Heh, heh!>

Here is a blow by blow account of that critical hour on the 31st July 1972 by Prof. Christian Hesse.

"According to the match schedule, Game 2 was to begin at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 13, with Fischer playing the white pieces.

In an attempt to accommodate Fischer's demands, the organizers had tried to position the cameras in a way they could not be seen. They were hidden in black towers with little 4-inch holes in them for the lenses. These lenses were not visible from the playing table and also no camera noise could be heard there.

Before the game, Referee Schmid had inspected this set-up and was thoroughly satisfied. To the chief organizer of the match, Gudmundur Thorarinsson, he stated: “If Bobby will object to this, I will rule against him.” At 4:50, ten minutes before Schmid presses the clock for Game 2, Thorarinsson informs one of the lawyers for Chester Fox that Schmid was satisfied with the arrangements for the cameras.

This information was also transmitted to Fischer in his hotel room. Fischer, in anger, yelled that he wouldn’t appear for the game. One of Fischer's spokesmen, Fred Cramer, approached Schmid, asking him to delay the start of the game to resolve the camera issue.

Schmid refused, indicating that the match rules did not allow this.

At exactly 5:00 p.m. Fischer's clock starts ticking. With Fischer showing no intention to appear at the board, tension starts to increase among the officials in the hall.

At 5:10 Thorarinsson phones Fischer's hotel suite and talks to his second William Lombardy, who is with Fischer. Thorarinsson asks that Fischer at least come to the hall and play the game under protest.

At 5:15 Paul Marshall, Fischer's lawyer in Reykjavik, pleads with Schmid to stop Fischers clock to have time for further negotiations.

Schmid refuses: “If Bobby does not come, I have to declare a forfeit.”

At 5:20 Thorarinsson confers with Chester Fox and his lawyer Richard Stein. They decide to hold their position. Still, Thorarinsson is well aware that most likely it will put an end to the match if Fischer is forfeited on Game 2.

He says to Fox: “We must not show the slightest weakness now. Our only chance to win is to convince Bobby that we will give up the match rather than give in. But between ourselves, we must understand that if Bobby is crazy enough to hold out, we will have to give in first.”

At 5:30, Andrew Davis, another of Fischer's lawyers urgently phones Richard Stein from New York and pleads with him:

“Dick, you've got to help us. Fischer is in a stubborn rage and we need at least a day to cool him down. If you can pull the cameras out for this game, I'll do my @#$%*!&est to help you. Otherwise, it's all over. He won't accept a forfeit.”

Stein, being left with no other options, agrees instantly, and convinces Thorarinsson that Fischer was indeed ready to wreck the match over the cameras.

It was 5:35 by now. Thorarinsson phones Lombardy, telling him that he was ordering the cameras out. Lombardy transmits this information to Fischer. “Bobby says he'll come.”,

"Lombardy tells Thorarinsson. There is an avalanche of relief among organizers and match officials in the playing hall. The situation seems to having been saved almost at the last moment.

It is 5:39. Fischer has 21 minutes to appear to make his move.

During all of the wheeling's and dealings behind the scenes, a police escort, engine running, has been waiting outside Fischer's hotel and all traffic lights on the way to the playing venue were held at “green”.

In addition, the road between Fischer's hotel and Laugardallshall is cleared of traffic – protocol for a head of state. And it is only a few minutes' drive.

But then Fischer adds one more condition. He wants his clock set back to zero!!

Thorarinsson's eyes went wide in this rollercoaster ride. Only the referee has the authority to reset the clock and Thorarinsson immediately approaches Schmid with Fischer's demand. But Schmid refuses.

In a later interview he says: “If Mr. Fischer had come to the playing hall, I could have helped him. But he did not come, and his protest was not valid. I had no choice but to start his clock. It cannot be set back.”

Thorarinsson goes back to the phone and reports Schmids decision to Lombardy in Fischer's suite. In the mean time, the Islandic Grandmaster Olafsson has been sent to Fischer's hotel, also to try to convince Fischer to come. He found Fischer in a titanic rage, pacing the room back and forth.

It is 5:47 when Olafsson himself places a phone call to Lothar Schmid, telling him that the point was reached when only he could save the match:

“Speak to Boris, Lothar. Ask him if he will agree to restart the clock.” But Schmid sticks to his decision.

“I cannot. Bobby has 12 minutes. I suggest he come.”

When Olaf son transmitted Schmidt's reply to Fischer, he tore the phone cord out of the wall.

At exactly 6:00 p.m., Lothar Schmid steps to the playing table and stops Fischer's clock.

With a somber voice, he informs the disappointed audience:

“Ladies and Gentleman. Mr. Fischer did not appear in the playing hall. According to Rule Nr. 5 of the Amsterdam Agreement if a player is one hour late, he loses the game by forfeit.”

Here is a blow by blow account of that critical hour on the 31st July 1972 by Prof. Christian Hesse.>

There was no game 3 or games 4-21.

After the default Fischer left Icelnad and Spasky went home.

The Icelanders hired two look-alike actors to play out the match with games made up by Lothar Schmid.

That sure took more than a miracle.>

...since it was round 6,
and the "Game of the Century" was round 8.

The links seem temperamental when posted here but if you google.

'Prof. Christian Hesse + fischer spassky'

It takes you parts 1-4 of 'A great moment in chess.'

Part 2 is abridged above.

This is the link to part 2.

http://en.chessbase.com/post/a-grea...-

The tournament, from the barely visible poster, seems to be the 2nd Piatigorsky Cup. And Fischer, is playing "Ivanovic", is that meant to be Ivkov? In any event, that makes little sense since Ivkov was never "fourth best player in the world", using chessmetrics for instance or just common sense.

http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/DL/D...

Hey, they could do a whole movie just on that.

The tournament, from the barely visible poster, seems to be the 2nd Piatigorsky Cup. And Fischer, is playing "Ivanovic", is that meant to be Ivkov? In any event, that makes little sense since Ivkov was never "fourth best player in the world", using chessmetrics for instance or just common sense.>

Sounds like the divorce firm that took me for everything in my last divorce.>