U.S. Refuses Chess Champ Cuba Passport

The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Tuesday, August 03, 1965 - Page 18

U.S. Refuses Chess Champ Cuba Passport
New York (AP) — An attorney for Bobby Fischer, 22-year-old United States chess champion, said today he knew of no “political” reason why the State Department refused Fischer permission to play in an international tournament in Cuba.
The lawyer, Andrew P. Davis, commenting on a published report that Fischer was turned down by the passport office for travel to Cuba, said a letter dated July 27 read:
“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 Saturday Review and Chess Life, which Fischer planned to represent.
A department spokesman said yesterday that present regulations allow only the following three classes of Americans to travel to Cuba:
1. Bona fide journalists;
2. Businessmen with longstanding interests in Cuba;
3. Persons on humanitarian missions, such as relatives of prisoners or Cubans who are very 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.”