Belvidere Daily Republican Belvidere, Illinois Friday, July 14, 1972 - Page 4
She Loses Head Over Chess Game
The BDR newsroom may seem a long distance from Reykjavik, Iceland, but Tuesday when Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky squared off for the first game in their world championship match, we were there.
Actually, in all honesty, we really weren't physically there, but with the use of a chess board and the AP wire machine, we followed enthusiastically as each move was made.
Wednesday, when the first game reached its conclusion with Bobby resigning to Boris in Iceland, Dave was defeating Jane in Belvidere.
Chess has got to be one of the world's greatest games. It requires a great deal of concentration and perception along with a lot of patience.
Even those of us who lack those qualities find chess a most challenging pasttime.
Chess players today don't pursue the game with the vigor of some of those of the past, when according to sagas, the chess board was often the center of treachery, revenge and murder in the 12th and 13th century.
During that time, Rognvald supposedly played King Louis for his head. When the king lost, he smashed his opponent in the face with a bag containing his chessmen. Rognvald rode off in a panic, but his brother stayed on to split the king's skull open.
Chess has apparently come a long way from those medieval times. When Bobby went down to defeat Wednesday, there was no violence. He simply walked out of the room.
However, this is not to suggest that the players don't take the game quite seriously.
Bobby has complained about many distractions which have supposedly hampered his play. They range from hidden television cameras ([actually, cameras operated by disruptive camera men crews, in plain view of both Bobby and the audience where reporters like Golombek and Schonberg reported their eye-witness experiences, including one such camera man, hovering over Bobby with a camera from the roof, distracting his concentration]), the lighting of the room, the chess board, the size of the chess pieces ([Icelandic and Soviet delegation made numerous complaints of their own on these issues and had the chess board rebuilt four times]) to the thickness of the window drapes ([granted, that was Bobby's complaint, to block sunlight.])
This may sound rather inane, but when you consider the size of the stakes for which they are playing and the amount of prestige which is involved, it is quite conceivable that ([Soviet tactics]) have been part of a plan to unnerve ([the American]) opponent.
Perhaps this strategy is worth some consideration on my part.
I could say that Dave defeated me because the news editor was a distracting factor. Or perhaps I could suggest that my loss was due to the fact that we were playing the match at his desk rather than at a more neutral location.
However, if I did contend that my loss was due to factors such as this, Dave might agree to play to the next game any place, any time, and in any manner that was agreeable to me.
If this were to happen, the truth would come out. Dave is the much superior chess player. He would defeat me under any circumstances … and I wouldn't want everyone to find that out.
Maybe I should borrow a tactic from King Louis and simply hit Dave over the head with the chess board after I go down to defeat … or at least pelt him with a few of the chessmen.
She Loses Head Over Chess Game 14 Jul 1972, Fri Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, Illinois) Newspapers.com
