AStar Tribune Minneapolis, Minnesota Thursday, July 06, 1972 - Page 8
The Pre-Match Play-by-Play
Let's see whether we're up to date on the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky thing. Fischer went to the International Chess Federation's Q4, then sat there, refusing to move farther. While Spassky paced angrily back and forth from his QB3 to his QB4, James Slater, the British financier, moved $130,000 to Fischer's KR1, where it was locked in the keep. Then Spassky castled while Fischer slept. During all the foregoing, the president of the International Chess Federation made wry comments.
Childish? Maybe—but when was the last time you saw so much publicity given to a chess match? And when has the prize money for one ever gone so high? It's more likely that Fischer has just discovered a way to move chess into the realm of big-time (and big-money) pro sports. He's going to turn up on bubble-gum cards yet.
Meanwhile, at least the wire services covering the Fischer-Spassky maneuverings have been handed a ready-made metaphor. Never before has it been so appropriate to write that something has been “stalemated.”
And just to push that sort of thing a bit further, we might assume that the match will go on when Fischer sees the check, mate.
The Pre-Match Play-by-Play 06 Jul 1972, Thu Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
