chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

116 FISCHER
by FIDE in 1970. He obiected ro the lournament
condjtionsofthc US Championship ot 1970, rhich
was also a zonal iournament. and by de.lining 10
play he iailed lo qualify for the next cycle of
championship contesls: but he was allosed to play
io the Palma dc Malolca iiteuonal, 1970, *hen
BENKo ceded hn pla.e. He won thc tournamenl
(+15=7 1) by an astonishins ma.sin oI3tr points.
the last of eiShr succesive tournanent vicrones iI
Sotr$c is discounred. His li6l Candidates match
was agaiflstrArMANov at Varcouver in 1971. When
a.gumenrs about playing conditions rea.hcd an
inpasse Fiscber suddenly said, 'Lel s play, I'm
silling to play anlNhere. He played wnboul a
second.'lhe rcsull Nas asronishing. vioorywith a
clea. sco.e of six wins. Even nore astonishinewas
Fiscber's rsult in lhe seni-final match against
L{rsEN, another clean soie of six wins. Then he
won the 6nal match against Pelrosyan (+5=:l 1)
ia 1971 and ar last became chaueneer.
Afte. exte.sive negoiiations his No.ld championship
match againsl Spasky sas scheduled to
6ccin at Rcykjalik on 2 .,uly 1972. On this date
Fiscber Nas still in New York wrangling wilh thc
orAanizers iron a distance. This nay have bee.
briflkmanship, hur Fischer. so sensitive about
anfhinB rhat might worry the playes (or at any
rale hinself), may also have feared tbepossibility
ol defeat. A postponemenr was granled. The
English fi.ancie. sL{r.R *ni Fischer a telegram
ofie.ing lo supplenent the prize tund by I50,Ctr0
adding: Ityouarenlalraidof SpasskylhenIhaye
removed lhe elemenl of noney. Not liking the
inpntation ol cosardice and Iiking thc exrra
noney, Fischer suddenly declared; 'it doesn't pay
FscheraflerbeatingSpr$kvlobecomcWoildChahpion
to be perty nte,n.] ar€' the iraliB are oum) and
pronpdy ney to Iceland. Play beg.n on li July
192 and ended on 1Sept. with vicrory torFischei.
His score +7:l l-3 includcd onc loss by default.
No malch in the hislory ol tbe gane received more
world-wide publicity and cbess pl.ying was given a
trenendousinpelus ele4avhere The lirsl book of
rhe natch 10 hc pDblhhcd, and tlrere were mant.
sold more than 200,000 copies.
Fiscber lhen wnhdrew from serious phy. When
.hailenged by Karpo! in 1975 hc made numerous
.onditions and many oI lhese sere aEepted.
Fhcher was adana.t: allnust be aeepted. Sone,
hovever, unduly favoured rhe holder and FIDE
nghtly srood fi rm despile intense lobbying from lhe
USA. Fischer declined to play add Karpov sas
declared chanpion by defaull.
Fncher needed 10 succecd at chess. his only
re$urce aparl fiom religion, a.d lear ol deieat
may havc prompred his refiemenr.In nany says
he Nas a nan oI pnnciple. He declinedtole.d his
nane for sponso6hip because this would demean
the game. Offcrcd an enornous sun to appear at
Las Vegas, whe.e all he would bave had to do was
io sn around and play a IeN Bames, hedeclincd. not
wishing to be parlotaside{hos in atun-fair. Hn
chanpionship match nccotiarions in 1972 we.e not
directed at his opponenti when he .ealized lhat
these may hale upset Spassky he nade a handsone
apolog/. when rhe Rest of the wodd played a
natch againsl the USSR in 19?0Fis.her played ai
sccond board. ceding firsl place to Larsen whose
.ecent record was betEr rh.n his. Those sho
believed that Fischer Nas alsays difficult'vere
surpri*d that he played at all and oore surpnsed
that he accepred second place, but Fischer wanted
to piay, lo see Russians defealed, and he could
aeept logical argument 6 to hh placing. (The
USSR won the natch by lhe narrowest possibte
margini Fischer sored +2=2 ag.insi Peliosyan,)
Absorbed in the game and liviag alone Fhcher
pas not atease in society, oite. getring a bad press
as a @nsequence. He was Prob.biy nore upset
than most m6teB by noise andotherdisturbancc.
For this reason he often laid down co.ditions under
which he world play. bur these were a lso inte nded
to improve chess organizalion, an aim shich rer
with some su.cess: playing conditions werc generally
improvedi Ca.didales nalches were substituted
lor Candidates loumanenht tron 1975
rorld championship marches were decidedbythe
sinning ol a given numbe. of ganes, as disiirct
fromBakins tbebeslscoreftom aCivennumberol
ga6es, Fischer behaved well ai lbe board. He
never complained wiih the object ofupsettiie ai
oPponenl, action that would dininish lhe medt ol
victory. His style sas direct, vigorous, lnd relent
le$ly aggresive: in every game he shove his
utmost lo wini disdaining GkNDMASTER DRAws.
People flocked to see him play. his games were
univesally adnned. Nor satnliednerely ro win a
tournament. hc nceded to prove hinsell, 10 Nin btr
the larpest possible marsin. ID 1969 hc pubtished