St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis, Missouri Friday, August 21, 1959
Eleanor Roosevelt
Chess Funds Needed
Hyde Park, Aug. 21.
ONE MOTHER who is doing her very best to help her son is Mrs. Regina Fischer of Brooklyn, N.Y. Her son is Bobby Fischer, the 16-year-old United States chess champion, and his current predicament is a shortage of funds.
As our national champion, Bobby is the official United States entry to the coming Candidates tournament, which will take place in Yugoslavia Sept. 6 to Oct. 31. Winner of this eight-man competition will become the new challenger in 1960 for the world championship title, now held by Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia. Mrs. Fischer is calling on all she can reach in her search for money to send her son to this tournament.
For some reason the United States Chess Federation does not seem to be strong enough to give our champion the money needed for participation in the various tournaments. Other countries back their representatives in these events. In the Candidates tournament there will be four Russian players, well provided with seconds, physical trainers and ever moral and financial backing.
Chess is a game that holds world interest, and though we in this country have not adopted it in the way some other countries have, still we have a considerable number of enthusiasts here. I don't know why we shouldn't be able to raise the $2000 needed to send our representative and a second to this tournament in Yugoslavia. It would seem to me that many people who consider this game educational would be willing to send in small sums.
Bobby Fischer is young to be carrying the responsibility of representing the United States, and I hope he will not also be asked to carry the responsibility of raising the money for travel and living expenses. I hope many of my readers will send contributions to: Bobby Fischer, care of the United States Chess Federation, 80 East Eleventh street, New York 3, N.Y. earmarked for use in representing the United States in the Yugoslavia tournament.
