AThe Journal Herald Dayton, Ohio Thursday, July 06, 1972 - Page 4
Chess Anyone? . . . Fischer and Spassky Display Gamesmanship
Things almost never go smoothly when East and West try to get together over a table. This time Bobby Fischer of the United States and Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union are the negotiators, and chess is the name of the game. At stake is someone's version of the world championship and total prize money of $250,000.
Fortunately, both parties seem to concede that the game should be played on a square table, so we don't have any nonsense about the shape of the table.
Until recently, however, there has been a suspicion in some quarters that chess is a game of squares. But the two current adversaries for the world championship have appropriated some of the devices of different kinds of chess players — the labor negotiator and the diplomat.
Fischer wanted more money, and struck to get it. Then he got it, and set out for the site of the match, Reykjavik, Iceland, which may become as renowned as Paris and Geneva before all the negotiations are over. The International Chess Foundation has already given Fischer a two-day reprieve when he arrived. So then Spassky went off in a sulk because he felt Fischer should be disciplined.
Such tactics are not new in the game of diplomatic chess where lives and nations are at stake. It's a relief that in this world championship game of real chess there are only dollars and prestige at stake. Come to think of it, dollars and prestige may be a hangup in both brands of chess.
Chess Anyone? 06 Jul 1972, Thu The Journal Herald (Dayton, Ohio) Newspapers.com
