The Times Shreveport, Louisiana Sunday, July 02, 1972 - Page 6
Fischer Arrival Still Awaited in Reykjavik
New York (UPI) — American chess champion Bobby Fischer kept his Russian opponent waiting and the world watching Saturday, less than 24 hours before the scheduled start of their world championship match 2,600 miles away in Iceland.
Three times Fischer postponed his departure for Reykjavik mysteriously at the last minute, risked permanent disqualification from world championship play if he was not on a plane Saturday night.
As a member of the Church of God, a Protestant sect which observes the Sabbath on Saturday, Fischer, 29, prefers not to fly until sundown Saturday. That would leave a 9:30 p.m. EDT Icelandic Airlines flight out of Kennedy International Airport as the only direct connection.
Spassky Calmly Waiting
In the Soviet Union, meanwhile, the Soviet news agency Tass claimed Fischer was losing his own “war of nerves” against world chess champion Boris Spassky, who was calmly waiting in Iceland playing tennis and going for long walks.
Fischer was in hiding Saturday and his lawyer, Paul G. Marshall, would say only, “I expect Bobby Fischer to do the proper thing for Bobby Fischer.”
But a longtime friend and fellow international grand master, the Rev. William J. Lombardy, who talked to Fischer Friday predicted he would arrive in Reykjavik in time for the match, settle his differences with the promoters over money, play Russian World Champion Boris Spassky and win the title.
“He gives indication of going and playing,” Lombardy said.
“A man who is that confident about his own skill is not going to pass up the opportunity to play over some minor details which can be ironed out.”
Official Delay Possible
In Reykjavik, German Grand Master Lothar Schmidt, arbiter for the match, said the first game could be postponed if the official match physician found medical reasons for Fischer to ask for a delay. But, officials said, Fischer had to show up by game time or be disqualified.
The Icelandic flight would leave Fischer 10 hours to rest before the start of the match at 5 p.m. Sunday Iceland time (1 p.m. EDT). “I'm sure he'll be well rested for the match,” Lombardy said.
Another Fischer attorney, Andrew Davis, remained on a flight to Reykjavik when Fischer bolted Friday and was negotiating with the president of the Icelandic Chess Federation, Gudmundur Thorarinsson, for 30 per cent of the gate receipts which Fischer was demanding. Original plans called for the winner to receive five-eighths of a $125,000 purse put up by the Icelandic organizers and the loser the remainder.
Unlikely to Agree
Thorarinsson said at a news conference later the talks had produced “some results” but “we still have difficulties.” He said that “from a principle point of view it is unlikely” that the federation would agree to Fischer's demands, which also included 60 per cent of the net profit from the sale of television rights.
Asked by newsmen as he left his hotel to play tennis whether he expected the match to begin Sunday, Spassky said: “I don't think so but I don't know for sure and at this point I don't want to think about it.”
Thorarinsson said each player had the right to ask for postponement of a game three times during the match by pleading illness. “Theoretically these could be the first three games,” he said, but it is up to the official match doctor to decide “and that would be difficult if the player is not in Iceland.”
In New York Marshall refused to discuss the negotiations.
Lombardy said he believed that it was the differences over money that caused Fischer to cancel plans to fly to Reykjavik earlier. “He doesn't feel like moving until they at least make some attempt at settling that,” the priest said. “But I am confident that he will be reasonable. One thing is paramount in his mind and that is to win the world championship.”
War of Nerves
Tass in a dispatch from Reykjavik said, “The American grandmaster Larry Evans, who has [failed at being] Fischer's second, announced on arrival in Reykjavik that Fischer was waging a war of nerves against Spassky.
“But it is Fischer himself who seems to be unnerved,” Tass said. “Spassky went out for a walk early in the morning Saturday … (and) played tennis against the international master Ivo Ney of Estonia.”
As an example of Fischer's alleged nervousness, the Tass dispatch cited Icelandic newspaper reports that said Fischer had canceled a New York-Reykjavik flight at the last minute Friday and “was seen running away from Kennedy Airport in a ft of temper,” after his Thursday night cancellation.
The report, headlined “Match or No Match?” on Tass wires, said “it is just 24 hours before the match is due to start, but will it get going at all?”
