ADes Moines Tribune Des Moines, Iowa Thursday, June 22, 1972 - Page 10
Spassky: Chess Fight One Big Holiday by Charlotte Saikowski, Christian Science Monitor News Service
Moscow, Russia—It may be only a psychological pose, but Boris Spassky, the Russian world champion, gave every appearance of being in full control of himself as he prepared for the forthcoming match with American challenger Bobby Fischer.
“I am in a very good mood,” he said at a rare press conference. “I generally look on this match as a big holiday because it is quite a rare event, maybe once in a lifetime. Objectively, Fischer is the strongest rival. I don't know the outcome of the match: Maybe he will win, maybe he will lose, but in any event it seems to me the match between us will be very interesting in terms of chess art.”
Quiet in manner and laconic of speech, Spassky is a marked contrast to the 29-year-old American “enfant terrible” of the chessboard. Bobby Fischer is known for his brashness and bombast, and his squabble over the venue of the match and over the television and film rights has done nothing to enhance his popularity.
Spassky tended to downplay what he described as the “painful” haggle over the site of the 24-game match, which will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland, and he suggested that Fischer's interest in money may not be purely venal but a “struggle for individuality.”
He also gave Fischer his due as a chess player.
“He is, of course, a brilliant player,” Spassky told newsmen. “If he did not exist, it would be very dull without him in the chess world.”
Fischer Charge
Fischer often has charged that the Russians deliberately schemed to keep anyone else from winning the world chess championship, which they have held since 1948. Pressed for his opinion about such charges, Spassky said he felt the American grandmaster has acquired a “persecution complex.”
“The impression is that he thinks that Soviet chess players want to do something bad to him,” he stated. “I never had such thoughts and will never have them, I hope.”
Guarding his strategy, Spassky refused to talk about his physical and other training for the match, or to analyze Fischer's play. He obviously did not want to divulge his own approaches to the game.
Queried about his life, Spassky gave a few spare details. He is a graduate in journalism from Leningrad University. He likes literature and sports, especially tennis.
Starts July 2
Now in his second marriage, he has a 12-year-old daughter by his first wife, and a son by his present wife. The son, Vassily, will celebrate his fifth birthday on July 2, the day the much-awaited chess encounter begins in Reykjavik.
A pleasant-looking man with wavy blond hair, longish sideburns, and light eyes. Spassky has played serious chess since the age of 9, and describes himself as a “professional chess player.” Like Fischer, therefore, he holds no other job.
Spassky left for Iceland Wednesday. The match will be his sixth confrontation with Fischer. The previous five ended in three wins for Spassky and two draws.
