The Star Press Muncie, Indiana Tuesday, July 04, 1972 - Page 1
Banker's Bid Lures Fischer to Iceland
New York (UPI) - Chess whiz Bobby Fischer, lured out of seclusion by a British banker's offer to double the world championship prize money, flew to Iceland Monday night, just hours before the start of his match with the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky.
Avoiding newsmen at Kennedy International Airport, Fischer, accompanied by three associates, was driven directly onto the runway and boarded Icelandic Airways Flight 202 through a rear door.
Fischer, unsmiling and wearing red slacks and a blue blazer, got on the plane shortly after 9 p.m., more than an hour and a half after the flight was scheduled to take off. The plane finally left at 10:04 p.m.
The Icelandic DC8 was expected to arrive in Reykjavik at 7:30 a.m.
THE MATCH WAS scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
He had been scheduled to leave more than a week ago and the chess match was to have begun Sunday afternoon but Fischer's representatives succeeded in obtaining a two-day postponement.
If Fischer had not left Monday night, he would have been disqualified and the match forfeited to Spassky.
Earlier, Gudmunder Thorarinsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, expressed optimism that Fischer, of Brooklyn, N.Y., would make it Tuesday for the match.
THE TWO-DAY postponement granted by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) was sharply criticized by Soviet Chess authorities Monday.
Dr. Max Euwe, president of FIDE, said he had not heard of Fischer's reported acceptance of the new offer and also expressed some fears over what Spassky might do if Fischer turns up two days late. Spassky earlier Monday issued a statement in which he said he had never given FIDE any permission to postpone the game.
Fischer, 29, of Brooklyn, flew to New York from Los Angeles last weekend and went into hiding, while his representatives battled over the money terms.
MONDAY, British banker Jim Slater offered to double the $125,000 prize money which would mean the winner would get $150,000 and the loser $100,000. Fischer had been seeking 30 per cent of the gate.
Slater said if his offer did not satisfy Fischer he would give an extra $125,000 to the winner and nothing to the loser.
“Fischer has said that money is the problem,” Slater said. “Well, here it is, What I am saying to Fischer now is ‘come out and play.’”
Fischer's delayed start caused much concern in Iceland, which has invested a great deal of money in preparations for the match, including a 300-pound marble inlay chess table ([Which even referee Lothar Schmid confessed: “Fischer's representative and the chief arbiter, Schmid, a German publisher of Wild West books, agreed that the special chess board to be used in the match was not good. It reflected glare from the fluorescent lights insisted upon by Fischer.”])
SPASSKY ARRIVED for the match on schedule and has spent his time calmly playing tennis. The Soviet news agency Tass said at one point that if Fischer was playing a “war of nerves” against Spassky, Fischer was losing.
“This money is more than the 30 per cent of the gate receipts Fischer has asked for in addition to the prize money and I do hope that he will now decide to come here and play,” Euwe said.
The offer was communicated to Paul G. Marshall, a lawyer representing Fischer in New York where the 29-year-old chess star was in hiding, Icelandic Radio said. Marshall was not immediately available for comment.
In addition to the prize money each player also will get 30 per cent of television and film rights from the Icelandic sponsors.
Banker's Bid Lures Fischer to Iceland 04 Jul 1972, Tue The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) Newspapers.com
