The Daily Notes Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 4
Bobby & Chess
Probably the world's most intellectually demanding board game is chess and for decades the Russian chess masters have ruled the world. The game is almost a national pastime in Russia, the government subsidizes it and there are four million members of the USSR chess federation.
By comparison, the game is unsupported by the government in this country and attracts fewer fans and players. Perhaps the rat-race pace of America's dollar culture leaves most citizens little time for chess. But now comes an American sensation, Bobby Fischer, who has stirred excitement both in this country and in Russia.
Fischer is the highest-rated grandmaster in the history of the game, on the basis of his sensational winning streak. Late this month he begins a series of matches with Tigran Petrosian, and the winner of this series will then play Boris Spassky, the world champion. Should he defeat the Russians he will be the world title holder. Many Americans think he will.
Whether or not he does, Fischer, neither a high school or college graduate and a self-made expert, has done much for American chess and for international competition.
