ANew York Times, New York, New York, Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 25
Armed With 'Big Red Book,' Fischer Trains to Meet Spassky by Martin Arnold
Ferndale, N.Y., March 31—Nearly always, when he is seen, he is carrying or reading what is jokingly called “the big red book” to distinguish it from “Quotations From Chairman Mao,” which is a little red book.
Bound in red velvet, the big book contains the chess games of Boris Spassky, the Russian, who is the world champion, and for Bobby Fischer it is every bit as important as the sparring partners boxing champions drag up to this 1,000-acre resort when they are in training.
For a month now, Fischer has been in training at Grossinger's just as hundreds have trained here before for a world championship.
Nonetheless, all over the world except perhaps in the Soviet Union, chess “patzers” — woodpushers, or chess duffers — are afraid that Fischer, who is already considered the terror of international chess, has talked himself out of a crack at the championship.
Today, for instance, the Yugoslavian sponsors of the first half of the tournament said that they could not possibly organize the match to start June 22 as scheduled because of Fischer's sudden objections to the financial arrangements.
And, they added, they would pledge no more money beyond their share of the $138,500 purse, which has been put up by the sponsors in Belgrade, where the match was scheduled to start, and the sponsors in Reykjavik, Iceland, where it was scheduled to continue on Aug. 6.
In Newburgh, N.Y., the head of the United States Chess Federation said tonight that the International Chess Federation had notified him and Fischer that unless Fischer agreed by Tuesday to guarantee his appearance at the matches beginning June 22, under current financial agreements, he will be disqualified as a challenger for the world title.
Despite all this, old-timers here, who catch only a fleeting glimpse of this champion in training, remember the days when the great Sugar Ray Robinson regularly threatened to withdraw from prize fights because of money disputes.
The day of the fight, they remember, Sugar Ray was usually on hand, and so they expect Bobby to be on hand this summer, even if the dates now have to be changed.
Fischer refused to be interviewed on the subject.
Last week Fischer wired the tournament sponsors in Belgrade and Reykjavik that he felt he and Mr. Spassky deserved a share of the profits from the tournament beyond the $138,500 purse and that he would, from now on, personally negotiate new terms. In the process he ousted Edmund B. Edmondson, executive director of the United States Chess Federation, as a negotiator.
Under the terms of the original agreement, the winner of the championship would get 62.5 per cent of the purse and the loser 37.5 per cent. The agreement had been approved by the World Chess Federation.
Asked today whether Fischer had “talked himself” out of the championship match, Mr. Edmondson said: “It certainly is possible. I would hope not, of course, but it is possible.”
A New Contention
The contention by Fischer that chess championships, like a Muhammad Ali fight or the Sugar Bowl, actually attract money to a city is a new one — and one that the Yugoslavs, at least, are not able to accept.
Despite the disagreement, most people expect that a Fischer-Spassky meeting will take place some time this summer. The world championship consists of 24 games with a point going to the winner of each game and a half point to each contestant for a draw. The first player to get 12½ points wins.
Fischer, despite the furor, has not broken off his training. Every sort of contender and champion, from prizefighters to mah-jongg players, have trained at Grossinger's, but Joel Pomeranz, the resort's director of public relations, said that despite Bobby Fischer's reputation for being sudden and unpredictable, had given management few problems than any past contender or champion.
“His request have been very modest,” Mr. Pomeranz said. “I think the only things he's asked for have been a fluorescent lamp, so he could study easier, and a color television set.”
Mostly Fischer stays to himself. Once he agreed to spend time with Leon Cohen, a youthful chess champion.
Training for the 6-foot, 2-inch, 29-year-old challenger consists of studying the Spassky red book, which he takes with him to the Grossinger dining room. He normally eats alone at a table while studying the book or playing with a chess set.
When he checked in here, an official of the hotel asked him how he thought he would do against Spassky. “I'll take him in 13,” was the confident answer.
Orlando Evening Star, Orlando, Florida, Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 1
Chess Czars Threaten To Disqualify Fischer
Amsterdam (UPI) — The International Chess Federation (FIDE) offered American grand master Bobby Fischer a final choice today—either face world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union under current financial conditions or be disqualified as a challenger.
FIDE issued its ultimatum in a midnight statement after Fischer rejected the payment arrangements agreed for the championship games to be played in Belgrade and Reykjavik this summer.
