The Fresno Bee The Republican Fresno, California Tuesday, July 11, 1972 - Page 3
Fischer Arrives Late For World Chess Match Start
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) — The world championship of chess got under way today without Bobby Fischer, the American challenger. He showed up seven minutes after Russian titleholder Boris Spassky made the first move.
Queen's Pawn
Spassky was there on the dot of 10 a.m., waited a minute, then calmly pushed his queen's pawn forward two spaces.
Referee Lothar Schmid of West Germany pushed the button on the time clock and the match had begun.
Then seven minutes after Spassky began the game, Fischer appeared from offstage left. With long strides he sped to the black leather swivel chair placed behind the white side of the board.
Applause which greeted Fischer's arrival arose in crescendo when Spassky moved forward from the side of the stage where he had been waiting to shake Fischer's hand.
The American took a minute to regard the board and the queen's pawn opening Spassky favors.
He moved his queen's side knight to the queen's bishop three square.
Spassky seated himself and replied with a threat to the center of the board with his queen's bishop's pawn. Fischer pushed his king's pawn forward a square.
Experts said it looked as if a Nimzo-Indian defense was shaping up.
Fischer has three loses and two draws with Spassky in five previous games. Fischer has never beaten the Russian playing black.
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.
The American's lawyer, Paul Marshall, told a newsman on the eve of play, however, that “the money's not important. Bobby wants respect on his own terms.”
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.
