Standard-Speaker Hazleton, Pennsylvania Tuesday, July 11, 1972 - Page 1
Finally, Chess Match On
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) — American Bobby Fischer and Russian defending champion Boris Spassky finally squared off today for the world championship of chess—the riches and most publicized match of all time.
Spassky had the first move.
The match is 24 games and could last two months. Fischer needs 12½ points to win; Spassky 12, or a draw, to retain his title. A player gets one point for winning a game and a half-point for a draw.
Last-minute adjustments were being made on the stage of Reykjavik's 2,500-seat sports hall. The playing table was shortened, the green-and-white marble chessboard constructed four the fourth time, and the overhead lighting changed.
But these were small details compared to the tangled negotiations and war of nerves that preceded the encounter, originally set to start July 2.
Spassky, 35, drew the white chessmen and with them the first move. Fischer, 29, of Brooklyn, N.Y., had the black pieces. One game will be played each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, starting at 5 p.m. — 1 p.m. EDT.
National prestige was at stake for the defending Russian. The Soviet Union subsidizes chess and has dominated the game for decades. Fischer is the first foreigner to make it to the finals since 1948.
For Fischer, it is a question of money and personal prestige, of proving his claim that he is the best in the world.
London oddsmaker rated the lanky American the favorite to win the 24-game, two-month competition and capture more than $180,000 of the estimated $300,000 at stake.
The winner gets five-eighths of the $125,000 put up by the Icelandic Chess Federation, or $78,125, plus another $75,000 of the $120,000 provided by London investment banker James Slater to persuade Fischer to end his holdout last week. Organizers calculate Fischer and Spassky will divide at least another $55,000 from the sale of television and film rights.
Both players stayed in seclusion. Spassky was reported nervous and upset.
Fischer, who favors sleeping in the daytime, was last seen at 1 a.m., Monday, when he visited the sports hall. He demanded that the mahogany playing table be shortened and the overhead lights be changed.
The challenger also agreed with the Russian's complaints that the squares on the chessboard were too large in relation to the size of the pieces.
Finally, Chess Match On 11 Jul 1972, Tue Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
