June 18, 1972 Chess, Sunday Gazette-Mail by Edward M. Foy

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Chess Sun, Jun 18, 1972 – Page 44 · Sunday Gazette-Mail (Charleston, West Virginia) · Newspapers.com

NEXT MONTH the eagerly-awaited world championship match between Boris Spassky and Robert J. Fischer begins in Reykjavik, Iceland. Both players are preparing very seriously for the encounter. A national magazine recently did a story on the strenuous physical training the American challenger is going through. And the Russian title-holder is training hard, too. Of course both players are involved in intensive chess preparation.
Spassky competed in the Alekhine Memorial Tournament in Moscow last December but Fischer has not participated in any serious chess event since defeating Petrosian in their finals match in Buenos Aires. Spassky—undoubtedly looking ahead to Fischer—performed rather indifferently in the Alekhine Memorial, but that should not be held against him.
Internationally, Fischer may well be picked (slightly) to win. (When Grandmaster Kavalek was here recently, he favored the American to win with a couple of points to spare.) But it must be kept in mind that the Russian champion is a very fine chess player and has never lost to Fischer. But then Alekhine had never lost to Capablanca before their championship match in Buenos Aires in 1927.