The Guardian London, Greater London, England Tuesday, July 04, 1972 - Page 1
Slater Saves Chess Match
Bobby Fischer, the American challenger for the World Chess Championship, last night left New York by air for Reykjavik to take part in the championship against Boris Spassky.
Mr. Paul Marshall, Fischer's lawyer, said that he would do so because of the offer of the British financier, Jim Slater, to put up £50,000 to be added to the contestants' share of the gate money.
Fischer was “overwhelmed by the gesture and challenged by the terms,” he told the Guardian's chess correspondent, Leonard Barden, who conveyed the Slater offer to the Americans.
Mr. Barden, a former British champion, who was telephoned by Mr. Slater yesterday morning and asked to get in touch with Fischer's lawyers and the President of the International Chess Federation, said that Fischer had taken an hour to think over the offer.
He had then decided that the £50,000 should be split between winner and loser rather than on a winner take all basis because, his lawyers said “he wanted Spassky to go home with something.”
Mr. Barden said that when Mr. Slater, a chess enthusiast who shares the sponsorship of the Hastings International Congress every year, telephoned him he said that it looked as though the match would be off because of the dispute about the gate money.
Although he believed there might be other reasons, he proposed to remove the money question by offering Fischer as much as he demanded from the gate, either split between the players or on a winner take all basis.
Late Riser
The first call was put through to Mr. Marshall in New Jersey at about 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. When he was woken and heard the offer, he gasped. He was still unwilling to wake Fischer, whose habit is to rise at four in the afternoon.
Fischer was finally told about 9 a.m. and after an hour's reflection, mainly about the split of the money, agreed to accept. His decision reached London at 6:30 last night but Mr. Barden was at first unable to contact Mr. Slater to inform him because his number is ex-directory and calls were refused.
Mr. Barden said he had been told by the lawyers that Fischer had decided that the offer was too good to refuse. Apart from the wrangle over the gate money, his lawyers had said that he continued to feel that the choice of Reykjavik was a bad one (Fischer had opted for Belgrade) and that the Icelandic organizers were not as sympathetic as they might have been to his wishes over the match.
Mr. Barden, who partnered Fischer in a radio consultation game on the only visit he has made to Britain, in 1960, was told that Fischer would be flying last night and had been asked to obtain some specific books and articles to assist him in his preparation.
Michael Lake writes from Reykjavik: The president of the International Chess Federation, Professor Max Euwe, said that Fischer's arrival deadline of noon today would not be altered. In the meantime he offered Spassky who, he said, had already been “damaged” by the postponement, two free days off to recover.
Spassky meanwhile issued a statement insisting that he did not give permission for the postponement. He claims that the match was begun with the opening ceremony on Saturday, and that he is therefore already entitled to the winner's prize of £32,000 by default. ([Moscow scripted, with Spassky as mouthpiece.])
