ANew York Times, New York, New York Friday, July 21, 1972 - Page 1 & 32
Spassky Resigns After Blunder; Match Is Even Through 5 Games by Harold C. Schonberg
Reykjavik, Iceland, July 20—Bobby Fischer, swooping down on a blunder by Boris Spassky, forced the champion's resignation today in the fifth game of their world championship chess match.
“Spassky committed what was perhaps the worst blunder of his career,” said the Yugoslav grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric.
The score of the match is now even, at 2½ to 2½, but today's defeat was a crushing blow for the champion and gave Fischer a psychological edge in the match. It is rare for so fine a player as Spassky to lose in only 27 moves. Spassky now will have to fight shattered nerves and loss of confidence.
([“While Fischer's feud with chess authorities made headlines, Spassky warred with Soviet officials in private. … Many observers thought Fischer's furor sapped Spassky's concentration, but Spassky says the job was done by Moscow.” — Sun-Sentinel, Thursday, August 8, 1985.])
Until Spassky blundered it was a close game, with Fischer playing the black side of a Nimzo-Indian opening. This was the same opening that Spassky had used successfully in the first game. This time, however, Fischer used a different line, and it may have caught the champion by surprise. Spassky moved very slowly and cautiously, and at the 20th move had used up an hour and three-quarters on the clock. He had only 45 minutes left to make 20 moves.
As in previous games, it was Black that took the initiative. Spassky's play today, in the opinion of the experts, was curiously passive. Perhaps he was willing to make neutral moves, hoping Fischer would overreach himself, as in the first game. But Fischer applied more and more pressure, and Spassky broke.
On his 27th move the 35-year old Soviet grandmaster played Q-B2 and, while the experts in the audience at Exhibition Hall were studying the situation, Fischer pounced on Spassky's queen rook pawn. Spassky then had a choice of losing his bishop or walking into a mating net.
Had Spassky captured the bishop with his queen, Fischer could have taken White's king pawn with his queen, threatening immediate mate. White's queen could not have got back in time to prevent the mate or loss of material.
It took Spassky only a moment to realize what he had doe. He unhappily stood up and offered his hand. Fischer shook it, and both players went backstage.
Fischer Smiles
The audience of about 600 cheered the American grandmaster. Spassky waited before leaving.
During the day progress was made on the issue of film and television cameras within the hall — Fischer has objected strenuously to them—and it was clear that Chester Fox, who had purchased filming rights, was no longer connected with the match. ([Hence, the Soviet may now proceed with its plan to persecute Robert Fischer with lawsuit for $USD millions, out of its insatiable capitalist appetite for self-glorification, for the next decade. After all, Fischer never agreed to such terms with Chester Fox and his bulky crews of camera men. Rather, it was the Soviet-dominated Icelandic Federation who knowingly agreed to give priority to camera men, when the contract was emphatic: “…under the rules of a world championship tournament, Fischer had a right to demand the removal of the cameras and to refuse to play if they were not removed.” — U.S. Chess Federation Col. Ed Edmondson.])
And then there was the publication of Fischer's 14 Points, which the American delegation is calling a fuss over nothing.
Two days ago, Fred Cramer, Fischer's representative, sent the Icelandic Chess Federation what he calls “a punch list” of points that remain to be cleared. This checklist was either leaked or stolen.
([Makes one wonder what the long winding “punch list” of Soviet delegates would also be, since they have complained and made demands for years and never given the Soviet their due recognition for an unceasing flow of petty bickering and quibbles over nothing.])
It contained such items as the request for a private swimming pool, a new automobile, a wider choice of restaurants in which to dine, an indoor tennis court, pocket money to be paid in advance and a wider selection of current reading material than that available in his hotel, the Loftleider.
The Icelandic Chess Federation received six letters today from Cramer, amplifying the requests.
The request that seemed to intrigue most Icelanders was the one about the swimming pool. Fischer allegedly asked that the pool of his hotel be closed to the public at all times. This request was Point 8, and was specifically cited by the Icelandic Chess Federation.
The manager of the hotel, however, said today that this was the first he had heard of the request. Mr. Cramer said, in response to the pool issue that Fischer “only wanted to use it before game time.”
Mr. Cramer said that most of these 14 points were already taken care of. He expressed unhappiness that the list had been released. “I have been stabbed in the back,” he was reported as saying.
Results of negotiations in New York between Richard C. Stein and Paul Marshall, the lawyers for Mr. Fox and Fischer, respectively, indicate that something has been worked out.
