The Charlotte News Charlotte, North Carolina Tuesday, July 04, 1972 - Page 4
Fischer's Chess Holdout Is Over
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP) — Ending his holdout which threatened to wreck the world chess championship series, American grandmaster Bobby Fischer arrived in Iceland today about 10 hours before he was scheduled to meet Soviet titleholder Boris Spassky for their first game.
The 29-year-old American challenger flew from New York after accepting London banker James D. Slater's offer to match $125,000 purse put up by the Icelandic Chess Federation. Now the winner of the 24-game match will get $156,25 and the loser $93,750.
EACH will also get 30 per cent of the $250,000 paid for the TV and move rights to the match, or $75,000 each.
The match, which could last two months, had been scheduled to start Sunday afternoon, but Fischer stayed in New York, demanding a 30 per cent cut of the gate receipts.
The International Chess Federation postponed the first game 48 hours and told Fischer he had to be in Reykjavik by noon today or forfeit the match. He arrived about five hours before the deadline.
The Icelandic Chess Federation, after negotiating since last week with Fischer's lawyer, Andrew Davis, rejected the demand for a cut of the gate receipts. But almost simultaneously Slater came forward with his offer to put up 50,000 pounds, saying, “Fischer has said that money is the problem. Well, here it is.”
“I like chess and have played it for years,” said Slater. “Many want to see this match and everything has been arranged. If Fischer does not go to Iceland, many will be disappointed.”
Fischer said Slater's offer was “stupendous … incredible and generous and brave,” according to a representative in New York.
This spokesman, lawyer Paul Marshall, claimed Fischer's holdout had been a matter of principle: “He felt Iceland wasn't treating this match or his countrymen with the dignity that it and they deserved.”
Marshall also said that Fischer, who abhors newsmen and runs at the sight of them, “was furious about the press censorship.” ([Does that excuse the illegality of the unlawful suppression of freedom of honest journalism and freedom of the press? But what could the Soviet Union care about Democratic principles, such as Constitutional Laws?])
The Icelandic federation has restricted move-by-move and photo coverage of the match because of its sale of the TV and movie rights.