THE STATEMENT gave Fischer until Tuesday to guarantee his attendance or lose his chance at the title.
“Lacking an answer by the deadline (FIDE President Max) Euwe will take it as a refusal from Fischer to play for the title,” the statement said.
The controversy flared after the Belgrade organizers told FIDE that “due to the uncertainty still going on … it is impossible to carry out all of the organizational preparations such a match would require.”
THE YUGOSLAV Export and Credit Bank and a Belgrade chess magazine made the highest big to stage the match —$152,000—but Fischer turned the offer down, demanding that all profit made from the meet, after deduction of organizational costs, should be paid the players.
To end the financial bickering over the title match, FIDE decided the location at a meeting in Amsterdam March 20. It informed the organizers that first part of the 24-match series would be played in Belgrade June 22 through July 15, with the second part to be played in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Three days later, Fischer told the organizers their offers were too low and that he would not play Spassky under those conditions.
IF FISCHER refuses to play, Spassky would play the next contender in line, Tigran Petrosian, a Russian who held the world title from 1962 to 1969.
The Belgrade organizers said the match still could be played in Belgrade later this year if FIDE gave them a guarantee the contestants would play for the $152,000 offer. But the June date definitely could not be met, they said.
Fischer earned the right to play Spassky by beating opponents, including Petrosian, in a series of elimination matches.
The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 22
Bobby Fischer Chess Strikes
SO YOU THOUGHT Easter was for Easter eggs. Ba, Humbug. Easter is for strikes. Hockey television strikes. Baseball strikes. Vida Blue strikes. Bobby Fischer chess strikes.
The wonderful world of sport.
Years ago when the first rumblings of unionism crept upon professional sports, it was fashionable to declare the athlete would never be unionized.
Take a fellow such as Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox. He has been making in excess of $100,000 a year for several years and is considered the highest paid player in the American League.
Yastrzemski is a member of the Major League Baseball Players' Association which is making strike noises over pension benefits with the championship (salaried) season scheduled to start Wednesday.
A strike is not Carl's idea of maintaining rapport with Boston owner Tom Yawkey. Yastrzemski was not admired by some players for being against the Association in its cash support of Curt Flood in the latter's $3 million suit against baseball.
[…]
THE BOBBY FISCHER chess uproar doesn't have much muscle connected with it one way or another. Fischer is singlehandedly trying to drum up his own business by drawing an inordinate amount of attention to his world title match against Russia's Boris Spassky.
Fischer in the past has customarily played according to his own rules. He could have had a world title match 10 years ago had he been agreeable to international rules as they were then.
[…]
NOW, HE WANTS to make a lot of money, to a point perhaps where he will default if the stakes don't suit him. Fischer has yet to give a rap for anybody else's prerogatives. The world isn't likely to hold still for him.
Fischer's idea is to professionalize chess to a level it has never known across hundreds of years. The agreement he made with tournament people at Belgrade and Iceland would promote that.
But he says it isn't enough. His bargaining position isn't likely that good. The chess world could cut him loose and plod on a few more hundred years. It's that kind of world.
The Bobby Fischer Chess Uproar Sat, Apr 1, 1972 – 22 · The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) · Newspapers.com
The Baltimore Sun Baltimore, Maryland Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 3
Spassky-Fischer Chess Match Set For June is Called Off
Belgrade, Yugoslavia (AP)—The Belgrade organizers of the Boris Spassky-Bobby Fischer world chess match announced yesterday that they are scrapping plans to organize the match scheduled to start here June 22.
The first half of the 24-game contest between the world champion, Mr. Spassky, of the Soviet Union, and the American challenger, Mr. Fischer was to be played in Belgrade and the second half in Reykjavik, Iceland, under a compromise agreement.
The settlement was disclosed March 20 in Amsterdam by the International Chess Federation.
It provided that the winner would receive about three-quarters of the $138,000 prize money, and the loser would get the rest.
Mr. Fischer objected and asked the organizers in both cities to change the financial terms. When they refused he sent them telegrams saving he would not play the match.
The Belgrade organizers then demanded a pledge from the chess federation that Mr. Fischer would abide by the agreement. They set a March 31 deadline for reply. None came.
There still was a chance the contest might take place at another time, under altered conditions. But observers in Belgrade said Mr. Fischer's apparent refusal to accept the chess federation's ruling indicated he would lose a chance to play Mr. Spassky.
