Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday, August 19, 1981 - Page 9
Fischer plans chess return paper reports
Reykjavik, Iceland (AP)—Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, who has not been seen in public for years, is planning a comeback, the Morgunbladid newspaper reported today.
The daily said the 38-year-old American told the International Chess Federation that he wants to play chess again.
Johann Thorir, editor of the Icelandic chess magazine Chess, told the newspaper he was contacted to arrange a match between Fischer an an Icelandic chess player.
“At first,” Thorir said, “Fischer was asked whether he wanted to play Viktor Korchnoi, the Soviet grandmaster who is currently living in exile in Switzerland, but Fischer didn't.”
Thorir said the match will be played in Iceland, but no date has been set and Fischer's opponent was not named.
Fischer became world champion in Iceland in 1972 when he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Fischer refused to defend the title because of a disagreement over the rules of the International Chess Federation, and Soviet grandmaster Anatoly Karpov became world champion by default.