AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Wednesday, July 05, 1972 - Page 1
Spassky's Turn To Object from Michael Lake
Reykjavik, July 4. There was a further delay in the start of the World Chess Championship here tonight, but there is every likelihood that the match will start on Thursday evening, five days late.
After this morning's belated arrival by the American challenger, Bobby Fischer — he spent the rest of the day sleeping in a private villa — the Soviet world champion, supported by the Soviet Chess Federation, accused Fischer and the president of the International Chess Federation, Dr. Max Euwe of “wrecking” the match. This evening, however, Dr. Euwe announced that both sides were willing to play.
He also said that he would be ready to intervene on Thursday if either man refuses to play without a medical certificate.
The rules governing the start of the battle have been abandoned so that Fischer could be persuaded with more money to come to Iceland. The Russians have no shown their disapproval of this. Their statement at lunchtime today had all the earmarks of Soviet propaganda. It said that unless the rules were again being obeyed by noon everything was off.
It appeared that Spassky — who is on a very tight rein from Moscow — had been told to await Fischer's arrival before threatening to walk out or actually leaving. The Russians blamed Dr. Euwe for failing to disqualify Fischer when he did not arrive on Sunday and they apparently asked that he be disciplined — although how this exercise should be carried out was not made clear.
