New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, August 16, 1961
Absence Of Fischer Puts Off Chess Game
The thirteenth game of the sixteen-game chess series between Samuel Reshevsky and Bobby Fischer was postponed last night until tomorrow evening. The match is scheduled for the Hotel Empire.
Fischer, the United States champion, telephoned Morris J. Kasper, the treasurer of the American Chess Federation, and said he would not arrive until tomorrow. Fischer was in Los Angeles, where part of the series had been played.
Fischer forfeited the twelfth game when he had objected to a rescheduling by the officials. They had shifted the game from Saturday night to Sunday morning at the request of Reshevsky.
Fischer said that if the New York officials upheld the Los Angeles decision on the forfeit he would not continue.
Reshevsky leads the series, 6½-5½. Reshevsky's total includes the point credited for the forfeit.
CORRECTION: The schedule was changed twice.
- Changed from Saturday night to Sunday at 1:30 P.M. to which Bobby Fischer consented.
- Changed from 1:30 P.M. Sunday to 11 A.M. Sunday, by Referee Irving Rivise, to accommodate his own trip to San Francisco for the U.S. Open which opened the following day, Monday.
Young Fischer protested that the schedule should be returned to the originally scheduled time of 1:30 P.M. This clarification is documented in the August 14, 1961 Los Angeles Times “Chess Champ Forfeits By Failing to Appear”
