AThe Herald Statesman Yonkers, New York Monday, July 10, 1972 - Page 30
Fischer: A Muhammad Ali of Chess, But With Less Talk by Kathie Beals
When Bobby Fischer, challenger of world champion Boris Spassky, played against members of the Westchester Shore Chess Club last January, new memberships increased five-fold and many of the recruits were teen-agers. Now the club numbers more than 100 as against 30 a year ago. Nationally, chess club memberships have jumped from 30,000 to 60,000.
The former child prodigy of chess — he was U.S. champion at 14 — reminds some fans of a prize fighter.
“HE'S THE MOHAMMAD ALI of chess,” said Nick Percival of Chappaqua as he took time out from a game at the Mamaroneck Free Library where the Westchester Shore Chess Club meets Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings.
“Fischer doesn't talk that much. He's more like Marciano, I'd say, a real slugger,” was club secretary Joseph Dayton's comment.
“His sportsmanship is atrocious ([and that's not accounting for the atrocious behavior from the Soviet side either! on and off the chess board]) but chess is a game in which emotions play a very important part. It's demanding both emotionally and psychologically,” said Michael Bermant who was annotating his game against Percival for future analysis.
ALTERNATELY DEPLORING
Fischer's delaying tactics prior to the championship series in Iceland which starts Tuesday and attributing them to “our money-oriented culture,” ([oh there's much more, fails emphasizing Belgrade/Reykjavik organizers refused communication with Fischer pre-match. Or tell of Belgrade's illegal 35K USD guarantee the USCF refused to shell up, Australia's 225K bid USSR snubbed via pressure on FIDE to renege or, USSR picking Anti-American, racist, Iceland who forbid blacks on Iceland's soil, achieving media censorship, or, plot to disqualify Fischer and replace with USSR's Petrosian. So much still remains untold here!]) chess fans here united in their support for the only full-time pro in the game.
“Fischer has changed the power structure in chess,” said Percival. “Three years ago the winner of the world championship got $1,800. Now he gets five-eighths of $250,000.”
If Fischer were a chess piece, which one would he be?
“THE QUEEN, of course, because he's all over the place,” said Dayton.
Paul Spindel of Scarsdale, who will meet Ken Frieden in the Class A local championship, says he plans to follow the international championship series, which will be played at the rate of three games a week, on television and in the newspapers.
“I'll follow the games and then I'll replay them, from the annotation,” he said. “Some of Fischer's games are really works of art—he's a very creative person.”
THE 24-GAME SERIES will be won by the first man to get 12½ points. Scoring is based on one point for a win and ½ point for a draw.
“Playing at the rate of three games a week — Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays — this could go on until snow flies,” said Dayton.
Although Fischer is said to be the only player making a living entirely through his chess games, stakes of up to $1,000 are common in chess tournaments, says Dayton.
“IT'S LIKE HORSE racing,” he explains. “The purse comes from the entrance fees. A lot of people make a supplementary income from chess and this is true of the Russians also.
“In the USSR, small children learn to play chess and if they show talent, they are subsidized by the state. Spassky, for example, is, I believe, an accountant, but he has all sorts of fringe benefits that let him live way beyond his salary.
“In the United States, some of the better players are subsidized by wealthy chess enthusiasts. I'm pretty sure that Fischer, when he was starting out, got the backing of one of the members of our own club.”
Fischer: A Muhammad Ali of Chess, But With Less Talk 10 Jul 1972, Mon The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, New York) Newspapers.com
