Daily News New York, New York Tuesday, June 20, 1972 - Page 143
Chess to Get Replay on TV
A re-creation of the world chess championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland, between Boris Spassky of Russia and Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn will be televised over WNET (Ch. 13). The 24-game match, which is expected to last for several weeks, will begin on Sunday, July 2, at 10 a.m., New York time.
The picture on Channel 13 of the move-by-move coverage will originate in a studio of WMHT in Albany. A chess board will be on view there for re-creating the moves by Spassky and Fischer a few moments after they occur in Iceland.
The Albany station has arranged for a continuous wire service report on each chess move as it is made in Reykjavik. Shelby Lyman, a chess master, will be in the Albany studio to re-create the moves on the board there and comment on the tactics and strategy of the players.
In the Super Bowl of chess, Spassky, world champion (the Russians have held the championship for 23 years) and Fischer, best in the West, will be competing for a purse that totals $125,000. The winner gets $78,125 and the loser the rest.
First-day coverage by Channel 13 on July 2 will run from 10 a.m. to sometime in the afternoon. During the first week there will be more coverage on Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. Days of play in subsequent weeks have not been announced.
The chess match also will be televised by other public television stations in Rochester (WXXI), Boston (WGBH) and Washington, D.C. (WETA). It will be offered to other public TV stations belonging to the New York State network.