E. B. Edmondson, head of the U.S. Chess Federation, announced Thursday in New York that Mr. Fischer had dismissed him as his financial negotiator for the match. He said Mr. Fischer planned to conduct his own bargaining.
Mr. Fischer, staying at Grossingers resort hotel in New York state, was not taking telephone calls.
Ironwood Daily Globe Ironwood, Michigan Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 10
Fischer In Chess Brinkmanship
American chess players don't have the stomach for the brinksmanship games that chess star Bobby Fischer has been playing recently.
They hope Fischer will forget his latest money demands and get on with the business of winning America's first official world chess championship.
Fischer is currently balking at the terms of the agreement set for his match with the world champion, Russian Boris Spassky.
Fischer was set to play Spassky in a 24-game match, beginning June 22 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and continuing in Reykjavik, Iceland — under an agreement reached in Amsterdam recently. The purse was set at $138,500.
However, last week Bobby demanded that he and Spassky share in the profits from the match, beyond the prize money. The two host countries refused. Bobby then refused to play in those countries. He dismissed E. B. Edmondson, executive director of the U.S. Chess Federation, as his negotiator, and Edmondson said Bobby would bargain for himself.
The organizers in Belgrade announced Friday that they had stopped planning for the match in the scheduled period because they couldn't be guaranteed that Fischer would show up.
Dr. Max Euwe, president of the International Chess Federation, has the power to disqualify Bobby. The match would then be played between Spassky and Russian Tigran Petrosian, ex-world champ, who Bobby defeated in the semifinals.
The Times Shreveport, Louisiana Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 2
Fischer Balks on Money, Endangering Chess Match
Belgrade, Yugoslavia (AP) — The Belgrade organizers of the scheduled world championship chess match said Friday that Bobby Fischer of the United States has refused to play here and they are cancelling plans for the contest.
Fischer has rejected financial terms of the match, to begin June 22.
In Amsterdam, the World Chess Federation—FIDE—said Friday night it was asking the U.S. Chess Federation to guarantee that Fischer would go ahead with the match with world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Dr. Max Euwe, FIDE president, also sent a telegram to the Yugoslav Chess Federation asking it to delay any decision on holding the match until after an answer is received from the U.S. federation.
April 4 Deadline
The FIDE secretariat said in a communique that the deadline for receiving the guarantee would be April 4. Failure to receive the guarantee would be regarded as a refusal by Fischer to play the match with Spassky, the secretariat said.
The Belgrade organizers of the contest earlier had set Friday as the deadline for FIDE to guarantee that Fischer would show up for the contest. No guarantee came.
Under an agreement announced by the federation 10 days ago in Amsterdam, the first half of the match was to be held in Belgrade starting June 22. The second half of the 24-game series was to be held in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The winner's purse would be $138,500, with 72½ per cent going to the winner and the rest to the loser.
Split Leftover Cash
Fischer demanded that all money left over after the costs of the match were met be split between him and Spassky. The organizers in Belgrade and Reykjavik refused, saying they deserved the profits because they were taking a financial risk.
Fischer told Reykjavik last Saturday that he would not play the match in Iceland because of “unacceptable financial terms.”
Word of his refusal to play in Belgrade for the same reasons was made public on Friday.
E.B. Edmondson, director of the American Chess Federation, said Thursday that Fischer dismissed him as his financial negotiator for the match. He said Fischer planned to conduct his own bargaining.
In announcing they have dropped plans to set up the match as scheduled, the Belgrade organizers said Fischer's financial demands and his dismissal of Edmondson cast doubt on the future of the contest. Noting that FIDE officials failed to produce a pledge guaranteeing Fischer would stick by the terms of the agreement, they declared, “We are not in the position to bear any further risk about organizing the match … in the term between June 22 and July 18.”
There was still a chance the match would be played at another time, under altered conditions.
But observers said Fischer's apparent refusal to abide by the FIDE agreement wrecked his long-sought chance to play Spassky.
The Russians, irritated at the demands of the American player, have started to suggest the title match be played by Spassky and Tigran Petrosian, former Soviet world champion defeated by Fischer last year.
The division of the Spassky-Fischer match between Belgrade and Reykjavik represented a compromise for both players.
Fischer favored Belgrade and its initial financial offer of a record $152,000 winner's purse. Spassky wanted Reykjavik because of its northern climate.
