The World Championship match between the American challenger Bobby Fischer and the World Champion, Boris Spassky was held in Reykjavik, Iceland during July-August, 1972. Fischer, the young American with an ELO rating of 2780, defeated Spassky and in a sense, the entire Soviet chess machine.
In honor of the match, Iceland issued Scott 442. 2,000,000 stamps were printed in 40,000 sheets. As the first two illustrations show the sheets differed. Sheets marked with plate numbers 3A 1A 2A 1A have no horizontal perforation in the left margin.
Sheets marked 3B 1B 2B 1B have horizontal perforations in the left margin. In addition, the individual perforations of the left vertical row are visibly smaller than the other perforations on the sheet.
The games of Fischer-Spassky, 1972
The first day of issue was supposed to coincide with the first game of the match on July 2, 1972. The cover below was signed and sent by Fred Cramer, then the Vice President for the US Chess Federation and the main representative for Fischer during the match.
Match covers conatin many different cachets... with pieces, emblems, medals, cartoons, caricatures, photos, match scenes, buildings, and game positions. Common covers sell for $2. The following is a registered cover sent on the first day of issue.
It is easy to get carried away. There was a program, a regular chess publication, there are match game tickets, banquet invitations, menus, table cloths, and napkins, all bearing the commerorative stamp!
Thanks to the early machinations, game 1 actually occurred on July 11. Closing ceremonies were held on September 3, 1972.
It's relatively easy to assemble covers from each day of the match... a significant challenge to assemble postally used covers from throughout the match! Here are the registered covers that I know about. As is evident, approximately 5,000 registered covers were made, with a lot of activity on day one (assuming they started with #1)
Date Reg # July 2 The originally scheduled opening date of the match July 2 151 July 2 275 July 2 474 July 2 591 July 2 599 July 2 604 July 2 605 July 2 606 July 2 607 July 2 608 July 2 611 July 2 612 July 2 613 July 2 614 July 2 615 July 2 616 July 2 619 July 2 621 July 2 758 July 11 GAME 1 [Fischer endgame blunder; S 1 F 0] July 11 748 July 11 809 July 11 811 July 11 815 July 11 855 July 12 937 July 13 GAME 2 [Fischer forfeits; S 2 F 0] July 13 1004 July 15 GAME 3 [Fischer’s first ever victory against Spassky: S 2 F 1] July 16 1099 July 16 1171 July 16 1178 July 17 1244 July 17 1317 July 18 GAME 4 [F 2.5 S 1.5] July 18 1316 July 20 GAME 5 [F 2.5 S 2.5] July 20 1460 July 22 GAME 6 [F 3.5 S 2.5] July 23 1522 July 25 GAME 7 [F 4.0 S 3.0] July 25 1654 July 26 1739 July 27 GAME 8 [F 5.0 S 3.0] July 27 1789 August 1 GAME 9 [F 5.5 S 3.5] August 1 1920 August 3 GAME 10 [F 6.5 S 3.5] August 3 2042 August 3 2095 August 4 2130 August 6 GAME 11 [F 6.5 S 4.5] August 6 2249 August 8 GAME 12 [F 7.0 S 5.0] August 8 2360 August 9 2482 August 10 GAME 13 [F 8.0 S 5.0] August 10 2495 August 11 2608 August 15 GAME 14 [F 8.5 S 5.5] August 15 2720 August 15 2825 August 17 GAME 15 [F 9.0 S 6.0] August 17 2849 August 18 2981 August 20 GAME 16 [F 9.5 S 6.5] August 20 3025 August 22 GAME 17 [F 10.0 S 7.0] August 22 3217 August 22 3257 August 23 3339 August 24 GAME 18 [F 10.5 S 7.5] August 24 3477 August 25 3542 August 25 3598 August 27 GAME 19 [F 11.0 S 8.0] August 27 3712 August 27 3713 August 29 GAME 20 [F 11.5 S 8.5] August 29 3944 August 30 3955 August 31 GAME 21 [F 12.5 S 8.5] August 31 4119 August 31 4120 August 31 4124 August 31 4126 September 1 4277 September 1 4285 September 3 4773 September 3 4883 September 3 4885 September 3 4886
