Hattiesburg American Hattiesburg, Mississippi Thursday, July 13, 1972 - Page 14
Fischer Boycotts Chess Tournament
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) Bobby Fischer informed the organizers of the world chess championships today, that he is boycotting further play unless three hidden movie cameras are removed from the hall.
A call was made to the organizers at 10 minutes before the scheduled start of Fischer's second game with Boris Spassky of Russia. It said Fischer wasn't coming.
Lothar Schmid, the chief referee, said Spassky would have to sit at the chess table by himself for one hour. Then the game would be forfeited by Fischer.
At what point Fischer would be disqualified from the championship series would have to be decided by the International Chess Federation—FIDE, Schmid said.
Spassky, who won the first game of the 24-game match, entered the near-empty Sports Palace on time and took his place behind the black pieces arrayed in battle order before him.
As the rules required, Schmid started Fischer's clock, since he was to have the first move with the white pieces. Spassky looked somewhat perplexed.
Richard Stein, the lawyer for promoter Chester Fox, said “we did everything we could” to appease Fischer. ([They did everything they could, to appease the Soviet and displeased Fischer starting with the unconstitutional censorship, forbidding free constitutionally-guaranteed right of the press to offer coverage of the match, then recruited noisy camera men to swarm Fischer and disrupt his concentration, to steer the outcome in favor of the Soviet Union.])
The American chess champion objected to the presence of the cameras, though he could neither see them nor hear them in the darkness of the 2,500-seat auditorium. ([The cameras were not visible? But that doesn't include a survey of the men operating the cameras which could be both seen and heard, according to Fischer.])
“He said they bothered him because he knew they were there,” Fox reported. ([But that's not the full story, is it Mr. Fox. Robert Fischer's complaint was about a crew of camera men who were making a commotion and visually you could see them. Rewriting history are you, Mr. Fox?])
Stein said Fox couldn't comply with Fischer's demand to remove the cameras.
“The whole financial structure of the match depends on it,” Stein asserted. ([Yes, to disturb Fischer's concentration and guarantee the Soviet hold on the title through manipulative maneuvers, off the chessboard.])
The phone call informing the organizers Fischer wasn't coming was made by Fred Cramer, an official of the U.S. Chess Federation who has access to Fischer. It was made to Gudmundur Thorarinsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation.
The Evening Sun Baltimore, Maryland Thursday, July 13, 1972 - Page 3
Lombardy At Hotel
Fischer's second, the Rev. William Lombardy, was at Fischer's hotel trying to persuade him to come.
At 10 minutes past the 5 p.m. starting time, Fox said: “It looks like he may be coming. He's asked for a police car.”
