The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, July 04, 1971 - Page 11 — The King's Men -- Fischer Begins Match with Denmark's Larsen by Merrill Dowden — This July 4 will be a landmark in the history of chess. For this is the day that America's amazing grandmaster, Bobby Fischer, begins his semifinal 10-game match with the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen. The other semifinal also starts today, in Moscow, between Viktor Korchnoi and former world champion Tigran Petrosyan, both of the USSR. The winners of these two matches will then clash to determine who will meet the reigning world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, who will put his title on the line. The guess here is that the ultimate challenger will be Fischer. Fischer, fresh from his incredible 6-0 sweep over another Russian grandmaster, Mark Taimanov, is favored to defeat the great Dane. This will be a formidable task, because Larsen is rated among the top half-dozen players in the world. The American has thrived on formidable tasks, however, and he has the best-won-lost record against masters and grandmasters of any living player. Nor is he lacking in self-confidence. “The Soviets have been putting up roadblocks for me for years” the 28-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., was quoted recently. “But I know I'm the best. I should have been world champion 10 years ago.” Taimanov, 46, said Fischer undoubtedly is the best non-Soviet player he has met in 19 years of international competition as a grandmaster. He blamed his poor showing against Fischer on ill health and headaches. Well, who wouldn't get a headache after playing Fischer and getting nothing but goose eggs?
★
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 04, 1971 - Page 26 — Fischer-Larsen Match in Denver — Bobby Fischer, fresh from his brilliant 6-0 victory over Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union, will start a 10-game match Tuesday with Bent Larsen of Denmark, to be held at Temple Buell College in Denver. Los Angeles had bid for the match, with plans to hold it in Royce Hall, UCLA. Fischer finally opted for Denver. Larsen had agreed to either city. The match is part of the semifinals in a series to determine the challenger for the world championship title, now held by Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Larsen had moved up by defeating Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany by 5½-3½. The other competitors are two Russians, former world champion Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi. They will also play a 10-game match, starting today in Moscow. The winner will need 5½ points in either match. Should the result be a tie after 10 games, then four additional games will be played on a sudden death basis. Another tie after 14 games would be resolved by the toss of a coin. The two match victors will meet in a neutral country in September, in accordance with the schedule established by the International Chess Federation. The survivor will then play Spassky for the championship next spring.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, July 04, 1971 - Page 99 — History of Fischer's Games in 1970 by Al Horowitz — When the chess journalists assembled at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal tournament last year voted Bobby Fischer the top player of 1970, there were few dissenters—even on the Other Side. Indeed, if anyone had been so audacious as to dissent, the journalists could have produced wholly convincing statistics to back up their choice: In 1970 grandmaster Robert James Fischer scored 47 victories against top class opposition, drew 23 games, and lost only 3—a score of 80 per cent! This amazing record encompassed a 3-1 score against former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the USSR in the match that pitted 10 Russians against a team from the rest of the world, first places in three international tournaments — Zagreb, Yugoslavia; Buenos Aires, and the Interzonal—and the second best score on first board at the chess Olympics at Siegen, West Germany; a truly remarkable achievement. The story of Fischer's triumphs in the annus mirabilis has now found its way into permanent form. Edited by grandmaster Isaac Kashdan and published by the United States Chess Federation (479 Broadway, Newburgh, N.Y. 12550), “Fischer 1970” ($1.75) includes the score of every game played by Fischer in the events listed above, with a brief summary of each tournament and capsule commentary on the games. The true value of this well-produced, soft-cover publication—one is in doubt whether to call it a pamphlet or a book—lies, of course, in the games themselves, but the editor's achievement—to have presented them so that they fit clearly and lucidly into the context of the events in which they were played—is considerable. Fischer's game against Yugoslav grandmaster Minic was played in the international tournament at Zagreb. In it, Bobby reverts to a variation of the Sicilian Defense that he used to play all the time, but, since he so radically broadened his repertory of openings about three years ago, he has tried it only infrequently. White's 14. P-KR4 is a little slow—more usual is 14. B-R3—and Fischer utilizes the slight respite afforded him to organize a fierce counterattack. In the ensuing complications Fischer, as Kashdan remarks, “always turned out to be a move ahead.” The second game, in which Fischer defeats Argentinian grandmaster Oscar Panno, was played in the international tournament at Buenos Aires. Fischer scored 13 wins and 4 draws (no losses) to finish 3½ points ahead of the field. We quote Kashdan's introduction to this game in full: “When Panno moved on the queen-side, Fischer shifted his forces to the kingside. Several exchanges seems to simplify the game, but Fischer's attack then started in earnest, with a fine offer of a bishop, then a knight. Once Panno's king was exposed, his defense collapsed.” As yet another example of Fischer's prowess, we present a game from the preliminaries of the chess Olympics at Siegen. The player of the Black pieces is William Hook, a former New Yorker now living in the Virgin Islands, for whose team he has played over the last several years.
