AThe Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Wednesday, June 28, 1972 - Page 71
For all you chess fans, Ch. 2
The 25-year wait by the chess crowd since television's inception is about to end, thanks to the fame of Bobby Fischer.
Both Channel 2 and the American Broadcasting Co. yesterday revealed plans for coverage of the American's world-title match with the Russian Boris Spassky, which begins Sunday.
No live coverage will be available from Iceland for two reasons, the concentration factor and the dead air time. But Ch. 2, through Eastern Education Network and Public Broadcasting hookups will provide the next best thing: simulated moves on camera immediately after they occur, with experts in an Albany, N.Y. studio to explain and speculate about counter plays.
Iceland is five hours ahead of Boston, so the matches on Ch. 2 will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday of next week, ending at 4 p.m. on the first and third days and at 3 p.m. on the second day. If the matches extend beyond the five-hour TV time limit, Ch. 2 will offer one-minute summaries at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.
The hookup to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland and site of the matches, will be via teletype, with a phone line to provide instant color appraisals, presumably describing the players' facial grimaces.
The format calls for matches on the same three days for eight consecutive weeks if necessary until either Fischer or Spassky gets 12½ points. One point is awarded for a victory, a half-point for a tie.
Now the bad news for chess folks. The coverage on Ch. 2 will run only one week unless $3500 in contributions are received from the public, the cost for the full eight weeks.
For those of us ignorant of the game, good old Wide World of Sports will come in each Saturday starting July 8 with a recapitulation of the three previous days' action. Bill Flemming, a familiar and friendly voice, will be the commentator, with Larry Evans as the expert.
A special spice will be provided by ABC cameras that will be taping at the scene. Fischer's demand for privacy apparently is exceeded by his quest for money, because the network reportedly is paying $100,000 in rights fees for the coverage. The participants will get a piece of it, although the Russian's share may well end up in the Kremlin petty-cash coffin.
In any case, both the Ch. 7 and local Ch. 5 coverage will be unique. And only the chess hardcore probably will really be able to grade the coverage.
