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Fischer PlayingH ole of theNEW YORK (AP) - “I neverthought I’d, be cheering for Russian,” the ' nattily dressed •businessman said to a couple-of fellow communters on the Long Island Railroad, “That Fischer as a lutik-head. I hope Spassky -beats his brains out.”“I think Spassky is cute,” the secretary was heard to remark during an office coffee break. “Wasn’t that terrific-the way he stood up and bowed the day Bobby didn’t show up? Fisher— ugh — he’s dreadful.”Bobby Fischer, perhaps the ■greatest chess genius the world has known, doesn’t -exactly have his country cheering for him as he seeks to break -the Soviet Union’s long-time hold ■ on thew o r J d championship in his nose-to-nose confrontation with Boris Spassky in remote Reykjavik, Iceland,Be has -taken over the role ofheavy in the drama of thepawns, knights and bishops. He wears the black hat. The Russian wears -the whi te hat. Fischer is the villain. Spassky is the hero. And even the Americans are hissing their own man., Is Bobby Fischer really the heel he has made himself out to be — with his late arrivals, his protests and -Ms outlandish demands — or is it a case of psy-ble to relate to a normal social life. He; gives the'impression of wanting to join the fun without knowing how. He is shy and suspicious, He is a loner.Afc LaCosta, Fischer swam and played tennis for exercise. He -took long walks at night, always moving at a near gallop. He returned to his room and poured over books and the chess board, iplaying imaginary games -with himself until the early hours of -the morning.He always had a Bible at his finger, tips. He belongs to a fundamentalist sect.He rose late and ate breakfast tin the middle of the afternoon. He is a ravenous eater. He devoured bowls of fruit, two full hamber plart.es with potatoes and vegetables and washed it down with a gallon of milk.In the friendly tennis setting, surrounded by people with little knowledge of chess, Fischer emerged from his shell and became quite talkative.cholerical warfare which jsshredding the Russian’s mental processes before the Red champion can unleash a sustained offensive?“It's' strictly psychological warfare, and it's working,” argued a close friend of Fischer, who spent more than two weeks with the one-time Brooklyn chess prodigy before the laser’s departure for Iceland.“Bobby feels be is battling the entire Soviet Union, and he actually is,- but 1 think it’s a shame that he is getting such poor support from back home. You -have to know Bobby to appreciate what he is doing.”The friend, a New York public relations man, was with Fischer •during the rigid physical training period at Grossinger’s in the New York Catskills and later a; the swank LaCosta Country•Club ar.d Spa in Rancho La Costa, Calif,, where Fisher made one of his -rare public appearances in a sports celebrities' tennis tournament.“Bobby knows that the Russians -use the world chess crown, which -they’ve monopolized, as a giant propaganda springboard,” he said. “He talked with me for hours how the Russians had smothered every effort by outsiders to take the title and -he said he was determined to beat, them — no matter what the costs.“One of the costs is to be pte-t u r e d internationally as a spoiled brat and a crude, uncouth lout. It’s a price he has been willing to pay in order to •achieve his end.”At LaCosta, shortly before Fischer’s departure for.Iceland and the ensuing controversies, i: was possible 'to scratch beneath the surface of this moody, lonely man whose genius ail: -the oh ess board has fascinated the world.A tennis match was arranged with Hank Greenberg, the former Detroit Tiger baseball slug ger, .and a pair of newsmen. Fischer agreed to the pairing but when he appeared at the courts, a racket and a white sweater in his hand, he balked.“Where’s the little boy played with yesterday?” he said. “I want lt;to play with the boy I played wish yesterday.”A friend explained that the boy was not around and that the doubles match had been arranged. Fischer nodded.“Play, here,” said a court attendant, -pointing to !the center court already surrounded by interested spectators.“I don’t want to play here,” Bobby said.“Where do you want to •play?” he was asked.