AIt's almost as though "Paid for State Propaganda" took a breather, and Julie Flint, who covered the tournament in 1972, now blurts out the reality about how NOISY the Reykjavik stadium was! According to the biased media blitz from 1972, Chester Fox and his sound engineers (sik) Fischer was to enjoy a perfect silence in Reykjavik, replete with “hidden” cameras.
“…On 11 July, the show got on the road 10 days behind schedule. … after discovering that the television cameras he had reluctantly accepted were not unseen and unheard, ‘like candid camera’, but towered behind the players' chairs. 😲 … And it was noisy. Because Reykjavik had no tournament hall, a sports stadium had been converted for the championship. Fold-up benches clacked. Corrugated iron walls twanged. Kids scrunched sweet papers. Adults yakked. It wasn't ideal for Spassky, who liked crowds; it was hell for Fischer, who didn't.
Midway through the match, Fischer complained of snoring. Schmid tiptoed down to catch the sleeper in flagrante, but failed. Rattled at last, Spassky fell steadily behind until, in the 17th game, the Russians accused the Americans of using chemical and electronic aids ‘to unbalance Mr. B. Spassky and make him lose his fighting spirit.’ ([In 1985, Spassky confirmed that job was done by Moscow.]) This was surely not poor Spassky's doing. He, better than anyone, knew that the Americans needed no such aids: they had the dream aid — Fischer."
— The Observer London, Greater London, England Sunday, August 02, 1992