Read More
The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana, Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 8 — American Chess Ace — Bobby Fischer (left) and Danish champion Bent Larsen (right) are about ready to begin a ten-game match to determine a challenger for the world championship now held by Boris Spassky of Russia. Paul Klein of Ecuador, chief arbitrator for the matches, places the timing units on the playing table. A similar semifinal match is under way in Moscow between two Russians, former world champion Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi. Their first game resulted in a draw. (AP Wirephoto).
Read More
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph Colorado Springs, Colorado Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 49 — Bob Fischer Tops Danish Chess Master — Denver (AP) — Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in the first game Tuesday of their 10-game world chess championship semifinal match at Temple Buell College here. Fischer, with the white pieces, gained the advantage in the center and soon established his pieces on better squares. Larsen chose to keep his king in the center rather than castle, and this later proved a problem. When Larsen attempted counter play, Fischer gave up a pawn which Larsen accepted. Fischer started an attack which looked dangerous, but Larsen managed to hold his ground. Fischer then played weakly, allowing Larsen to build an attack of his own. This time Fischer's defensive ability was tested, and he came through. The resulting ending seemed even, with Fischer having a rook and two bishops for Larsen's queen. A passed pawn that Fischer had established proved the margin of victory. When it started to advance Larsen found it could not be halted, and he resigned after 41 moves. The second match game will be played Thursday afternoon, with further games scheduled Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 17 — World Chess Championships — Denver (UPI) — United States chess champion Robert (Bobby) Fischer of New York will meet Bent Larsen of Denmark in one of two semifinal matches for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the 10-game series will play the victor of another semifinal match underway in the Soviet Union between Russian Grand Master and former world champion Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi. The final winner will then challenge current world champion Boris Spassky of Russia for world honors. Russia, for about the last 30 years, has dominated the chess world and retained all world titles, but some chess experts say the winner of the Fischer-Larsen match may be the next world champion, according to one of the men responsible for arranging the Denver site, Caswell Silver, President of the Sundance Oil Company. The public will be able to view the Fischer-Larsen match in one auditorium or examine the moves and have strategy explained in another room.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 13 — Larsen Is Defeated By Bobby Fischer In Opening Game — Denver, July 6 — Bobby Fischer, moving forward in his quest for the World's Chess Championship, defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in 41 moves in the first game of their match tonight in Temple Buell College here. The first surprise was Larsen's opening, replying to Fischer's expected P-K4 with the French defense. No one present could remember Larsen using this opening in recent years. Fischer was obviously not impressed, making his first few moves rapidly. He gained control of the center and moved his king into safety by castling. Larsen tried for counterplay in the center, preparing to castle on the queen's side. When he threatened one of Fischer's pawns, the American ace made no effort to protect it, quietly continuing his development.
Read More
Standard-Speaker Hazleton, Pennsylvania Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 31 — Masters Tie Again — Moscow (AP) — Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi drew to a tie Tuesday in their second match of the semifinal round in the World Chess Challengers Tournament. The competitors declared a tie on the 37th move. Their first match in the best-of-10 series was played Saturday and ended in a draw on 36th move. The series winner will face the victor of the Bobby Fischer-Bent Larsen semifinal round. The winner of that final challengers match will then try next spring to take the world champion from Russian Boris Spassky.
