AThe Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Sunday, July 02, 1972 - Page 79
Tempers Will Run Hot In Iceland by Charles Fraser
THE CHESS match which will decide who is the best player in the world looks all set to erupt into a war of nerves unheard of in this usually scholarly game.
Russia's champion, Boris Spassky (right), will be accompanied by a team of tacticians, plus his own doctor and chef.
U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer (left) fights alone — to prove what he has been saying for years: that he is the supreme champion.
TODAY, THE normally quiet little Icelandic capital of Reykjavik is due to start what one of the contestants has already called “probably the greatest sports event in history…bigger even than the Frazier-Ali fight.”
That description comes from American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer who, at 28, is getting his long-awaited chance to challenge for the world chess championship.
Fischer, who has been startling the world by last-minute antics about whether he will appear in Iceland or not has never doubted his own greatness. When recently asked who was the best player in the world, he replied: “It's nice to be modest, but it would be st*p*d if I didn't tell the truth — it's Fischer.”
And in Reykjavik he is due to meet the Russian reigning champion, Boris Spassky, to prove to everyone else that his supreme self-confidence is no d*lus**n.
So Fischer's challenge, which the Russians have been forced to take seriously following a string of brutally one-sided victories, has taken on a political color.
A Loner
But, perhaps most remarkably of all, Fischer is a total loner in a business where most of the top men rely heavily on advice, support and help of many kinds to gain and maintain success.
The picture of two men in the middle of a big auditorium hunched over the chess board is a deceptive one. They may look alone, but in fact most of the modern champions have gone into action with a whole team of advisers.
These advisers can be divided into three groups, medical, technical and psychological.
Reigning champion Spassky has his personal doctor with him in Reykjavik. Being in peak physical condition is vital. And to make sure that his charge has no food problems in a strange country, the doctor will be helped by a special chef to prepare Spassky's meals.
Then there are the technical experts, the men who have specialized in different aspects of the game.
And, finally, there are the psychological advisers — the psychiatrists and analysts who try both to probe the opponent's possible weaknesses, and warn about his greatest strengths.
Spassky has in Reykjavik a fellow grandmaster who is a trained psychologist, as well as Yuri Averbakh, an analyst.
Averbakh has the highest regard for Fischer, both as a chess player and as a psychologically dominating opponent.
And that, just as much as Fischer's undoubted skill as a technical player, must be worrying the Spassky team.
One of the old non-Russian world champions, Dr. Emanuel Lasker of Germany, was said by one defeated opponent to have won because of his mesmerizing hypnotic gaze, and Fischer succeeds also in shrouding himself in an aura of invincibility which must give him an advantage over Spassky before they actually start playing.
But Fischer's weakness may be his lone-wolf attitude. Until earlier this year, he had the President of the US Chess Federation as his mentor. But he dismissed him during ([presumably, because Fischer and Edmondson were both mutually, contacts of the press on a regular basis]) ill-tempered(?) ([Fischer was reported by NY Times sending a telegram to FIDE, “apologizing if there were any misunderstandings” regarding his intent to play… however, the temperament of Belgrade organizers may justly be called into question while on that topic)] negotiations over the money he should get out of the Spassky match.
Fischer has few friends and no interests outside of chess. ([This is certainly not true! He was part of a massive religious circle, which consisted the other, less known half of his life, and separate from a massive circle of friends in world chess. Just because Fischer didn't advertise it, it's not the same, as not having.])
He is confident and demands conditions be conducive to concentration during tournament proceedings. He has walked out of a couple tournaments, the first due to a referee breaking the rules of engagement during the Fischer-Reshevsky tournament, failure to obtain Fischer's consent for a change in schedule, which was entirely the fault of referee Irving Rivise in which Rivise illegally forfeited the game, giving Reshevsky the point and in Tunisia, a scheduling problem arose due to organizers' antisemitic bias. They had no problem if Fischer broke his Sabbath. Fischer was in the lead, but refused to compromise his principles. So Fischer walked. Perhaps organizers will reconsider discriminating against contestants based on gender, race or religion in the future.
The rules of chess specifically outlaw any harassment of the opponent, but judges often cannot stop everything. Emanuel Lasker's pungent cigars, for example, were claimed to be the source of as much success as his hypnotic stare.
Fatal Flaw
So if the Russian team can spot a weakness in Fischer's psychological armor — however impenetrable his technical defenses may be — they may be able to open up a fatal flaw.
For, unlike Spassky, Fischer has no one to turn to if things do start to go wrong. ([This is not so. Fischer's sister, his good friend William Lombardy, his friend and mentor Archie Waters, and many others were present in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer didn't advertise his support network.]) So far, he has never needed anyone. He has been winning ever since he was American champion at 14, and has never had to face the prospect of defeat.
Fischer has [(allegedly, no source of quote given)] said that his match against Spassky is “really the free world against the … Russians.” He's wrong. It's really Bobby Fischer — and Bobby Fischer alone — against the most powerful Soviet chess team ever assembled.
Tempers Will Run Hot In Iceland 02 Jul 1972, Sun The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) Newspapers.com
Tempers Will Run Hot In Iceland 02 Jul 1972, Sun The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) Newspapers.com
