The Gazette and Daily York, Pennsylvania Tuesday, August 03, 1965 - Page 2
State Dept. Bars U.S. Chess Champion From International Tourney In Cuba
© York Times News Service
New York — The State department has refused to allow Bobby Fischer, the 22-year old United States chess champion, to play in an international tournament in Cuba later this month.
“He does not fall within the department's established criteria,” was the explanation for turning down Fischer's request that his passport be endorsed for travel to Cuba.
The young grandmaster from Brooklyn made the request June 29 through his attorney, Andrew P. Davis. The lawyer explained that Fischer had been invited to play in the Capablanca Memorial tournament in Havana on Aug. 25.
Players have also been invited from Argentina, Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Players are to be paid living and travel expenses and will compete for cash prizes, including a $2,000 first prize.
Davis noted that skill at chess carries “tremendous world-wide prestige,” and declared that Fischer's participation in the tourney — win or lose — would serve the best interests of the U.S.
The lawyer's letter to the State department concluded:
“Wouldn't it be a fantastic American victory should he carry all the marbles home from Cuba?”
Travel to Cuba has been restricted since Jan. 16, 1961, when the State department declared all U. S. passports to be invalid for travel there unless specifically endorsed.
A state department spokesman said yesterday that current regulations allow only three classes of Americans to travel to Cuba:
1—Bonafide journalists.
2—Businessmen with longstanding interests in Cuba.
3—Persons on humanitarian missions, such as relatives of prisoners or very ill Cubans.
Davis tried unsuccessfully to persuade the department that Fischer qualified under the first category.
Fischer had planned to represent two magazines, the Saturday Review and Chess Life. His request for travel documents was accompanied by letters of credentials from both publications, as well as a letter from Col. Edward P. S. Eagan of the People-to-People Sports committee.
The department spokesman said Fischer could not be regarded as a legitimate journalist, however, since “his primary purpose is to play chess; any articles he might write would be secondary.”