Read More
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph Colorado Springs, Colorado Wednesday, July 07, 1971 - Page 3 — Spotlights — Denver (UPI) — U.S. chess champion Robert “Bobby” Fischer, a world master at the age of 15, needed only 41 moves Tuesday to win the first game of a semifinal world chess title match against Bent Larsen of Denmark. Fischer, 27, took less than five hours of play to win the first game of a 10-match series which will be staged at Temple Buell College here over the next three weeks. Larsen, who had the black pieces in a game filled with drama, superlative chess and occasional lapses, chose the French Defense, an opening he has rarely used. He ran into difficulties, ceding Fischer several open lines. The victory marked the seventh in a row for Fischer.
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Thursday, July 08, 1971 - Page 4 — Fischer's Chess Win — Denver, Colorado, Wednesday. — Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in the first game of their ten-game semi-final match in the world chess championships yesterday. In Moscow, the second game in the semi-finals between former champion Tigran Petrosyan and Viktor Korchnoi both of the Soviet Union, ended in a draw on the 37th move.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Thursday, July 08, 1971 - Page 38 — Sports in Brief - Fischer Toys With Larsen — Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in the first game of their 10-game World Chess Championship semifinal match Tuesday at Temple Buell College in Denver. The second match game will be played this afternoon, with further games scheduled on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Fischer, with the white pieces, gained the advantage in the center and soon established his pieces on better squares. Larsen chose to keep his king in the center rather than castle, and this later proved a problem. When Larsen attempted counter play, Fischer gave up a pawn which Larsen accepted. Fischer started an attack which looked dangerous, but Larsen managed to hold his ground. Fischer then played weakly, allowing Larsen to build an attack of his own. This time Fischer's defensive ability was tested, and he came through. The resulting ending seemed even, with Fischer having a rook and two bishops for Larsen's queen. A passed pawn that Fischer had established proved the margin of victory. When it started to advance Larsen found it could not be halted, and he resigned after 41 moves.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, July 08, 1971 - Page 32 — Chess: Fischer a Good Bet to Beat Larsen, but by What Score? by Al Horowitz — Virtually everybody (on this side of the Atlantic, anyway) agrees that the eight-time United States champion, Bobby Fischer, will beat Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark in their forthcoming semifinal candidates' match, but there is considerable speculation about the final score. Some people, apparently awestruck at Fischer's 6-0 victory against the Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov in the quarter-finals, predict that Larsen may meet the same fate; others suggest the match will be very close. One chess observer has predicted Fischer will win 6-4, thus: Fischer will have a one-game lead going into the final game of the match, and Larsen, going all out to tie the score, will overextend himself and lose.
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Thursday, July 08, 1971 - Page 16 — Chess Championship Begins — Denver, Colorado (UPI)—Bobby Fischer of the United States and Bent Larsen of Denmark began play in a semifinals match of the world chess candidates tournament. Fischer won the toss and will be on the offensive in the first match with the white pieces. Colors alternate each game thereafter. Tournament Director is Paul Klein of Ecuador. At one time, it appeared Fischer was out of contention for the right to meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title over 24 games in 1972. But an American challenger dropped out, making way for Fischer to enter the candidates tournament at a later date. The matches in Denver, and one in Moscow between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, are the final stages of a lengthy series to select Spassky's challenger. The world championship cycle, worked out years ago by the International Chess Federation, takes three years to complete.
Read More
Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 13 — Chess by Harry Mather — Fischer's Impressive Lead in Denver — Robert Fischer of the United States gained an impressive lead in his section of the world chess semifinals by defeating Bent Larsen of Denmark in the first and second games of a 10-game match now being played at Denver. In Moscow, Soviet grandmasters Petrosian and Korchnoi have draw their first three games for an even 1½-1½ score. Fischer, playing the white pieces in the first game on Tuesday, gained an early advantage in the center, withstood Larsen's counter play, and established a passed pawn to force his opponent's resignation after 41 moves to take an early 1-0 lead in the match. Thursday's win with the black pieces increased this to 2-0 for the American and leaves Larsen facing a two point deficit and the black pieces for Sunday's game. It is certainly not a bright outlook for the Danish grandmaster. The semi-finals being staged in Denver and Moscow will select two winners who will then play a final match later in the fall. Winner of this final will then challenge world champion Boris Spassky to a 24-game match for world title next year.
