AThe Leader-Post Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Wednesday, August 04, 1965 - Page 12
No trip for chess champion
New York (AP)—A lawyer for Bobby Fischer, 22-year-old United States chess champion, said he knows of no “political” reason why the U.S. state department refused Fischer permission to play in an international tournament in Cuba.
The lawyer, Andrew P. Davis, commenting on a report that Fischer was turned down by the passport office for travel to Cuba, said a letter dated July 27 reads:
“He (Fischer) does not fall within the department's established criteria.”
The tournament in Havana is scheduled for Aug. 25.
Davis said Fischer's request for travel documents was accompanied by letters of credentials from the magazines Saturday Review and Chess Life, which Fischer planned to represent.
ONLY THREE GROUPS
A department spokesman said Monday regulations allow only the following three classes of Americans to travel to Cuba: 1, Bona fide journalists; 2, Businessmen with long-standing interests in Cuba; 3. Persons on humanitarian missions, such as relatives of prisoners or Cubans who are ill.
The department spokesman said Fischer could not be regarded as a legitimate journalist because “his primary purpose is to play chess; any articles he might write would be secondary.”
Fischer was not available for comment.
Chess players have been invited to Havana from Canada, Argentina, Denmark, The Netherlands, Britain, Spain, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.
