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Chess 02 May 1959, Sat The Montreal Star (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
Bobby Fischer
United States Chess champion 16-year-old Bobby Fischer, of Brooklyn, N.Y., seems to be creating for himself a lot of unfavorable publicity.
He has been criticized in the N.Y. press over the following incident. Invited to play in an international tournament in Chile, the young grandmaster was told that the prize money would amount to $2,000. When he arrived he discovered that the prize money was actually only $1,000 with the other thousand being spent on elaborate trophies.
He promptly refused to take part, declaring that “all that junk” was of little use to him. He was referring to the trophies. It was reported that he raised a fuss which embarrassed many of the tournament officials, until one of them persuaded him to play.
“I might as well,” he said, “since I am here anyway.”
The tournament is now under way and he shows a score of three adjourned games after three rounds.
The criticism in the press took the form of such classic headlines as “Fischer wants Silver Lining on Ivory Tower.”
No critic, unfortunately, has taken into consideration that a professional chess player must earn his bread and butter by his ability to win games. Tournaments are held all over the world. In most cases the players must pay their own expenses and take their chances of being able to carry off a high cash prize in order to make a profit. In short, it is like any other professional sport.
The youth traveled to Chile to take part in a tournament secure in his ability to carry off a high prize. His decision to take part was based on the prize money. When a player is misled as to the amount of the prizes actually is, it leaves him out on a limb. He has no guarantee of winning enough money to justify the trip even with the amount of $2,000 since even the greatest can have a bad day just as in any other contest.
If an average citizen were to be sold an object at one price and then was sent a bill for twice that amount he would be justified in sending it back. Unfortunately for Bobby Fischer he could not really carry out his threat not to take part, since he has already invested in this tournament by traveling to the scene.
Bobby Fischer has another goal to reach by playing in these tournaments. He is qualified to play in the Challengers' Tournament in Europe this summer. Somehow he has to raise the money to get there and for other expenses.