Read More
The Des Moines Register Des Moines, Iowa Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 2 — Chess Contest - Larsen Defeat 2-0 — American grand master Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark to take a 2-0 lead in their 10-game match in the semi-finals of the World Chess Championships in Denver. Larsen resigned on the fifty-fourth move when faced with mate. The third game will be played Sunday afternoon.
★
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 50 — World Series Matches: What Are the Odds? — Play starts this week in the second round between survivors of the Challengers K.O. Match Tourney to find an opponent for world champion Boris Spassky in a 1972 title match. Korchnoi, USSR, vs. Petrosian, USSR, at Moscow and Fischer, USA, vs. Larsen, Denmark. Nothing definite at press as to locale, but it is expected to be either Los Angeles or N.Y.
What Are the Odds? - After his overwhelming defeat of Taimanov in the 1st round of the K.O. Challengers Match, the majority expect Bobby Fischer not to have too much trouble defeating Bent Larsen in the second round. But this isn't the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik sees it, as reported in a Russian periodical. “Fischer is certainly an outstanding player, but from the point of view of strategy not particularly original; he has few ideas of his own. After the return match with Euwe, Alekhine wrote, ‘Euwe had studied widely and deeply when preparing for the match but he created very little that was original.’ To some extent Alekhine's remark also applies to Fischer. In many ways Fischer reminds one of the young Smyslov. I myself came to this view when I was preparing for an encounter with Fischer and a little later I heard the same comment from Tal. Larsen is a great talent and in my view he has real prospects of winning the Challengers' matches. He is a very exact player, full of determination. His drawback is his excessive optimism. From the creative point of view, he is a more complex player than Fischer.”
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 4 — Russians Draw in Chess — Moscow, Friday — Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, both of the Soviet Union, drew the third game in their world chess championship contenders' play-off semi-final on the 28th move yesterday. With both their preceding games drawn, the score now stands at 1½ points each. In Denver, Colorado, Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark last night to take a 2-0 lead in their semi-final.
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 22 — How It Went In The Quarter Finals — As this is being written, the quarter-finals for the world championship have just ended; as you read it, the semi-finals should be getting underway. In looking over the games played by the eight grandmasters, I found that most of my predictions on winners and losers were correct. My estimates of the scores were not always so close. Bobby Fischer-Mark Taimanov on paper looks like a complete rout for and by our Bobby. After all, the final score was 6-0. But it really wasn't all that easy. In the second game, Taimanov could easily have drawn. It is hard to see how a grandmaster could possibly have gone astray on a move that would be obvious to any B player. But what really must have demoralized Taimanov was the third game which he had easily in the bag — and then let out. I had predicted that Bobby would win 5½-4½, but who could have predicted 6-0? Tigran Petrosian-Robert Huebner was 4-3 when the 21-year-old West German student fled the scene, forfeiting the match. (I have an on-the-spot report on this weird circumstance which will appear in next week's column.) I had predicted that Huebner had the talent and would score an upset victory over Petrosian, a former world champion. Maybe I would have been right, but I didn't anticipate the effect of temperament. Bent Larsen-Wolfgang Uhlmann was off to a wobbly start with Uhlmann losing a sure game in the fourth to the happy Dane, Larsen later gave the East German the point back, in the eighth, but clinched the win in the ninth. Final result: Larsen, 5½; Uhlmann, 3½. Victor Korchnoi-Ewfim Geller, an all-Russian match was a 5½-2½. My prediction on these last two was within half a point of being right. How about the semi-finals? Well, I pick Korchnoi to beat Petrosian. Wherever it is played (Las Palmas in the Canary Islands is trying to get it), the Fischer-Larsen match should be a whistler. Larsen is capable of beating anybody, even Bobby, but he tends to be erratic. Bobby is a solid player and plays until the last piece is moved, without pity or remorse. He has the killer instinct. Larsen will have to play must better chess than he did against Uhlmann or he will be crushed like Taimanov. If I have to make a prediction, I'll say Fischer.
