AThe Journal News White Plains, New York Thursday, April 03, 1975 - Page 5
Russian Takes Fischer Chess Title by Default
Amsterdam, Netherlands (AP) — The International Chess Federation awarded Bobby Fischer's world chess crown to the young Soviet grandmaster Anatoly Karpov by default today after Fischer failed to send word he would play the Russian challenger under rules voted by the federation.
The action by FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) was expected. Fischer's acceptance or rejection of the rules was due in Amsterdam by midnight Tuesday, but FIDE president Max Euwe of the Netherlands extended the deadline for 24 hours on the slight chance that the American would not pass up his chance to win $3,175,000. However, Euwe announced Wednesday that if the second deadline passed and Fischer did not accept, the title would go to Karpov.
Fischer has kept himself away from newsmen for some time and his whereabouts are a mystery. But a chess expert close to him said on Tuesday that he felt his principles were at stake and he would not relent.
Fischer told FIDE last spring that he would not play Karpov and would resign his championship unless it met two rules demands for the match, which was to have opened in Manila in June.
One was that victory would go to the first player winning 10 games, that there would be no limit on the number of games played, and that draws would not count. His second demand was for the defending champion to be declared the winner if the match reached a 9-9 tie.
FIDE at first rejected both demands, voting instead to put a 36-game limit on the match with victory going to the man in the lead. But when it realized that Fischer — the man who made chess a million-dollar attraction — probably would bow out, it agreed to the no-limit rule but not to the other.
“It's tragic for Fischer, for chess in the world and for Karpov,” said Col. E.B. Edmondson, the director of the U.S. Chess Federation when it became apparent Tuesday that Fischer would not defend his title.
“Poor Fischer won't have his title; Karpov will have a paper title, and the world won't have its match. We're all losers,” Edmondson added.
