It was 2:47 p.m. when Bobby Fischer strode onto the stage at the Reykjavik Sports Hall and signed the score-sheet on the chess table. He had arrived 17 minutes late to resume the adjourned 21st game in his world championship chess match with Boris Spassky. But Spassky was not there. The 2,500 spectators soon learned why. "Ladies and gentlemen," announced Referee Lothar Schmid, "Mr. Spassky has resigned by telephone at 12:50. Mr. Fischer has won this game, No. 21, and he is the winner of the match."
As the audience hurst into applause for the first American ever to win the official world championship, Bobby nodded, smiled shyly and hurried from the hall. Spassky, reached by a newsman, was philosophical about his defeat: "I'm not sad," he said. "It's a sporting event and I lost. Bobby's the new champion. Now I must take a walk and get some fresh air." From Iceland, where for the past two months he has covered the Fischer-Spassky match for TIME, American Grandmaster Larry Evans cabled his résumé and impressions of the historic contest:
WAS Boris psyched out by Bobby's antics even before the tournament began? That is the great riddle. The match was really much closer than indicated by the cold statistic of the final score, 12½ points to 8½. In fact, it was really two matches. To put the contest into perspective, Bobby's whopping lead of 6½ to 3 in the first half (a win is a point, a draw half a point) must be compared with his narrow 6-to-5 edge in the last eleven games.
Like a chess game, the entire match was divided into three phases: opening, middle game, ending. No one knew better than Boris that he had failed to secure much of an advantage playing white in the first game and that Bobby had beaten himself by trying to win what was clearly a dead draw. Nonetheless, Bobby's mistake encouraged the Russian team, which had counted on his impetuosity and overconfidence.
Ping Pong. When Bobby forfeited the second game by not showing up because of a dispute over TV cameras, no one thought that he could be persuaded to resume the match if the officials insisted that the game be awarded to Spassky. Boris probably had reservations about accepting the gift point, but he may well have felt that Bobby's behavior should not go unpunished. The officials stood fast.
Thus it was probably with consternation and shock that Boris saw Bobby not only show up at the last minute for the third game, but also display the effrontery to demand that it be played in a dingy back room, ordinarily used for Ping Pong. "Just this once. Never again," said Boris, thereby sealing his own doom. By remaining intransigent, he probably could have provoked another walkout by Bobby and won the entire match by forfeit. Gradually falling behind after Bobby played an unorthodox move early in the game, Spassky finally extended his hand in defeat at the 41st move; it was the first time he had ever lost to Fischer. Boris was still leading 2-1, but he had lost an important psychological edge; Bobby now knew that he could bloody his opponent.