New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, December 11, 1959
Chess Group Balks At Fischer Demand
Bobby Fischer, the 16-year-old United States chess champion, had until Sunday to reconsider his refusal to play in this year's championship unless the pairings are redrawn in his presence.
A five-man committee of the United States Chess Federation and The American Chess foundation, co-sponsors of the tournament, decided last night that Fischer would have to abide by the pairings or be replaced in the tournament.
Fischer, the youngest international grandmaster in history, has dominated the American chess scene in the past two years. He has competed three times in the annual national tournament and won it in his last two attempts.
In each of the tournaments that Fischer has appeared in, numbers were assigned to the players and pairings were made without the competitors being present. Fischer, a student at Erasmus Hall High School, never had complained before.
Morris J. Kasper, the president of the Manhattan Chess Club and chairman of the tournament committee, last night said that notifications of the pairings had been sent to twelve players earlier this month.
On Dec. 7 Hans Kmoch, the tournament director, received a letter from Fischer stating that the young player would not participate unless the pairings were redrawn in his presence, according to Kasper.
Kmoch wrote to Fischer the same day telling him that he would have to abide by the pairings or withdraw.
Since each of the twelve players meet one another once, the pairings merely assign the order of meeting.
“We would love to have Bobby play,” said Kasper, “but we can't change the pairings. We can't set a precedent whereby each player can demand a redrawing.”
