AThe Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina Sunday, July 09, 1972 - Page 8
Fischer, Spassky Set To Do Battle by Bob Quincy
Two men with viewpoints and a dedication to excellent have made a chess match the most exciting “sports” event of the week.
Chess, indeed, is a game. In the past month it has become a sport, commanding headlines the size written for Wimbledon tennis and Olympic qualifications.
Until Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky came along, a championship chess match rated no more than a couple of paragraphs on the third page. On second thought, why not peddle the results to the entertainment editor?
Fischer is a whiz kid from Brooklyn. He was beating some of the best brains in the business at the age of 10. He is brash, a loner and displays the confidence of Muhammad Ali.
“No one is in my class,” puffs 29-year-old Bobby. “The odds are listed as three-to-one in my favor. They should be 20-1.”
Spassky is a Russian celebrity who must carry his country's zeal for chess championships. He lives in a swank (by Russian standards) apartment, earns 550 rubles (about $600) per month and is not a member of the Communist party.
The match is slated for a small arena. In Reykjavik, Iceland, I once spent a couple of days in Reykjavik and, as I recall it, a chess match would have been welcome entertainment. Polar Bears catch pneumonia up there. The wind blows constantly and the nearest tree is somewhere across the Atlantic.
Big money is at stake. Fischer, playing the role of a holdout, stimulated inflation and new glamour. The winner's share will be $100,000, almost 75 times greater than in the past. Chess was played for peanuts before the Fischer-Spassky showdown. It will come off Thursday, unless one of the combatants begins to sulk or goes in hiding.
Each man has supreme confidence in his own ability, but Fischer appears to be the sharper of the two over the past year.
The Russian is an ex-soccer ([track and field]) player who works out constantly. He jogs and shadow boxes to keep his 5-foot-10, 176-pound frame in trim. Fischer stands 6-2, weights 190 and he bikes and punches a heavy bag to keep in shape. Both men sleep until noon daily.
Watching Spassky compete with Fischer won't provide the same thrills as the Stanley Cup playoff's or the Super Bowl. Each of the 24 games will last five hours. Few words will be spoken. The crowd will not applaud. No cheerleaders will out out, “Give me an F…”
Yet, the amazing angle of the operation is the attention the match has drawn. People who had never seen a chess board outside a department store are suddenly fascinated.
It is the same game that has been played for thousands of years, but it has now been turned into an extravagance. Whether the competitors intended to reach the public with a jazzed-up campaign isn't known. If there is a blueprint for the present popularity, those who drew it up should be knighted.
It is easier to explain the operation of a television set than to explore the fine points of chess to the beginner. A crack chess player's concentration power is one of the rare gifts of man.
Alexander Alekhine, a Russian, once took on 32 opponents while blindfolded and played every game to a finish. Players like Spassky and Fischer are thinking eight to 10 moves ahead as they confront the board.
If Fischer thumps Spassky on Tuesday the Russians won't take kindly to the loss. The American is perhaps the most unpopular foreigner in sport as far as the Russians are concerned. ([An "Anti-American" underbelly is well documented since 1951. Reporters cite a 10% Soviet population in Iceland spreading Anti-American hubris. Icelandic government had secret agreement with U.S. Government forbidding blacks to serve at Keflavik NATO base. Fischer's mentor/guest Archie Waters reports being the ONLY black man at or anywhere near the Sports Arena during the match! Anti-Americanism is "why" Soviet Union chose the racist haven for the match.]) They consider chess their national game.
But Bobby Fischer plays to win and he is given a good chance to humble <strike>Spassky</strike> ([the Soviet Machine]).
Fischer, Spassky Set To Do Battle 09 Jul 1972, Sun The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) Newspapers.com
