AThe Daily Journal Fergus Falls, Minnesota Thursday, July 06, 1972 - Page 4
The Bobby and Boris Show
Finally, the long-awaited confrontation had been set. The chess world was holding its breath. Bobby Fischer, America's prodigy and grandmaster, had played his way into a match with Boris Spassky, the Russian who is the present world titleholder.
Could the brilliant American handle the experienced Spassky? There were overtones in the competitive lineup of country against country, almost like the days of the space race when the U.S. and the Soviet Union each toiled to be Number One.
The place was Reykjavik, Iceland. the time Sunday, July 2. But hold everything. Bobby Fischer, our pride and joy, failed to show up at the appointed time and place. he was not satisfied with the financial arrangements of the match and was holding out for more money. A British financier agreed to sweeten an already record pot with an additional $130,000 and Bobby said he'd play.
He arrived in Iceland a few hours before a deadline for forfeiture set by the International Chess Federation. He went straight to bed to rest up for the first game, but he woke up to find it was all off again. Mr. Spassky, in protest to Bobby Fischer's holdout tactics, had demanded a two-day postponement. It appears that they may start play today.
Any way we look at it, it appears as though the match actually began when Bobby failed to show up in Iceland last Sunday. The “holdout” ploy was an affront to the reigning champion and a calculated piece of psychological warfare. The strategy to “psych” an opponent is common in most sports—why not chess? Boris, of course, was compelled to counter-attack with his own postponement demands.
And Mr. Fischer's cries for more money are familiar to all sports fans these days. The so-called “jock” world of professional sports is well-known for its preoccupation with dollars — should chess be any different? We don't know. Obviously Bobby Fischer wants more than prestige and adulation for his cerebral workout, just as Joe Frazier wants more from a boxing match than a fat lip.
Whose move is it now?
The Bobby and Boris Show 06 Jul 1972, Thu The Daily Journal (Fergus Falls, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