“Over there,” he said, striding 'toward an obscure count a good 105 yards away.Fischer teamed with Greenberg, a good player. Bobby, a stopping figure 6-2,190-pounder was awkward but'determined. Ironically, he had trouble keeping score.“Imagine,” said Greenberg afterward, “the greatest 'tactical mind in the world, and he doesn’t know four points make up a tennis game.”After losing the first set, Fischer balked again. “I want •to practice before I play 'the second set,” he said. His partners' sat out 'the practice. After half an hour. Bobby returned. He won the second set.He was the hit of the show, Athletes playing in the tournament — 0. J. Simpson, Deacon Jones, Gerry Lingren and others —mobbed him for autographs. •A child prodigy whose adolescence : was dominated by anam-bitious mother, a-chess master at 10,' one of the world’s beat at 14, Bobby appears totally una-He pictured the Russians as ogres who had dominated chess for decades because they made their own rules and found means of smothering every outside challenge. To the Russians, he insisted, chess was a propaganda vehicle by which the Soviets attempted to show that Communist minds were the best in the world.mctiS'!teft“Why did the Russians insist on Iceland?” he asked rhetorically one day as he sat at court side, his face gaunt and pale and his blue eyes always wa-dering to' the sky as if in a trance.“I’H tell you why. They know I’m going to win the championship and they want to hide it as much as they can. Another thing, they want to upset me.“They. know. I like .to relax.';I like good books, good shows and 'a' pleasant atmosphere.. At' •Reykjavik, the big/deal is ion people to go to the hotel on Saturday night and sit around picking their teeth.”Bobby said he had urged the Russians to pick a better site., possibly one of the capitals in Scandinavia. He added that he was in. favor of free access of.n television networks and writers to get as much exposure as possible.“I wanted to1 take advantage of the propaganda value for myKZBtt'a:Zinlt;ncountry,” he said. “But the•Russians and Icelandic officials made their own deals — and left me out of them.”He had even suggested playing the first match on July- 4 “1 wanted to win on Independence •Day,” he said.■Fischer never denied that he also had mercenary motives. •’Athletes today are getting paid huge salaries ” he said: “I am the best chess player in 'the world. Why shouldn’t I' get my share?”Bobby said 'he had asked the Russians to change the rules giving no points for drawn games. Under the scoring system, each player gets one-half point fo a draw.“I wanted to count only games won,” Bobby said.4 The first player to get 10 points ■would win the match. The Russians said no.”Fischer acknowledged that psychology plays, a' major part in every chess match-“Chess is like war, on a board,” he said, “The object is to crush the other man’s mind.” Like a Dempsey in the ring, Fischer is a killer. He always is on the attack. He spurns defense and tie games. He is revolutionary, cocky and even arrogant where chess is concerned.“He is never content with knocking his man out. ’a friendsaid. “He wants to hit him three times while he’s .going down.”ClfcfVwris)2wpic5;d;a2-aviiK1Pills FatalTo WomanAn attractive young mother of three children was pronounced' dead on arrival. Friday night at Chope Community Hospital as a •result of taking the-contents of a bottle of pMs after an argument, San Mateo police report.She was Mrs. Carol Anderson, 29; a cook, of the Hollywood Motel, 180 North iBayshore Boulevard,-San Mateo.According to police, Mrs Anderson was found in bed, under the covers, and was purple and cold when police arrived. They were called by her husband, Charles, at 10:19 p.m., when, he said, he saw her begin to turn blue.The husband told police that there had been an argument, and that then she tcfld her husband that she had taken the piHs.The couple was reported to have moved here in June irom San ’Francisco, where the victim’s mother resides.T•wacitidttlihitili'O'w13btctlPhbtttieh0!ca•tlPIftSta.P.h.trBfthiPi
Newspaper Details
San Mateo Times
San Mateo, California, US
Mon, Aug 07, 1972
Page 35
Full Page
Clipped by
Los A.
CA, USA 14 Feb 2023
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