lighting, Cramer said.
The unpredictable Fischer was supposed to have left on the same flight with Cramer but cancelled his reservation at the last minute. Cramer shrugged when asked why Fischer did not show up.
“He makes his own decisions,” he said.
Cramer said he would also report back to Fischer on hotel room accommodations, the amount of noise in the tournament hall, proximity of the audience and light glare.
“Everything has to be perfect.”
Cramer said he did not know when Fischer would leave for Iceland nor would he say where the player was staying but said he was “not too far away. He's very sensitive about the press.”
