New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 10, 1972 - Page 19
Fischer's Favorite Chair Flown To Reykjavik for Chess Contest
Reykjavik, Iceland, July 9 (UPI)—Bobby Fischer's favorite chair arrived by air freight from New York today to help assure his comfort in his match against Boris Spassky for the world chess championship.
★ Fred Cramer, a vice president of the U.S. Chess Federation acting as Fischer's spokesman, said he was certain the first of the 24 scheduled games will be played Tuesday “unless Spassky is still ill.”
The fact that the official match arbiter, West German Grandmaster Lothar Schmid, has returned to his home in Bamberg and will not be back in Reykjavik until Thursday “will not stop the game,” Cramer said.
Schmid flew home Saturday after his son had been injured in a traffic accident. Schmid's deputy, Gudmunder Arnlaugsson of Iceland, will take charge of the first game in the $250,000 match for the world title.
The players must still give their official approval of the playing conditions, but Spassky said yesterday before going salmon fishing that he would not argue about the conditions or the selection of a board and a chess set.
“I will leave that to Fischer. It makes no difference to me,” the 35-year-old Soviet star said.
Fischer, who has been in the hall where the match is to be played, complained about a number of things, including the chairs, the light and the board.
Since he could find no chair to fit him—the 29-year-old challenger is much taller than Spassky—Fischer decided to have his own favorite chair shipped from New York. It arrived aboard an Icelandic Airlines jetliner.
The match was postponed once last week as Fischer held out for more money—the purse is now $250,000—and twice more when the Russians demanded that Fischer be penalized for the delay. They finally settled for a written apology from Fischer to Spassky.
