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Chess Master Sat, Apr 8, 1972 – 47 · Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Tall Man in a Hot Spot
Neither Bobby Fischer nor the U.S.S.R. is noted for giving things away at the bargaining table. As a consequence, a man of strength and diplomacy was needed to iron out the details of the forthcoming World Championship match between Fischer and Russia's Boris Spassky. The man whose position in the world of chess made him the automatic choice was Dr. Max Euwe, a former World Champion (1935-1937) himself and one of the best-liked and most admired figures in chessdom. Dr. Euwe, a Dutchman, is a near giant literally as well as figuratively. He is nearly 6 feet tall and likes to tell the following story:
“I went to a movie once in London and sat down near the front. All at once, a voice said loudly: ‘Will you sit down!’ I assumed he meant me, so I got up from the chair intending to find a seat in the hack of the hall when the same voice boomed out rather angrily: ‘Blimey, if he isn't standing on top of his seat now!’”
