19 Sheed wrote: “Of Ezra Pound, as of Bobby Fischer, all that can be decently said is that his colleagues admire him.” NYT Book Review, September 3, 1972, p. 2.
20 As Saidy later related, the house was subjected to an unending media barrage Interview of Anthony Saidy by author, February 21, 2009, by telephone.
21 Journalist Leonard Barden phoned the Icelandic organizers to tell them that British financier James Derrick Slater Roy Blount Jr., “Boris in Wonderland,” Sports Illustrated, July 24, 1972, p. 15.
22 The second call proved to be that needed nudge Telegram to the U.S. Department of State from the American embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, seeking assistance from the White House in prompting Fischer to come to Iceland, July 3, 1972, FB.
23 It was at this point that Bobby saw himself not just as a chess player Gligoric, Fischer vs. Spassky, p. 9.
24 “I know you to be a sportsman and a gentleman, and I am looking forward to some exciting chess games with you” NYT, July 7, 1972, p. 14.
25 “The challenger apologized” Press release issued in Reykjavik, Iceland, July 6, 1972.
26 “I couldn’t believe that Fischer was capable of such an error” Edmar Mednis, How to Beat Bobby Fischer (New York: Dover Books, 1997), p. 274.
27 Fischer then pointed to the camera aperture he’d complained about the previous day Steiner, p. 68.
28 Fischer began fighting for a draw Chess world championship, 1972; “Spassky’s View,” excerpted from 64, p. 258.
29 “What will happen to Bobby?” Interview of Lothar Schmid by author, July 15, 1972, Reykjavik, Iceland.
30 “He can’t be subject to the clicks and flashes of those machines [on their tall tripods] above him.” NYT, July 21, 1972, p. 32.
31 “In case of non-appearance of Fischer in third game” Released press statement by Dr. Max Euwe, July 16, 1972.
32 In an editorial entitled “Bobby Fischer’s Tragedy,” the paper wrote NYT, July 15, 1972, p. 22.
33 President Nixon also relayed an invitation to Fischer Interview of Harry Benson by author, August 1972, Reykjavik, Iceland.
34 Spassky, ever a gentleman, was willing NYT, August 16, 1972, p. 26.
35 Schmid recalled later that “for a second, I didn’t know what to do” Chessbase.com, September 28, 2009. Accessed October 15, 2009.
36 Fischer was told that it was just a closed-circuit, noiseless camera CL, November 1972, p. 679.
37 A thirty-five-year-old sociology professor, Shelby Lyman “TV’s Man on the Move,” NYT, August 10, 1972, p. 71.
38 In New York, intense demand quickly made chess sets an out-of-stock item NYT, July 9, 1972, p. 30.
39 “Iceland is a nice place” Interview of Fred Cramer by author, August 1972, Reykjavik, Iceland.
40 Shortly before the concluding week of the match, the Soviet delegation, by way of a long and preposterous statement NYT, August 23, 1972, p. 1.
41 But the secret weapon turned out to be a blob of wood filler NYT, September 5, 1972, p. 41.
42 “Two dead flies!” NYT, August 27, 1972, p. E5.
43 “It started out as a farce by Beckett” Interview of Harry Golombek by author, August 1972, Reykjavik, Iceland.
44 Then suddenly, wearing a maroon corduroy suit that he’d had custom made in Reykjavik, Bobby appeared “A Replay Precedes Fischer Crowning,” NYT, September 3, 1972, p. 19.
45 “We didn’t know if you were going to be the winner!” Interview of Dr. Max Euwe by author, September 3, 1972.
46 Euwe continued to talk and mentioned that the rules would have to be changed Press release copy of speech by Dr. Max Euwe, September 3, 1972, FB.
47 “I should have played here as my sealed move” Overheard at the banquet by nearby spectators.
48 “Fischer is a man of art “Notes on People,” NYT, CL, November 1972, p. 680.
49 The mayor had offered Bobby a ticker-tape parade NYT, September 2, 1972, p. 46.
50 Your convincing victory As reproduced in Larry Evans and Ken Smith, Chess World Championship 1972 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), p. 261.
51 “the grandest master of them all” New York Daily News, September 23, 1972, p. 18.
52 “I never thought I’d see the day when chess would be all over the front pages here” AP wire story, as appeared in San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 1972, p. 23.
53 That day, Bobby was not the old curmudgeonly Bobby AP wire story, September 24, 1972.
54 “Fischer has done more, however, than simply win the world title” NYT, September 3, 1972, p. 20.
Chapter 11: The Wilderness Years
1 “I want to meet girls” New York, February 20, 1975, p. 38.
2 So, working with Stanley Rader, the chief counsel for the Worldwide Church NYT, September 23, 1973, pp. 26–34.
3 The words “secluded” and “recluse” NYT, September 3, 1972, p. 46.
4 The Associated Press took the same tack AP wire story, August 22, 1973.
5 As a result of the non-event event, the resulting press coverage was practically nil. Reports from various news services, August 1973.
6 Attractive financial offers kept tumbling Bobby’s way—almost pouring over him NYT, September 11, 1972, p. 28.
7 “I was not yet World Champion but they treated me like a world champion.” Casto Abundo, “A Month in Manila with Bobby Fischer,” March 6, 2008, HTTP://www.FIDE.com, accessed March 10, 2010.
8 by the time Bobby came back from Iceland he’d received offers that could have totaled up to $10 million NYT, September 11, 1972, p. 28.
9 The Church imposed a number of rules that Bobby thought were ridiculous “The W.C.G. Talmud,” in Ambassador Report, www.hwarmstrong.com/AR/Talmud.
10 Bobby was appalled. “What? Don’t you believe in Satan?” New York Daily News, August 28, 1972.
11 “But these new groups are attractive to the apostate merely because they are foreign.” Mamet.
12 “Either God is a masochist and likes to be made a fool of, or else Herbert Armstrong is a false prophet.” “The Painful Truth,” an interview of Bobby Fischer in Ambassador Report, www.hwarmstrong.com/ar/fischer.
13 “It is the bottomless rascality of the goyim people” Protocols of the Elders of Zion; protocol no. 3, para. 16; as quoted in Eisner, p. 78.
14 “I carefully studied the protocols” Letter from Bobby Fischer to Pal Benko, circa 1979.
15 “The book shows” Letter from Bobby Fischer to Jack Collins, June 1976, JWC.
16 At one point Bobby had both Protocols and Nature’s Eternal Religion mailed to Jack and Ethel Collins Letter to Ethel and Jack Collins from Bobby Fischer, February 20, 1979, JWC.