AGreeley Daily Tribune Greeley, Colorado Thursday, June 29, 1972 - Page 38
Will Bobby Fischer Show Up For Chess Match in Iceland
By Ann Hencken
Associated Press Writer
New York (AP) — Bobby Fischer's flight reservation to Reykjavik, Iceland, has been canceled again. The American chess star is scheduled to play Russia's Boris Spassky there for the world championship in chess.
There are just a few more flights In Iceland before the chess match is scheduled to start next Sunday.
Will Fischer show up for the match?
“He said he was going,” grandmaster Larry Evans said Wednesday evening before boarding a plane for Iceland.
However, Chester Fox, who has exclusive visual rights to the match, and his lawyer, Richard Stein, were not so definite. And Fischer couldn't be reached for comment.
A reporter asked Fox and Stein after they met with Fischer here Wednesday evening whether the chess champ was definitely going to show up.
“I think so,” said Fox, before taking off for Reykjavik.
“You said too much,” Stein told Fox.
Why did Fox say too much? Stein answered that “unless you have firm commitments” there should be no comments.
Stein added that although this is a big moment for Fischer, he has walked out on matches before.
Stein said he did ask Fischer if he would show tip for the match. But he refused to give Fischer's answer.
Stein and Fox said they met with Fischer “to discuss different considerations” of the coming match. Stein said the meeting was very satisfying. Fox said he was very happy about it.
“I think he's in a good frame of mind,” Fox said of Fischer.
Stein said he had asked if he shouldn't be in Iceland early, to adjust to the climate. But Fischer replied that a climate change used to bother him, but it doesn't now.
Fox has bought worldwide visual rights to the games from the Icelandic Chess Federation and plans to film the match. Fred Cramer, a friend of Fischer's and past president of the U.S. Chess Federation, said Sunday that Fischer objected to the type of lighting proposed for filming the match.
On Sunday, Fischer canceled his flight to Iceland, without explanation. Cramer, who was to have flown with Fischer, went on to Reykjavik. Fox said Wednesday evening there are no lighting problems. “If he has any problems he didn't confide in me,” said Fox.
Meanwhile, news agencies and television services were protesting restrictions on move-by-move coverage and in-play photographs of the contenders announced in Reykjavik on Wednesday by the organizers of the match.
Gudmundur Thorarinsson, chairman of the Icelandic Chess Federation, said the restrictions were made because photographic and move-by-move coverage rights had been sold.
He said journalists would he allowed to transmit move-by-move reports only three times during each game and that newsmen would be required to sign a pledge to abide by the agreement to get accreditation.
The Associated Press and United Press International said they were lodging protests against any curtailment of news coverage. TelePrompter Manhattan Cable TV and Channel 13-WNDT New York, which have announced plans for telecasts based on move by move wire service reports, also protested.
The federation has sold U.S. broadcast television rights to the American Broadcasting Company, which plans to use the film on its Wide World of Sports program. However, Rome Arledge, president of ABC Sports, said its coverage would be “condensed, limited,” and he had no objections to the other organizations' move-by-move coverage.
