AThe Anniston Star, Anniston, Alabama Thursday, July 06, 1972 - Page 5
Fischer Irks Icelanders by Joe Alex Morris, Jr., Star-The Los Angeles Times
Reykjavik, Iceland — “We like Americans here, not Russians.” the pretty telephone operator said ([they do not like Russians, but they love the Soviet Union and its Anti-American bigotry. They also, do not like black personnel and have a secret agreement with U.S. Military to limit the number of black Americans, allowed to serve on the NATO base at Keflavik.])
“But we don't like your Mr. Fischer. We will be rooting for Spassky.” ([Of course they root for Soviets, whilst Pro-Soviet, Anti-American, Anti-Fischer. This is WHY USSR chose Iceland, with their overt, flagrant racism against Black American personnel, and decades of Anti-American publications circulated by the 10% Soviet Icelandic population. History this “Chess Mafia” worked in concert to cover-up.])
For many Icelanders, Bobby Fischer has become the latest version of the ugly American. The 29-year-old challenger for the world chess crown and his team of advisers have been collecting bad publicity ever since Fischer missed his first plane to Iceland a week ago. ([And Fischer made a brilliant move, by rebuffing months of Soviet maneuvers and meddling.])
Fischer has done it with his obstinate and — to some — arrogant demands for more money. ([How grieved was Moscow, at the thought, Fischer inherit a red dime for breaking their monopoly.])
In contrast, the Russian Boris Spassky has been a real all-American guy. ([How? With the Soviet forbidding him to travel to the prematch conference in Amsterdam to iron-out details in person with Fischer? With the Soviet putting Spassky on ice, to make all decisions as he stands by in silence? While they instruct him, order by Draconian order, what to say, how to act, controlling every move he makes on and off the chessboard?]) He plays tennis, talks to the press and drives around in a Ford Bronco, a jeep-type vehicle ([Does not freedom of speech make.])
HE BUILT HIMSELF a sympathetic public here while Fischer ([Wrong. The Soviet selected Iceland due to lack of modern communications to limit coverage of the match. The anti-American, racist atmosphere began decades, long before… when Fischer was a mere babe, fostered by the 10% Soviet underbelly in the Icelandic population, and their Anti-American publications. To keep the people divided, and conquered. The Soviet champion could've been Satan himself, and Icelanders would've been rooting for the USSR either way]) sulked in New York ([called the Soviet “Chess Mafia” bluff! as the millions of fans worldwide, including Russians, had no interest in seeing another Soviet vs Soviet world chess tournament … and nations around the world were offering as high as 225,000 dollars to host the match. The Soviet forced its will on the chess world, using its influence to nudge out Australia and Mexico's high bids, to settle for racist Iceland's smallest payout. Fischer checkmated and equalized their asinine move, raising the stakes to what Australian backers would've antied up, had Euwe kept his word to offer the first half of the matches on a “first come, first serve” bid basis, when Belgrade backed out]), Monday night he received an enthusiastic ovation when he attended a soccer match and sat next to the Icelandic president. ([Would it have been any different had Fischer shown on schedule? No. Because the Anti-American underbelly, Soviets, spreading their Anti-American publications were well-established since the 1950s, along with their secret, racist policies and agreements forbidding black American military personnel to serve on Icelandic soil. The Soviet Union was fully aware of these dynamics, and that by bringing the match to Iceland would create an atmosphere to demoralize Fischer and his aides, whilst playing favorably for the benefit of the USSR. In consideration of their choice of flagrantly racist Iceland to host the tournament, it provides further evidence their boycott of South African Apartheid, years later, was merely a publicity stunt. Soviet Political Antics lacking sincerity.])
A great deal of this is gut reaction, and perhaps unfair to Fischer. Four years ago, a chess world championship win was worth very little. The pot for this match is now $250,000, plus 60 per cent of television and film rights.
But, like the Olympic games, the Fischer challenge has made chess a quasi-political affair. He is the first threat to Soviet domination in decades, and this championship match has taken on certain aspects of the big power struggle.
Not that such considerations both Bobby. “He doesn't worry about such things,” said Fred Cramer, an executive of the American Chess Federation.
Fischer doesn't say anything to anyone, ([snipping the false claim that Fischer ever sold exclusive interview rights to Life magazine. Said Fischer to the New York Times on September 23, 1972: “Fischer told a reporter that the story that he had sold Life Magazine an exclusive interview during the match with Spassky was ‘a dirty lie.’” ‘I was busy,’ he said. ‘If I'd given an interview to every body that asked, I'd have lost the match.’” - New York Times, 9/23/1972.(https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/23/archives/city-says-hail-to-bobby-fischer-champion-gets-gold-medal-and-makes.html))
IN THE LATEST EXAMPLE, Cramer told the newspaper Timinn, Wednesday that 80 per cent of the Icelanders want Fischer to win. Nothing would appear to be further from the truth: In countless conversations since Bobby's first abortive attempt to fly here was beaten back by photographers in New York, this correspondent has yet to find one Icelander sympathetic to him. ([Because of the decades of an Icelandic, Anti-American underbelly, fostered by the 10% Soviet population, and their pro-Soviet publications…])
“I hope he stays home,” said a businessman shortly before Fischer finally made the flight over.
The American image was hardly improved by the case of the invisible cables. There were two of them, one supposedly from the American Chess Federation, the other from a Dr. Anthony Said, said to be a friend of Fischer's.
