In the summer of 1972, one of the city’s newspapers did an informal survey to see what patrons in local bars were watching on TV. It was a time before sports bars existed, yet it seemed reasonable to assume that most would be tuned in to watch the New York Mets, who were still in the pennant race, though they would eventually slump to third in their division. But the Mets were an afterthought. Barely anyone was watching them.
Instead, most of the TV’s were tuned to PBS Channel 13, where a man named Shelby Lyman, a 35-year-old sociology professor with a cocker-spaniel face, stood in a dark studio in front of a large demonstration chessboard, pieces for the board spilling out of his pockets, talking about a match taking place in the tiny country of Iceland, 2,700 miles away.
The match was for the world championship and pitted the American Bobby Fischer against the reigning champion, the Russian Boris Spassky. Called the Match of the Century, the contest had all the elements that made for great theater….
Reblogged from: When Chess Was King of the City
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Published by chessmusings
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.
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