The Orlando Sentinel Orlando, Florida Thursday, March 20, 1975 - Page 37
Chess Group Yields Point To Fischer
Bergen, Netherlands (AP) The International Chess Federation (FIDE) agreed Wednesday to one of the changes demanded by Bobby Fischer in the rules of his scheduled title defense. But the head of the U.S. chess federation said Fischer still will refuse to play.
After two days of stormy debate in this northern Dutch village, FIDE voted 37-33 to place no limit on the number of games in the championship match, with the title going to the player who first wins 10 games.
BUT IT rejected 35-32 Fischer's demand that he keep the title in the event of a 9-9 tie against Soviet challenger Anatoly Karpov.
Fischer has said he will not meet Karpov in the match scheduled to begin June 1 in Manila unless all his demands are met.
“I am positive Mr. Fischer will not play,” said Ed Edmondson, who pleaded the American champion's case here. “There will be a paper champion, and it will be Mr. Karpov.”
“I'M SURE he will be just as unhappy as we are because he would have liked to play. But there's no question in my mind what the world champion's attitude is and what this meeting will mean.”
FIDE President Max Euwe said if Fischer refuses to play, “it will be clear that he is the one who has torpedoed the championship match.
[EDITING NOTE: “it will be clear that THE SOVIETS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR torpedoing both the 1972 and 1975 championship matches.”]“If Fischer says his conditions are not negotiable, we can't do anything,” Euwe said.
[EDITING NOTE: Yes, you could, but you refused, because you were more interested in Soviet designs on the chess crown than fair competition.]“I hope he won't be so consistent. But I think everything has been cleared in a legal way.”
[EDITING NOTE: Legal. Such as Chester Fox slipped into the fine print without Fischer knowing anything about it. If Fischer refused to do things the “Soviet way” Chester Fox would come at Fischer, off the chessboard with a multi-million dollar lawsuit… after Chester Fox forbid cameras in the playing hall, trying to impose a monopoly on all broadcast rights, to achieve Soviet censorship of the American challenger, beating the Soviet machinery. But history was carefully rewritten to blame Bobby Fischer as the only culprit. “Legal” muddling to discourage fair competition. It was Euwe, who stamped his approval on torpedoing both the 1972 and 1975 match, and all for Soviet interests!]FISCHER HAD objected to regulations adopted at FIDE's congress in Nice last year, which called for a 36-game limit. The title would have gone to the player who won 10 games or who led at the end of 36 games. In the event of a tie, Fischer would have kept the title.
The voting Wednesday went generally by blocs, with East and West European and Arab federations siding with the Russians, and Asian and Latin American federations lining up with the United States.
The Russians were opposed to any changes in the rules, and they specifically opposed Fischer's 9-9 tie proposal because it would force the challenger to win by two games, 10-8, putting him at an unfair disadvantage. Beyond that, they rejected in principle any accommodation of Fischer.