Read More
Florence Morning News Florence, South Carolina Sunday, July 11, 1971 - Page 29 — Chess Picking Up Steam in Florence — …Bobby Fischer, a New Yorker, became an international grand master at 16. Fischer is to chess enthusiasts what Lew Alcindor is to basketball fans, local members say.
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, July 11, 1971 - Page 182 — Chess - Fischer Wins 2 Straight by Harold Dondis — Bobby Fischer has won the first two games in his 10-game match with Bent Larsen, at Temple Buell College in Denver. The next game of the match will be played this afternoon. Games are scheduled for Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays until one player scores 5½ points. The semi-final match between Russians Tigran Petrosian, the former world champion, and Viktor Korchnoi ended in a draw. Their series is deadlocked. Our choices in the matches are Korchnoi and Fischer, but not by much. With one match being held in the U.S., it is hoped that American press coverage will improve over the abysmal reportage of the Vancouver match. Though wire services covered the match, American newspapers showed little interest and chess buffs checked Russian and foreign sources for news. Here are the fifth and sixth Fischer-Taimanov games. In the fifth, Taimanov has, if anything, an edge most of the way, but his blunder on the 46th move after adjournment in no time trouble is no less than childish. In game six, Taimanov becomes over-committed and Fischer picks up a pawn with a nice combination. Note that, if 22 … P-K4 23. RxP wins a pawn for if 23. … PxR, 24. NxPch picks up a Queen. This threat is decisive.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 11, 1971 - Page 39 — Russians in Match for Chess Title — Moscow (AP) — Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi adjourned their fourth game Saturday night in semifinal competition for the world chess crown. The Soviet grandmasters decided to adjourn the game on the 41st move. They will resume play today. The men are tied at 1.5-1.5 in the semifinal match. They have played three games and tied all three, giving each man a half-point for each draw. The winner of the match will move into the finals against the winner of another semifinals match, between American Bobby Fischer and Dane Bent Larsen in Denver. The winner of the finals will challenge the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, next spring.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 11, 1971 - Page 114 — Fischer Wins First In Larsen Match — American chess ace Bobby Fischer started on the right track with a victory after a tense struggle in the first game of his match with Bent Larsen of Denmark. Fischer thus continued the amazing winning streak he started by defeating Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union by 6-0 in a previous match. Playing in a new auditorium in Temple Buell College in Denver, Fischer started with his almost inevitable P-K4. Larsen surprised by adopting the French Defense, a stranger in his opening repertory. Fischer developed rapidly and soon had control of several open lines. Trying for counter play in the center, Larsen delayed castling, which nearly proved fatal. When Larsen accepted a pawn which Fischer offered, he faced a powerful onslaught. His king was forced to the third rank, a highly unusual sight so early in the game. Fischer's attack faltered, however, and suddenly it was Larsen who had the initiative. He took possession of the center files, and after sacrificing two minor pieces for a rook, it was the white king that was in grave danger. Fischer had to give up his queen, but evaded the threats to emerge in an ending with relatively equal material. A passed pawn on the queen side then started an advance. This proved to be the key to victory. Larsen found he could not stop the pawn and resigned just before the end of the session. The match, which is for the best in 10 games, is one of the semi-finals in the series to determine a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The other match is being contested in Moscow between two Russians, former champion Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi. They have played two games at this writing, both resulting in draws.