Both were allegedly sent to Fischer's unofficial representatives here, and both purportedly supported demands made for a postponement of the match. Neither cable arrived, and to top it all, Bobby said in New York he wasn't ill.
His representatives here had gone to International Chess Federation president Dr. Max Euwe pleading illness on Fischer's part, in asking for a two-day delay. ([But WHY should Soviets be so upset by “imaginary cables,” when their “Chess Mafia” in Belgrade printed a whole “White Book” on imaginary cablegrams, according to Robert Byrne, who put it best: as Fischer “allegedly said” and “quoted Fischer as saying” without producing a single, verifiable cablegram! As in reproductions, and verification by the telegraph agency, nada. The press never bothered to investigate the false claims of the “Chess Informant” magazine who produced this defamatory rubbish… however, Ed Edmondson confirmed in his numerous interviews with western press around April 1972, that the Soviet and Belgrade organizers were at fault for making false claims, patently untrue, and an absolute failure to meet with Fischer to iron-out prematch details… going so far as forbidding Spassky to travel, to work out the details between himself and Fischer. Fischer's friend, Ken Smith, offered documentation of a plot to disqualify and replace Fischer with a Soviet (mentioned in chess columns from April 23, 1972). Throwing a “deadline” at Fischer, to agree to a contract he'd never even seen or had opportunity to review, and only learning of said deadline through third party newspaper reports! No effort was spared by Soviet “chess mafia,” to avoid communication, and to seek an unfair advantage and disqualification of Fischer, pre-tournament.])
Nothing seem to embarrass them. In addition to Cramer, they include three men who talk only to the International Chess Mafia, here in strength, of course.
ONE IS A CHUBBY priest named William Lombardy, a former junior chess champion inclined to grandiose phraseology of little substance. Speaking of the American negotiations with the Russians, he says things like, “We've opened up areas of communication I never thought possible.”
But he doesn't say what he means, and the Russians didn't understand either.
Another is a lawyer named Paul Marshall. “Answering questions won't help anyone,” he said curtly when reporters tried to ask him about the talks with the Russians.
All in all, the Americans add up to a great team — for Spassky. And he needs them, for his own people back in Moscow have been up to their usual heavy-handed nonsense.
After a fortnight in which he built up his nice-guy image, Spassky almost had it shot out from underneath him. The Soviet chess federation opened up its big guns against not only Fischer but Euwe, the Dutch President of the International Chess Federation, and a man in way over his head in the current crisis.
Spassky himself put out a statement, considerably more restrained than the noises from Moscow. It appeared to some, including Euwe, that Spassky was simply going through the motions of protest after getting orders from Moscow.
THE SOVIET CHAMPION is something of an outsider. He is not a member of the Communist party, and drives about the streets of Moscow in a Volvo.
Men at the top can get away with this in the Soviet Union. But Spassky is under considerable pressure to beat Fischer, and his whole way of life could be influenced by whether he retains his crown or not.
Spassky has not played well recently, and his international rating is now lower than Fischer's. Despite this, he has kept his courteous cool during trying days while Bobby Fischer remained closeted in New York and his representatives here bumbled from one disaster to another.
Fischer may well emerge as the next world champion. His public image here may even improve during the 24-game competition, but in the meantime, it's been rough going. He and Spassky still haven't sat down to the chess board, and the ugly American image is still predominant.
In fact, it appeared to worsen Wednesday, as Cramer held a farcical press conference, the last in a day of weary and confusing meetings of the press with Russians, chess federation officials and Icelanders.
SPEAKING AFTER EUWE had formally condemned Fischer's behavior, Cramer said blandly, “Bobby doesn't feel he's violated any rules.” ([Probably not, because Soviets made up the rules as they went along, recognizing only those rules which played favorably in their behalf, ignoring rules which did not, including whether said ”rules“ extant rules, or not. In the pithy words of another reporters, reference was made to Soviets quoting the “so-called Amsterdam Agreement,” which had since, been invalidated, and a new contract drawn, in its place, without Fischer's signature, to base their circus of “demands” upon.])
He scoffed at the Soviet complaint that Fischer had missed the opening ceremony Saturday, describing it as “a musical concert with speeches in Icelandic which he wouldn't have understood.” ([Bobby had a history of avoiding such ceremonial pre-match activities, before and after tournaments, often arriving fashionably late, showing up only in ample enough time to make his move on the chess board. Was this anything new? He also avoided celebrations of Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Valentine's Day, and a whole smorgasbord of activities ….]) Everyone else, including the president of Iceland, took the trouble to attend.
To top it all off, Cramer demanded an apology from the International Chess Federation, saying it broke the rules by agreeing to a Russian request that the drawing for the first game be postponed.
The press corps stumbled from the auditorium, not knowing whether to be angry or simply dumbfounded by this performance. An American grand master declared angrily: “We must get rid of him.”
It was at least a week too late, however, to repair the damage done here. ([95% of that so-called “damage” is due to Soviet finagling of choosing the Icelandic location with its deeply-rooted, Anti-American hostilities, fueled by Soviet antagonists, and their comrades in arms, from Moscow. Nobody seems interested to mention however, the Soviet approval, that black American service men will not grace the World Chess Championship, because Iceland had its secret agreements with the NATO military installation at Keflavik, forbidding Persons of Color on their soil. If they can “look the other way” from racist discrimination, they'll “look the other way,” from any flagrant injustice.])
