ADaily News New York, New York Monday, July 03, 1972 - Page 181
Bobby Gets It Off His Chess: Money Stalemating Game by Robert Byrne
Reykjavik, Iceland, July 2—Rejecting alibis put forward by his own agents that illness caused by fatigue brought the two-day postponement of the world championship chess match, Bobby Fischer said today that he will not appear here unless his financial demands are met by the organizers.
Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, the “enfant terrible” of the chess world, who has called himself the “unofficial world champion” for nearly a decade, said in an exclusive interview by phone from his New York hide-away that he is standing behind his demands for 30% of the gate receipts for the 24-game match with champion Boris Vasilyevich Spassky.
Heretofore Fischer's demand had been flatly rejected by Gudmundur Thorarinsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation.
But Thorarinsson said that he still believed that “financial differences could be overcome.”
Fischer, 29, failed to appear today for the opening game with Spassky,35, at the 2,500-seat auditorium here. The match was postponed for two days to give the American challenger a last chance to play.
Spassky, the broad-shouldered champ from the Soviet Union, reluctantly agreed to the postponement idea raised by Max Euwe, president of the International Chess Federation.
“If he (Fischer) does not show up at noon on Tuesday (8 a.m. New York time) for the drawing of the lots,” Euwe said “he will be disqualified and lose the right to play for the title.”
In a move—taken without official approval—to get Fischer here, Freystinn Thorbergsson, a maverick member of the Icelandic Chess Federation and a friend of Fischer, flew to New York tonight to negotiate a compromise with Fischer on the financial demand.
Euwe said that the postponement was made primarily to protect the Icelandic financial backers of the match — who stand to lose $75,000 if it doesn't come off — and to preserve the image of the game.
The winner's end of the $125,000 purse is $78,000, and each player gets 30% of the income from the sale of film and TV rights. If Fischer refuses to appear, Spassky apparently will win by default.
Although the terms are 10 times greater than any prize money previously paid a chess player, Fischer insisted on adding his 30% gate receipt demand.
When Spassky won the title from another Russian, Tigran Petrosian, in the last championship event three years ago, the purse was $1,400.
Each player is permitted three postponements for medical reasons. They must be certified by the official match doctor. Before the Fischer interview in New York, Fred Cramer, here representing Fischer said two cablegrams—one from Fischer's doctor and the other from the United States Chess Federation—had been sent here, but both were lost. He indicated the cables called for a postponement because of Fischer's health.
