AThe Jackson Sun Jackson, Tennessee Thursday, July 13, 1972 - Page 1
Fischer Forfeits Second Game To Spassky
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) — Bobby Fischer forfeited his chess game with world champion Boris Spassky of Russia today by failing to appear at the playing hall.
Fischer boycotted the game because he objected to the presence of movie cameras ([more specifically the noisy and visible camera-men crews, knowingly making a distraction to disrupt Fischer's focus and concentration, resulting in matches being thrown in favor of the Soviet]) in the hall.
The forfeit gave Spassky, who beat Fischer on Wednesday, a 2-0 lead in the scheduled 24-game series. It was uncertain whether the match would survive.
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 could 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.
Fischer was scheduled to meet the world champion from the Soviet Union later today — at 1 p.m. EDT — for the second game of their 24-game match. The American challenger lost the first game Wednesday night.
Fischer staged a 30-minute walkout shortly after the play began Wednesday, complaining that a movie camera 150 feet away was making him ([distracted by the man operating it, according to Harold Schonberg of the New York Times]) The camera was hardly visible ([but the man operating it certainly was, or Fischer wouldn't have raised objections]) outside the lighted players' circle, and it could not be heard by Fischer ([but the disruptive camera crew could be seen, and even heard]), but aides said the knowledge of ([the camera man and crew operating the camera]) its presence unnerved him. ([and why shouldn't such calculated disruptions?])
Chief referee Lothar Schmid of West Germany, who makes the decision on all contested points in connection with the match, told Fischer during his walkout there was nothing he could do about the camera. Film and television rights for the match have been sold to an American promoter, and Fischer and Spassky are to get a share of the proceeds, estimated at a minimum of $27,500 each.
“It's up to Lothar Schmid whether Bobby plays,” one of Fischer's advisers said today.
Contacted at his hotel, Schmid said: “There will be a match tonight. If Fischer doesn't appear, he will take the consequences.”
A member of Fischer's camp said the “legal aspects are being studied.”
Richard Stein, a lawyer for the promoter who bought the TV and film rights, Chester Fox, said he was up all night with Fischer's second, the Rev. William Lombardy, and Fred Cramer of the U.S. Chess Federation.
Stein said that at one point Fischer walked in on the meeting, listened for a few minutes and then in a few sentences indicated he was adamant about expelling the cameras ([due to the disruptive camera crews accompanying the cameras]). Then he went to bed.
In agreement with Lombardy and Cramer, Stein wrote Fischer a letter at 5 o'clock this morning appealing to the challenger to accept the presence of the cameras and go on playing.
“I hope the letter will move him.” Stein said.
Schmid said he was prepared to invoke two rules of the match against Fischer.
Rule 17 prohibits in the name of “the highest principles of sportsmanship” that either player “distract or annoy his opponent.” ([Does that include the Soviet Government and Soviet Chess Federation pulling every conceivable string to manipulate and agitate Fischer's Autism Spectrum, pushing buttons, to calculate forfeited matches due to “distracting and annoying” Fischer, deliberately?])
Rule 21 allows the taking of pictures during the match by official photographers as long as the cameras are “neither visible nor audible” ([but again, not a word is mentioned of the human crews, operating said cameras!])
The camera Fischer objected to was officially sanctioned. ([Great then. Leave the camera there, and tell the operator who is distracting Fischer with their noise and visible commotion they're “no longer needed. The camera can operate itself from here, onward.”])
With a maximum of 23 more games to be played, Robert Byrne, the second-ranking U.S. grandmaster, said Fischer's loss “isn't necessarily all that significant. Either of these players can come back and win.”
A victory yields one point, a draw a half a point, and after Wednesday's match Spassky needed 11 more points in the 24-game series to retain his title.
Fischer needs 12½ points to end the 24-year Soviet monopoly of the title. Today he plays the white pieces, which gives him the first move and a slight advantage.
The first game in the match began Tuesday, and Spassky adjourned it after 40 moves with Fischer in bad straits. Five minutes after the game resumed late Wednesday afternoon, Fischer stood up, spoke animatedly to chief referee Lothar Schmid of West Germany and strode to a backstage dressing room.
Schmid followed him, and Fischer said he wouldn't continue to play unless a movie camera 150 feet from the board was shut off. Schmid said he couldn't order the camera removed. Fischer stayed away for 30 minutes, then came back and resumed play.
After Spassky's 56th move Fischer resigned. He reached over and stopped the clock after 63 minutes had elapsed, offered Spassky his hand, folded his scorecard and walked out. He paused once to wave to the audience, which was applauding Spassky.
When the play resumed Wednesday, Spassky had his king, a bishop that controlled the black diagonals and three pawns. Fischer was down to his king and five pawns, two of them loose on the king's side. One of Spassky's pawns threatened a Fischer pawn.
In his first move, Spassky captured that pawn. Fischer recaptured with his king and the game turned into an effort by Fischer to push his pawns a square at a time to the last rank under the escort of his king.
After his walkout, he made an ineffectual sidestep with his king. In ensuing play all the pawns on the king's side were lost. Fischer shifted his king in a hopeless struggle to the other side of the board, where two of his pawns and two of Spassky's blocked each other's passage.
Fischer couldn't unblock because Spassky's bishop could protect his position from long range. Finally, after Spassky's 56th move — his king approached the jam on the queen's side — Fischer gave up.
