Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona Tuesday, July 04, 1972 - Page 23
Fischer Flies To Chess Championship
$130,000 Added To Pot. New York (AP) — Bobby Fischer, who held out right down to the line for more money for his world championship chess match in Iceland, got it from a British banker Monday and flew to Iceland with only hours to spare.
As Fischer was airborne from Kennedy Airport a few minutes after 10 P.M., he had just 10 hours to make the five-hour flight and prepare himself for the noon (5 a.m. Tucson time) deadline for the start of preliminary activities before beginning the match in Reykjavik with Soviet champion Boris Spassky.
The 29-year-old Fischer, whose dislike of press coverage and photographs is well-known, was sneaked aboard the plane a half-hour before the scheduled 9:30 P.M. (EDT) takeoff.
It was not explained why the plane was a half-hour late getting into the air.
While about 50 newspaper, radio and television newsmen waited for him at the airport, airline personnel drove Fischer and a party of four others to the plane in a station wagon. He was unsmiling.
Among those in the part was Freystrinn Thorbergsson, Icelandic chess player and old friend of Fischer who flew here Sunday night to persuade Fischer to meet the deadline and play the 24-game championship match.
Fischer had deliberately missed plane after plane for which he had reservations, as his representatives in Iceland sought to increase his share of the take from the match which was originally scheduled to start Sunday and has drawn chess fans from throughout the world.
One of them, British banker James D. Slater, was so anxious to see the match go on that he offered to add $130,000 to the prize money, on a winner-take-all or percentage basis.
A spokesman for Fischer said the chess giant thought the offer “stupendous” and elected to take the latter option, which would split Slater's money by the same percentage as the original purse.
This would give the winner $156,000 instead of $78,125, and the loser $104,000 instead of $46,875, the spokesman for Fischer said. The two players also are to receive 30 per cent each of the income from television and photographic rights.
Slater's private enrichment of the post could be used to boost the winner's prize to $156,000, with the remainder of his funds going to boost the loser's share. He said another alternative would be to add the entire $130,000 — or 50,000 pounds — to the winner's cut for a total of $208,125.
The London investment banker said he made his offer through Dr. Max Euwe, president of FIDE explaining: “I like chess and have played it for years. Many want to see this match … if Fischer does not go to Iceland, many will be disappointed.”
The federation is said to have discussed a Fischer demand for a quarantine from the press and the public during his stay in Iceland. The federation has offered him all the police protection he would need.