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 12, 1971 - Page 24 — Fischer Wins Third Straight In Denver as Larsen Plays Badly — Denver, July 11 — Bobby Fischer tonight defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark for the third straight time in their chess match at Temple Buell College here. The match is one of the semifinals in an elimination series to determine a challenger for the world chess title held by Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The other semifinal is being held in Moscow between two Soviet grandmasters, Victor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian. Fischer needs 2½ points of the seven scheduled games remaining to win the series here. The winner will play a 12-game match with the Moscow victor in September. The ultimate survivor will take on Spassky in a 24-game match for the world title next spring. Tonight's game here started with the Sicilian defense and lasted 41 moves. Larsen was clearly outclassed from the outset. He played a rather backward variation of the opening. Fischer's 11. P-B5 planned the opening of lines on the king's side. Larsen should have countered with 11. … P-K4, rather than Q-B1. Larsen also played poorly on his 12th turn, when PxP would have offered more resistance than BxP. As played, Fischer forced the win of a valuable center pawn. From that point, it was a matter of accurate play on Fischer's part. With an advantage of this type, Fischer's play is generally flawless, and this game was no exception. Larsen tried for an inroad with his queen, but this was easily rebuffed, with no other black pieces available for aggressive action. An exchange of queens soon followed, in the 24th and 25th moves, ending any possible danger to Fischer's king side. The end came when Fischer's rook forced its way behind Larsen's pawn. After several exchanges, Fischer established a powerful passed pawn on the queen file. Supported by the white king, the pawn would soon reach the queening file; Larsen recognized the inevitable and resigned.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 12, 1971 - Page 24 — Chess: Petrosian's Style Causes Korchnoi Support to Grow by Al Horowitz — “…His style, to the vast majority of chess players, is uninspired. His policy is ‘safety first’ — he loses fewer games than most of the other top grandmasters, even if he does draw more — makes him a heavy favorite to finish high in any tournament, but also makes him a long shot to finish first. Compared with the aggressive, win-at-all-costs style of, say, Bobby Fischer of the United States…”
Read More
Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, The Evening News Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Monday, July 12, 1971 - Page 18 — Fischer Leading Chess Semifinal — Denver (AP) — Bobby Fischer of the United States took a 3-0 lead over Bent Larsen of Denmark by winning the third game of their 10-game semifinal elimination chess match Sunday night. Larsen resigned on the 41st move. Fischer needs 5½ points and is in sight of his goal. Larsen must win five of the seven games remaining on the schedule in order to tie. The winner of the match meets the survivor of another semifinal match in Russia between Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian. The Russians have played four draws and are tied 2-2, scoring a half-point for each game. The winner then goes again world champion Boris Spassky of Russia. The fourth game between Fischer and Larsen will be played Tuesday night with additional games Thursday and Sunday.
Read More
The Indianapolis Star Indianapolis, Indiana Monday, July 12, 1971 - Page 43 — Russian Chess Masters Play To 4th Draw — (UPI) Soviet masters Victor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian played to their fourth draw in four games yesterday in the Moscow semifinals of the world chess championship, the Tass news agency said. At Denver, American Bobby Fischer and Denmark's Bent Larsen were to play their third game in their best of 10 series last evening. Fischer holds a 2-0 lead in the competition. Korchnoi and Petrosian resumed a game adjourned on Saturday and agreed to call it a draw on the 65th move, Tass said. The score in their semifinal series is tied at 2-2. Fischer won his first game last Tuesday when Larsen resigned after 41 moves. The second game, Thursday, ended with Larsen resigning after 54 moves and unable to avoid mate. Fischer stunned the chess world earlier this year in the quarterfinals of the current challenger series when he scored an unprecedented 6-0 victory over Russian grandmaster Mark Taimanov in a Canadian match.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 41 — Fischer Maintains His Streak, Beating Larsen in Fourth Game —Denver, July 13— Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in 33 moves in the fourth game of their chess match today. Fischer leads, 4-0. He has now won 10 straight games in grandmaster match play, including the 6-0 trouncing he gave to Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union. Six games remain on the schedule, but they may not all be needed. Fischer can end the match by taking another 1½ points, while Larsen must earn five out of six points to stay in the challenger elimination series. The winner will play the winner in the Moscow series between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi to decide who will play Boris Spassky next spring for the world title.
