Deseret News Salt Lake City, Utah Friday, October 29, 1971 - Page 14
World Series Of Chess
Practically every American knows what the world series of baseball is. But how many have heard of the world series of chess?
By the same token, few realize what a unique chance the U.S. has of scoring a major psychological victory in the upcoming match between 28-year-old Bobby Fischer of the U.S. and world chess champion Boris Spassky, the Russian grandmaster.
Russia takes its chess seriously and will go to great lengths to insure victory. That's evident from the Russian support team that accompanied Tigran Petrosian, another Soviet grandmaster, when he played Fischer in Argentina this month for the right to meet Spassky next spring for the world title.
Chess matches are not called because of darkness — but the chess players do adjourn a game for the night. And their “seconds” carefully study the board, making careful calculations of the best possible moves to take advantage of any enemy weaknesses.
Compared to the Russians, Fischer — the only American ever to challenge for the world title — will be going to the world tournament as a relative beggar. His only means of support will be from contributions — and whatever he can set aside from the $7,000 he received for winning the challenge position.
Considering that for 23 years no one but a Russian player has reached the challenge round, some official recognition and support should be coming from the U.S. After all, young Fischer is in an enviable position to make a valuable contribution to U.S. prestige, even in Russian eyes. Supplying him with a traveling team of expert advisers seems the least we could do to show our appreciation.
