Fort Lauderdale News Fort Lauderdale, Florida Wednesday, July 05, 1972 - Page 2
Fischer Chess Match May Not Be Played
Reykjavik (UPI)—The Soviet Chess Federation today demanded that the International Federation (FIDE) rule that Bobby Fischer forfeit the first game in his world chess championship match against Boris Spassky by failing to show up Sunday, FIDE president Dr. Max Euwe said.
Dr. Euwe said “The Soviets did not object Sunday when I postponed the game and now I cannot make such a ruling. If the Soviets insist on this penalty I believe the whole match is off.”
He received the cable from the Soviet Chess Federation in Moscow, demanding that Fischer forfeit the game, shortly after Fischer had broken his silence and regretted that he had been late arriving in Reykjavik.
The Soviet cable referred to paragraph five of the so-called Amsterdam Agreement for the Fischer-Spassky game in which the parties agreed that a player who does not turn up after one hour of the game time has expired forfeits the game and the point to his opponent.
The Soviet decision to break off the talks earlier in the day threw serious doubts on the possibility the match would be played.
“This is a very bad development and I am now very pessimistic about the match,” Euwe said.