King's Indian Defense - Fischer, with the black pieces, used the King's Indian Defense today. The game soon developed into a battle of strategies. Larsen moved on the queen side, playing to open lines for threats against the black pawns. Fischer concentrated on the king side, advancing his king's bishop pawn and gradually shifting his forces to that king. Each player gained ground in his chosen area, giving little regard to defensive tactics until the need arose. It was soon clear that Fischer's threats would be more dangerous, since Larsen could not allow his king to be exposed. The turning points came on the 24th move, when Larsen's retreat of his knight presented a target. Fischer immediately moved his king bishop pawn another notch, with a further advance in sight. Larsen continued to probe on the queen side but Fischer's attack on the king had too much momentum. He soon broke up Larsen's protective pawn chain and the end was in sight. In the final position, Fischer moved a knight that attacked Larsen's queen and rook, and also threatened a check to the king. Larsen conceded at that point. The attendance at the games in Temple Buell College here, has varied from about 100 on weekdays to about 250 on Sunday. Many more would have been expected had the match been held in either New York City or Los Angeles, and this is one reason Fischer preferred Denver when he made the choice of sites.
Read More
Nanaimo Daily News Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 10 — Danish Player Loses Another In Chess Play — Denver (AP) — United States grandmaster Bobby Fischer continued his winning streak when he forced Bent Larsen of Denmark to resign after 33 moves in the fourth game of their world challengers' semi-final chess match here Tuesday night. The American now leads 4-0 and needs only 1½ points in his remaining six games with Larsen to clinch the match. The winner meets the winner of the Viktor Korchnoi-Tigran Petrosian semi-final in Moscow, with the survivor earning the right to challenge Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world championship.
Read More
The Holland Evening Sentinel Holland, Michigan Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 23 — America, Prepare — When some startling international event occurs, it is likely to affect the quality of life in the nations which it affects. Usually these events come upon us suddenly and without warning and we accommodate ourselves after the fact rather than getting prepared for it. But now there seems to be looming on the horizon an event of inestimable international importance, one unprecedented in American history, and we have time to prepare for it and get accustomed to the idea before the event occurs. This unprecedented event is the likely victory of Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn in the world chess championship match to be played next spring. Fischer by all odds seems to be the favorite contender to meet the Russian World Champion Boris Spassky. Fischer has managed to beat all Russian contenders in the matches leading up to the championship match. Spassky, himself, recognizes Fischer as most logical contender. Should Fischer beat Spassky next spring, and most experts agree that he will, he will be the first American chess champion ever. And it will be the first time in 25 years that the championship will be held by a non-Russian. We don't know how many Americans watch the progress of chess tournaments with bated breath. We suspect there are very few. But it seems that an American victory would have great propaganda value if nothing else and prove that Americans can turn out the special kind of chess intellect as well as the Russians. In this country we're more interested in the World Series than in chess tournaments. Not so in Russia; there the chess championship is equivalent to winning the series. If we could break into that league, it would do something great for the American ego.
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 23 — Fischer Wins Number Three — Denver, Colorado (UPI)—Robert (Bobby) Fischer captured a pawn on his 16th move Sunday, opening up Bent Larsen's defense and went on to win his third straight game in the semifinal of the World Chess Champion Candidates Tournament. Fischer, of the United States, was considered virtually certain to defeat Denmark's Larsen after Sunday's victory. The two men meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) for their fourth game. The first player to win 5.5 points (one point is awarded for a win, ½ point for a draw and none for a loss) wins the match and the right to meet the winner of the Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi match currently being played in Moscow. The winner of that final match will play World Champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for his crown. Larsen was in poor form for the third game, perhaps affected by his two previous losses at Fischer's hands. His three victories against Larsen extend his string to nine straight. Larsen played the black pieces Sunday and chose the Sicilian defense with which he is very familiar. But he selected a backward variation generally considered inferior.
Read More
Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 94 — Russian Chess Match Tied; U.S. Ace Gains — Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi played to their fifth draw yesterday in Moscow in their semifinal round of the world chess tournament, the news agency Tass reported. They agreed to a draw at the 16th move after a speedy exchange of queens on the 11th move, Tass said. The two grandmasters have proved an even match so far in the semifinals, a 10-game series which is being played at the same time that America's Bobby Fischer and Denmark's Bent Larsen face each other in Denver, Colorado. Winners of the two matches will play for the right to take on the reigning world champion, Boris Spassky. In yesterday's match Petrosian and Korchnoi both chosen the “Tarrasch” defense opening which Spassky and Petrosian used in their championship series. Tass chess commentator Yakov Rokhlin said the Tarrasch defense usually brings a fast and acute struggle, but in yesterday's game it was not until the seventh move that a piece fell — Korchnoi's knight taking Petrosian's knight. In the sudden exchange that followed the remaining knights fell, and an exchange of pawns left the board symmetrical. Then came the exchange of queens and four moves later the grandmasters agreed to a draw. At the same time, in Denver, U.S. chess ace Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark for the fourth straight time yesterday in their 10-game chess match there. The victory gives Fischer 4 points. He needs only 5½ points to close out his opponent and go on to meet the winner of the other semifinal match between Petrosian and Korchnoi. A victory counts as one point and a tie as a half point.
