Star-Gazette Elmira, New York Sunday, November 17, 1974 - Page 34
Bobby Fischer's Chess Title in Jeopardy
Amsterdam, Netherlands (AP) — Bobby Fischer's chess crown will go to a Russia if the dispute between the American and the International Chess Federation isn't settled by April 1, the president of the federation says.
Dr. Max Euwe said in an interview he will strip the 31-year-old American of his crown unless he agrees to defend it under the scoring rules set by the federation, which is known as FIDE.
“At the moment we are in a complete stalemate,” Euwe said.
At its June meeting in Nice, France, the FIDE congress rejected Fischer's demand for a new scoring system for the 1975 title match. When he learned of this, Fischer sent a telegram to the federation's headquarters in Amsterdam, saying his demands were “non-negotiable”. [Really? He “renounced” his title? Strange claim, considering he called himself the World Chess Champion.]
“We advised him that he had until April 1 to make up his mind, and appealed to him to reconsider his position in the interest of the chess playing world. But so far the world champion has not reacted to our plea,” Euwe said.
Euwe, 73 and a former world champion, said Fischer “could go on claiming he is the real world champion, but that is something he should prove by playing.”
“I hope, I even expect, a solution can be reached,” he added.
“I know Fischer to be a fair player and I feel rather confident he will drop his demands if we succeed in convincing him they are unreasonable.”
Until Fischer defeated Boris Spassky for the championship in 1972, the world title was a Soviet monopoly. Now Soviet grandmasters Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi are battling in Moscow for the right to challenge Fischer. Karpov has a commanding 3-1 lead in the 20th game of a 24-game series. Sixteen games were draws. The first player to win five games or the player with the most victories at the end of the series earns the right to challenge Fischer.
Fischer demanded that there be no limit on the number of games in the championship match. The first player to score 10 victories would take the title, but Fischer would retain his championship if the count reached a 9-9 tie. There would also be no limit on draws, so the match could continue indefinitely.
Under FIDE rules, the title match would consist of 36 games with the championship going to the first player to win 10 games. If neither player got 10 wins in the 36 games, the one with the most wins would be declared champion. In the event of a tie, Fischer would retain his title.
