Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, Monday, May 14, 1979 - Page 28
Will Fischer Fight City Hall?
When Mayor Edward Koch of New York City received World Champion Anatoly Karpov at City Hall on April 3rd, he took advantage of the occasion to issue the following appeal to Bobby Fischer:
“Bobby, our city and our country look to you as our greatest champion. There is no American better able to meet the challenge posed by the top-level play of our distinguished visitor today. Bobby we need you back.”
During the question period that followed the Mayor's statement, Karpov reaffirmed his often stated desire to play Fischer, but admitted that negotiations were not currently being held. He also said that although he had great respect for Fischer's play, he also had “confidence in his own strength.”
In a recent issue of the Soviet magazine Nedelya, Karpov describes his meeting with Fischer a year ago: “He (Fischer) suggested that we play an unofficial match. We talked about the rules and regulation, but no compromising solution acceptable to both sides was found. Naturally, it would be interesting to play with Fischer, both for me, and, I suppose, the whole chess world. I would welcome his return to the major chess league.”
Unfortunately a Fischer match with Svetozar Gligoric, scheduled for this spring seems unlikely to materialize. The Yugoslav grandmaster confessed privately at the Lone Pine International Tournament a few weeks ago, that a million dollars in prize money is available, but Fischer is not.