Spassky-Fischer, Reykjavik 1972 Caricature

Bobby Fischer arrives in Reykjavík for the 1972 World Chess Championship, carrying a sack marked “Principles” and currency symbols. Boris Spassky holds his crown above a fortified rook. Icelandic artist Halldór Pétursson titled this caricature “Bobby’s Arrival.”

Efim Geller and Iivo Nei support Spassky’s Rook. Between the players, chief arbiter Lothar Schmid raises a finger for silence. FIDE president Max Euwe appears above, and Harry Golombek appears below him. Assistant arbiter Guðmundur Arnlaugsson stands above Fischer, and film producer Chester Fox watches through his camera.

The figures on the left include Jim Slater, the British financier who doubled the prize fund; Icelandic grandmaster Friðrik Ólafsson; and Icelandic Chess Federation president Guðmundur G. Þórarinsson, seated at the bottom. The pale figure beside Fischer’s boot is Freysteinn Þorbergsson, identified in the poster’s key by his nickname, “Grettisfang.”

Across the base runs FIDE’s Latin motto, “Gens una sumus”: “We are one family.” Beneath this crowded gathering of players, seconds, officials and organizers, the inscription supplies its own quiet humor.

Pétursson packed the personalities and pressures surrounding Fischer versus Spassky into a single scene, with the world championship crown held just beyond the challenger’s reach.