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AP Wirephoto, San Antonio, Tex. Dec. 10, 1972 - Chess Champ Signs Autographs.
World chess champion Bobby Fischer stops for name signings outside the playing hall of the Church's International Chess tournament. Though not a Church's competitor, he flew from California to view portions of the final round and to attend gathers for evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong of California. (AP Wirephoto)
In regard to the 12/10/1972 photo of Bobby signing autographs in San Antonio, Texas (Church's Chicken Tournament) and mentioned Bobby attending Garner Ted Armstrong's gatherings (sermons), I'm supposing they must mean Big Sandy, Texas (which is approximately 335 miles apart from San Antonio, TX), a twin campus to the Pasadena, California Ambassador campus, where Bobby took up residence in December 1972.
This NY Times article mentions the silence Bobby was kept under. After Bobby Fischer spoke to the Ambassador Report 1976-1977, and the text was published, with time, his words proved devastating to the cult.
Church Founder Excommunicates His Son, Garner Ted Armstrong "...A turning point in the church's outlook came last fall when several former students at Ambassador College, a church institution in Pasadena, published an 88-page report critical of the Armstrongs and the church. The publicity over the report is said by church officials to have accelerated a dropoff in new memberships and in contributions by members. [...] ACCUSED BY BOBBY FISCHER Bobby Fischer, the one-time world chess champion who has lived in seclusion with church officials in Pasadena for more than five years, was quoted in the report as having accused the church of accepting more than $90,000 of his money and as having criticized the elder Mr. Armstrong for using "Madison Avenue" proselytizing techniques to gain control of church members' minds. [...] At the time, Garner Ted Armstrong told a reporter, "The whole empire is crumbling."
