ACourier-Post Camden, New Jersey Friday, July 07, 1972 - Page 38
Russian World Champion to Make First Move: Spassky Drops His Demand for Forfeit, Chess Match With Fischer Begins Tuesday
Reykjavik, Iceland (UPI) — Russian Boris Spassky has agreed to drop his demand that American Bobby Fischer be penalized one game for delaying the start of the world championship chess match, U.S. chess sources said today.
Fred Cramer, a vice president in the U.S. Chess Federation, said Spassky and Fischer worked out the details of their agreement in a backstage room in Reykjavik's main sports hall yesterday a few minutes before the two met publicly to draw lots to see who would get the first move.
Before the meeting, the Russian Chess Federation had demanded that Fischer be ordered to forfeit the first game because he caused the initial postponement. At that time the match was scheduled to begin July 9, one week late.
Agreed On Tuesday
Cramer said that to salve Soviet pride Fischer agreed to postpone the start until Tuesday if Spassky would drop the demand for a forfeit.
“Bobby would have liked to start play on Sunday but we agreed to another postponement. The Russians apparently felt we had done it once to them and now they wanted to do it to us,” Cramer said.
Spassky and Fischer will play the first game in the $250,000 tournament on Tuesday, nine days after the scheduled start.
Spassky, a handsome Leningrad journalist who makes a living playing chess the year around, will make the first move. He won the draw last night and will play white, meaning he will make the first move. The 29-year-old American will play black in the first game. In succeeding games they alternate.
Despite the charges and counter-charges exchanged between the two camps there was no sign of personal animosity between the two.
When Spassky was introduced at the draw, Fischer applauded. And when the challenger, was presented, Spassky gave him a big hand.
As they shook hands at the end of the ceremony, Spassky held on to Fischer's hand and said, “And good luck.”
The ceremony confirmed that all the problems that delayed the match for nine days finally had been settled.
It began with Fischer refusing to come to Iceland for the originally scheduled start July 2 because he was not happy with the financial terms.
Jim Slater, a wealthy British banker, saved the match when he offered to double the prize money from $125,000 to $250,0000.
Fischer finally turned up July 4—but by then, Spassky was upset and threatened to pull out. He first demanded that Fischer forfeit the first game, then asked for an apology from the American and finally asked Dr. Max Euwe, president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), to admit that he violated the rules when he postponed the match in Fischer's absence instead of disqualifying the American ([because the Soviet was quite guilty of seeking any opportunity or excuse to delay and derail the match since the early months of 1972, which led to Fischer's apprehension to arrive in Iceland on the assigned date. But long overdue apologies spanning five decades will not be forthcoming due to deeply ingrained Soviet Empire's egocentricity]).
Admitted Mistake
Euwe, himself a former world champion and the last non-Russian to hold the title, promptly penned a declaration admitting that he had made a mistake.
Thursday, Fischer broke the ice when he wrote a letter to “Dear Boris” apologizing for his “disrespectful behavior.” Fischer admitted he had “offended you and your country, the Soviet Union.”
“I simply became carried away by my petty dispute over money ([no different than the Soviet's “petty dispute” over money, when it threw a fit, demanding the entire match be staged in what the Soviet was fully aware, as an Anti-American, extremely racist haven of intolerance, with the lowest bid among all nations who cast bids — so that Fischer would be surrounded by bitter Anti-American tirades by Icelandic and Pro-Soviet nationalism … needless to mention, but black people around the world were not welcome, of course, as well as squeezing Fischer out of a chance at the additional $100,000 offered by Australia or an additional $50,000 offered by Mexico to host the tournament. Petty squabbles were on par with desperate graspings of their red tape Soviet bureaucrats' insatiable appetite for ever more imperial power]) with the Icelandic chess organizers,” Fischer wrote in his letter ([and rightly so done.])
Spassky accepted the apology, although it was not delivered directly to him by Fischer ([because the Soviet bureaucrats felt an oral apology was not profitable enough. They demanded it in writing for propaganda purposes in their smear factory]).
In the end, the Russians appeared to have dropped their demand that Fischer forfeit the first game.
