AThe Marion Star Marion, Ohio Saturday, July 15, 1972 - Page 1
Chess Title Match May Be Off Again: Iceland/Soviets Threatening Prize Money
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) — Organizers of the world chess championship have made a new concession to Bobby Fischer ([which is not “New” because it was already in the rules, as stated by Col. Edmondson, “Under agreed rules of the match, [Fischer] had the right to object and to demand removal of the cameras if they disturbed him.”]), but the competition still appears to be on the brink of collapse.
Gudmundur Thorarinsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, said late Friday the film cameras would be removed from the Reykjavik sports hall as demanded by the U.S. challenger.
But Thorarinsson also said the ruling would stand that Fischer forfeited Thursday's second game to Russian defender Boris Spassky by refusing to appear because of the ([excessively disruptive camera men to which a valid protest was filed before the deadline and conveniently being ignored by Soviet organizers.])
The third game is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, Fischer announced he would play only if the cameras ([and the disruptive men accompanying them]) were removed and if the forfeit were erased and the Sunday game was considered the second.
WIth the loss of Tuesday's opener, Fischer trails 0-2 in the 24-game competition. Spassky needs 10 more points to retain his world title. Fischer 12½ to take it. A win counts one point, a draw half a point.
A four-member international ([3 out of 4 who were kowtowing to their Soviet bias]) committee presiding over the championship voted 3 to 1 Friday to reject Fischer's appeal of the referee's decision that the American had forfeited the second match.
Fischer's ([legal demand]) complicated anew the ([unethical, unlawful “arrangement” restricting freedom of the press and to bury the match]) competition and threatened to cost him much of the money he had pried from the organizers in drawn-out negotiations preceding the match. ([What money above the $125,000 bid was ever “pried” from the organizers? It took the outside generosity of James Slater from Britain just to bring the allotted prize money up to the level offered in the Australian bid!])
Thorarinsson said the organizers do not intend to pay the loser's share of the purse if Fischer's non-appearance Thursday causes his disqualification. ([Disqualification?? And why should it when a valid protest was submitted before deadline? “Under agreed rules of the match, [Fischer] had the right to object and to demand removal of the cameras if they disturbed him” Col Ed Edmondson, USCF])
The loser has been scheduled to get $46,875 from the chess federation. $45,000 from a $120,000 purse offered by London investment banker James Slater and $27,500 from television and movie rights.
Removal of the cameras could eliminate the television and movie cash. ([So then the Soviets have their “excuse” to continue harassment and hounding Robert Fischer with a reported 3.3 Million dollar lawsuit worked up by Chester Fox Inc., for many years to come, post-tournament.])
Charles Fox, a New York promoter who bought the film rights, said “the whole financial structure of the match” depended on the filming. ([No, it did not. No more than the 1971 tournament in Argentina between Petrosian and Fischer, or the match between Larsen and Fischer in Denver, Colorado or the match in Canada between Fischer and Taimanov. How did those matches possibly survive without Soviet Fox and his disruptive camera crew men?])
The Reykjavik public, meanwhile, appeared to be losing patience ([when did they have any “patience” with Americans and Foreigners to begin with? and the Soviet Union organizers chose this hostile haven for this very reason!]) More than half of the 2,500 seats in the arena were empty for Thursday's scheduled match. ([The Anti-American hostility existed long before Fischer, over that NATO base at Keflavik!])
One of the participants on a radio talk show proposed that “Fischer and all the foreign reporters be given eight hours to get out of Iceland or be shot.”
Caption: Will He Play? Bobby Fischer, the U.S. chess master facing world champion Boris Spassky of Russia, received concessions in the rulings of the world championship competition in Iceland, but said he still would not play if Thursday's forfeit loss was counted as a loss in the 24-match championship. (AP) ★
