AThe Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada Friday, July 14, 1972 - Page 13
Fischer Charges Conspiracy As He Forfeits Second Game by Ian Westergren
Reykjavik, Iceland (UPI) — Charging there was “a conspiracy against me,” ([Well, yeah, Master Bob, they sure are “conspiring” against you every time they publish another misleading article in U.S. papers, claiming your complaint was against inanimate cameras, and never, but once or twice mentioning a man operating said cameras, was actually involved. And yeah, sure, the whole plot to stage the venue in Reykjavik, next door to the Keflavik NATO base, which the Soviets desperately want removed, a point of contention, to rabble-rouse Anti-American hysteria among disgruntled pro-Soviet Icelanders… and even Col. Edmondson of the USCF says that if you wanted the disruptive camera operators ousted, the Icelanders should've complied… but they were so busy conspiring with Soviets, to disrupt your concentration to keep the title by default; so many wrongs, in so little time, so, yes, you are at liberty to regard their peculiar behavior as “CONSPIRING” against you, and of course I'm only scratching the tip of the Iceberg of "behind the scenes problems" covered here over the past several months, straight from the newspapers!; Soviet double-talk, backpeddling and underhanded schemes]) U.S. grand Master Bobby Fischer locked himself in his hotel room Thursday and refused to come out for the second game of the $250,000 world championship chess match, forfeiting the game to Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Despite last minute attempts by organizers to get him to the hall before the 6 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT) deadline, Fischer refused to listen and turned off his telephone.
Aides said the unpredictable chess genius stayed in bed to protest the presence of ([disruptive camera men operating]) cameras in the contest hall.
He later allowed an old friend, ([couldn't be that close of an old friend, since Olafsson was rooting for the Soviets]), Icelandic grand master Fridrik Olafsson, into his hotel suite.
“Talk to me about just about everything else but the match” Olafsson quoted Fischer as saying. “I am not interested in it any more. In fact, I lost interest already six months ago.”
The American camp announced four hours after the game that Fischer was filing an official protest against the decision to give Spassky the second game.
Fischer's spokesman said they would protest on the grounds the clock was started before the playing conditions were in proper order. They said Fischer felt the arbiter had violated the rules of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and would ask the match committee to cancel the results of the game. Under the rules they have 12 hours to make a decision.
Icelandic chess sources quoted Fischer as saying he was not only protesting the ([disruptive men operating the]) cameras but also the fact that “there is a conspiracy against me here.” ([Naturally, since Iceland is a hornet's nest of Anti-American chauvinism and racist to the point the Icelandic government made secret agreements with U.S. Government to forbid, and by 1972 strictly limit the number of black service men entry to the NATO base… there was a lot of conspiring going on there against Americans. That's why the Soviet Union selected Iceland. The fact that the professional class supported Hitler during WWII doesn't seem to raise any concerns from the USSR.])
The forfeiture put Fischer, 29, two games down in his attempt to wrest the championship from Spassky.
Judge Lothar Schmid of West Germany announced the forfeiture when Fischer, playing the white pieces, failed to show up within the allotted hour to make the first move of the second game.
“Lades and gentlemen,” Schmid said, “according to rule five of the Amsterdam regulations, Robert Fischer has lost the game.”
The announcement drew applause from Icelanders in the hall.
Fischer's aides say he never signed the Amsterdam regulations, set up prior to the match to govern its play.
Fischer said after his defeat in the opening game Wednesday that he would not play unless all television cameras ([the disruptive men operating them, some in crews of up to three men apiece! and placed a mere 5 meters from Fischer]) were removed from the hall.
Negotiations between the organizers and Fischer's representatives went on throughout the day Thursday in an effort to resolve the impasse.
Representatives of Chester Fox Inc., the firm that bought exclusive television and picture rights to the match, took part in the negotiations. They offered to compromise with Fischer's demands by removing one of their closed circuit television cameras and relocating the others so they would not disturb the challenger. ([But since Fischer is now 2-0 because of the disruptive camera men, why would he feel in a mood to compromise with the all-too-obvious Soviet clowns?])
The proposed compromise was not enough.
Spassky, 35, arrived about two minutes before the scheduled start of the second game. He and Schmid walked slowly around the stage waiting for the challenger. The audience sat silently in the hall watching the empty black swivel chair that Fischer had flown in from New York for the match.
Spassky went backstage at one point, then returned and studied the flower arrangements and other decorations.
The Russian, dressed in a black and white jacket, beige trousers and red tie, appeared calm and relaxed.
Schmid then started the game clock on schedule at 5 p.m. (1 p.m. EDT), signalling that the American challenger had one hour to show up and make his first move.
Schmid and Fischer were engaged in a dispute of their own. The judge demanded an apology from Fischer for calling him a liar Wednesday when he tried to convince the challenger to return to the first game.
The incident occurred when Fischer interrupted his play in the game for 35 minutes to protest the presence of the cameras ([our reporter means the disruptive Spider man with a camera dangling around on the roof, according to Golombek, and also the disruptive camera men located at the side of the stage, as reported by Schonberg of the NY Times. Crews of disruptive men… operating the cameras. Wouldn't want to mislead readers would we?]). He later returned, but conceded the game to Spassky on the 56th move when he saw he had no way to prevent the Russian from turning his remaining pawn into a queen, the most powerful piece on the chess board.
Caption: IN WAIT OF FISCHER — Soviet chess master Boris Spassky waits silently for the arrival of Bobby Fischer Tuesday as their first match was to get under way in Reykjavik, Iceland. Bobby Fischer forfeited his chess game Thursday with Spassky by failing to appear at the playing hall. Fischer objected to the presence of ([disruptive crews of men operating]) cameras in the hall.
Fischer Charges Conspiracy (Iceland Is Very Anti-American and Soviet Conspired to Pick It) 14 Jul 1972, Fri The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
