Hartford Courant Hartford, Connecticut Wednesday, July 12, 1972 - Page 65
Spassky, Fischer Adjourn Chess Match to Today
Reykjavik, Iceland (UPI)— World champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union capitalized on an error by U.S. Grand Master Bobby Fischer and gave him only hope for a draw Tuesday night when the opening game of the world championship chess match was adjourned after 4½ hours of play.
The adjournment until 5 p.m. (1 p.m. EDT) today came after 40 moves off the first game of the 24-game match and gave Spassky, 35, who was playing white, a slight advantage with a bishop and three pawns. Fischer, 29, had five pawns on the board.
Fischer appeared calm when he arrived eight minutes after the start of the $250,000 match and was welcomed by the capacity crowd of 3,000 with a 30-second ovation. But as the game progressed, Fischer appeared angry with himself.
When the game was adjourned with one-half hour of playing time remaining, Fischer's second, Father William Lombardy, said “Bobby is fighting for a draw.”
But Robert Byrne, another U.S. grand master, said “Fischer is in trouble and he might lose.”
Fischer apparently erred on the 29th move when he took Spassky's king rook pawn and got his bishop trapped in the process. The Russian lost another pawn before taking Fischer's bishop off the board.
Some experts described the move as an attempt by the American to inject some life into a rather dull game. But the general opinion seemed to be that Fischer went into a simple trap.
