New York Times, New York, New York Friday, July 21, 1972 - Page 32
Delight and Sympathy Mingled Among Marshall Club Observers
There was incredulity at the Marshall Chess Club here yesterday when Boris Spassky resigned to Bobby Fischer.
Some delight was expressed, too, because most of the 50 or 20 persons there were rooting for Fischer. But the delight seemed subdued. Indeed, when the result was learned at 4:40 P.M., the Fischer backers seemed quite stunned.
“Must be some mistake in transmission,” muttered Edmar Mednis, who stood by a gray, tin chessboard that was hung on a wall on which he charted the players' moves.
Telephone calls were quickly put through to Channel 13, and when the result was confirmed and double-checked, disbelief persisted.
“Not Spassky!” exclaimed one member. “Spassky doesn't make moves like that.”
A Rush To The Tables
And quickly, members and their guests rushed to the tables with chess sets and set about to find out what alternate moves Spassky could have made.
“It should have been queen to knight one instead of the queen to bishop two that Spassky made,” said Michael Edelstein, a hirsute young man who shook his head in disapproval.
“Bad move it was,” asserted Walter Goldwater, president of the club, which is at 23 West 10th Street.
Still, there was sympathy for Spassky.
“Pressure did it to him,” Larry D. Evans observed. “The game showed who was the better player. But Spassky could conceivably have played for a draw.”
The consensus seemed to be that Spassky had made the move in question for “inexplicable reasons.”
“It must have been some sort of momentary aberration,” Mr. Goldwater said. “Players like Spassky just don't falter like that.”
Then there were some arguments among members over Spassky's move. One said there was no way Fischer could not have won. Half of those present murmured agreement.
Then someone said that if only Spassky had moved his queen to knight one, the game would have ended in a draw eventually—but that, at least, there would have been a good chance for a draw.
The other half of the crowd seemed to agree with this view.
“The question now would be ‘Is Spassky Demoralized?’” Mr. Goldwater said. “That may very well be the key to the series. Petrosian was demoralized by just such a bad move, and Fischer won, eventually [in the eliminations.]”
As the evening wore on, the games continued in earnest. The sound of debate mixed with the sound of wooden pieces moved on wooden chess boards.
