The Palm Beach Post West Palm Beach, Florida Thursday, July 06, 1972 - Page 14
B & B On The Rocks
Considering that cold war going on between Bobby and Boris, it seems appropriate that they will square off — or might square off — or might not square off — in Iceland.
American Bobby Fischer, who obviously doesn't want to get rooked either by his chess opponent or by the purse that goes along with the 24-game match, riled up Russian Boris Spassky by showing up late and not appearing for the draw to determine who would play white in the first game.
So Boris gets all huffy. He says Bobby broke the rules, insulted him and the Soviet Chess Federation, and that he must be punished. This crisis comes on the heels of other match postponement threats.
To add frustration to this celebrated mess comes the Soviet Chess Federation demanding, despite Bobby's apology to Boris, that the American forfeit the first game because of his bad conduct. That hardly seems fair. In fact, it would be unfair if an order went out only to lift a lance on one of his bishops or pilfer one of his pawns. After all, the idea of this match is to determine the better chess player — not the better diplomat.
At this juncture, it must be hoped that this crisis-to-crisis affair in Iceland does not continue, that Boris and Bobby quit playing games and start playing games, that their ego antics do not checkmate U.S.-Soviet relations or, Heaven forbid, lead to World War III.
B&B On The Rocks 06 Jul 1972, Thu The Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, Florida) Newspapers.com