The Indianapolis Star Indianapolis, Indiana Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 2
Chess Group Orders Fischer To Compete
Amsterdam (UPI) — The International Chess Federation (FIDE) said yesterday Bobby Fischer of the United States must meet world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union under the current financial agreement or else be disqualified as a challenger for the world title.
A statement issued by the federation said it has given the U.S. Chess Union and Fischer until Tuesday to guarantee his appearance at the matches, the first scheduled to begin in Belgrade June 22.
“LACKING an answer by that deadline FIDE President Max Euwe will take it as a refusal to play for the title,” the statement said.
A FIDE spokesman call the situation “critical” after Fischer rejected an agreement providing $138,500 in prize money for the match, 62.5 per cent of which would go to the winner.
The FIDE statement came after organizers of the chess match in Belgrade decided to give up arrangements because they could not meet Fischer's financial demands.
Fischer had demanded that all the money left after the organizers covered all expenses of the match in Belgrade should be shared between him and Spassky. The Belgrade should be shared between him and Spassky. The Belgrade organizers offered $152,000 and rejected Fischer's latest demand.
IN BELGRADE, the organizers yesterday to give up further arrangements for the match after FIDE failed to guarantee that the match would be held there.
The decision in Belgrade by the Belgrade Export and Credit Bank and a Yugoslav chess magazine in agreement with the Yugoslav Chess Federation apparently prompted the statement by FIDE in Amsterdam calling on Fischer to make a final decision.
The Spassky-Fischer match was to take place in Belgrade June 22-July 19, while the second leg of the match would be played in Reykjavik, Iceland. This agreement was reached by the interested sides in Amsterdam March 20.
THE Belgrade organizers sent a cable yesterday to FIDE in The Hague informing it that they cannot invest any further money in preparations for the match since Fischer's demands have made it uncertain.
The first leg in Belgrade could take place later this year on assumption that the organizers be given firm guarantees by FIDE and the players, Peter Basaraba, the general manager of the Belgrade Export and Credit Bank, said.
The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake City, Utah Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 6
U.S. Chess Champion Given Ultimatum
Reuters News Agency
Amsterdam, Holland — The International Chess Federation Friday gave Bobby Fischer, American challenger for the world chess title, an ultimatum — agree to the present arrangements for the tournament or forfeit his challenge.
The federation asked the American Chess Federation to guarantee that Fischer will play the match against Russia's world champion, Boris Spassky, according to an agreement of March 20.
They were to play the first 12 games in Belgrade and the second 12 in Reykjavik.
But the Yugoslav organizers said Friday they were unable to stage the first half starting June 22 because of uncertainty following Fischer's rejection of the agreed financial arrangements.
The president of the international federation, Dr. Max Euwe, made the ultimatum in Australia after being informed by telephone of Fischer's new financial demands and about Belgrade officials stopping preparations for the match.
He said he would consider failure by the American federation to give the guarantee by April 4 or refusal by Fischer to agree with the guarantee, as denying Fischer his rights to challenge the world champion.
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, April 01, 1972 - Page 79
Bobby Fischer Gets Chess Match Ultimatum
Amsterdam (UPI) — The International Chess Federation (FIDE) offered U.S. grand master Bobby Fischer a final choice today — either face world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union under current financial conditions or be disqualified as a challenger.
FIDE issued its ultimatum in a statement after Fischer rejected the payment arrangements agreed for the championship games to be played in Belgrade and Reykjavik this summer.
The statement gave Fischer until Tuesday to guarantee his attendance or lose his chance at the title.
“Lacking an answer by the deadline (FIDE president Max) Euwe will take it as a refusal from Fischer to play for the title,” the statement said.
The controversy flared after the Belgrade organizers told FIDE that “due to the uncertainty still going on … it is impossible to carry out all of the organizational preparations such a match would require.”
The Yugoslav Export and Credit Bank and a Belgrade chess magazine made the highest bid to stage the match — $152,000 — but Fischer turned the offer down, demanding that all profit made from the meet, after deduction of organizational costs, should be paid the players.
To end the financial bickering over the title match, FIDE decided the location at a meeting in Amsterdam March 20. It informed the organizers that first part of the 24-match series would be played in Belgrade June 22 through July 15, with the second part to be played in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Fischer told the organizers their offers were too low and that he would not play Spassky under those conditions.