Read More
Greeley Daily Tribune Greeley, Colorado Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 29 — Fischer Gets 4th Straight Chess Win — Denver (AP) — U.S. chess ace Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark for the fourth straight time Tuesday in their 10-game chess match here. The victory gives Fischer 4 points. He needs only 5½ points to close out his opponent and go on to meet the winner of the other semifinal match between Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi in Moscow. That match is tied 2½-2½ after five games. A victory counts as one point and a tie as a half point. It was a tense struggle in which Fischer clearly outplayed his rival in the critical situations. Larsen, with the white pieces, started a demonstration on the queen side, succeeding in opening a line for his rooks. He placed one of them on the sixth rank, helping for a further inroad behind Fischer's pawns. In the meantime, Fischer was advancing on the other side, aiming directly for Larsen's king. This was well defended, and no immediate threat was in sight. Larsen weakened on his 24th move, retreating a knight unnecessarily. This released Fischer's king bishop pawn, which advanced at once. Combined with Fischer's queen and rooks, the pawn threatened to break open Larsen's king side. Larsen had to abandon his designs on the other wings and bring his pieces back to defend his king. As it turned out, he was too late. A vigorous stroke by Fischer forced Larsen's king to move and the attack was on. On the 33rd move, Fischer forced the win of at least a rook and Larsen resigned. They meet again Thursday, with Fischer having a chance to end play in the sixth game Sunday.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Wednesday, July 14, 1971 - Page 30 — Fischer Wins Fourth Game; Russians Tie — Denver (AP) — American chess champion Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark for the fourth straight time Tuesday in their 10-game world tournament semifinal chess match here. Winner of the semifinal round will meet the winner of the other semifinal world match between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi being held in Moscow. (United Press International reported the Russians played to their fifth straight draw Tuesday). Winners of the semifinal matches will play for the right to take on reigning world champion Boris Spassky.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, July 15, 1971 - Page 28 — Fifth-Round Delay Granted To Larsen — Denver, July 14—Bent Larsen of Denmark obtained a postponement today of his chess match tomorrow with Bobby Fischer of the United States because of illness. His request was granted by Paul Klein of Ecuador, who was appointed the director of the match, which is a semifinal for the world challenge match. Dr. Robert P. Johnston of Denver examined Larsen this afternoon and certified to the illness, the details of which were not disclosed. In accordance with the match rules, each player is allowed a maximum of two postponements. The fifth game, scheduled to start at 4 P.M. tomorrow at Temple Buell College, will be played either Sunday or Tuesday afternoon. Trailing by 4-0, Larsen is given little chance to recoup. He must take 5 points in the remaining six games while Fischer needs only 1½ points to clinch the match. The difference has been Fischer's accurate and forceful play, putting pressure on his opponent at every move. Larsen has made serious errors on several occasions, which have cost full points.
Read More
The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia Thursday, July 15, 1971 - Page 9 — Larsen Ill, World Chess Tournament Is Delayed — Denver (UPI) — Chess Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark fell ill Wednesday, forcing postponement of the fifth game in the 10-game world chess championship semi-finals match against Bobby Fischer of the United States. Dr. Robert P. Johnston said Larsen would not be able to play the match scheduled Thursday. He did not disclose the nature of Larsen's illness, but said it was not serious enough to warrant hospitalization. The fifth game was rescheduled for Sunday. Fischer holds a commanding 4 to 0 lead in the series after taking the first four games. Fischer needs only a win and a draw for victory. The winner of the Fischer-Larsen match will play the winner of the Moscow match between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, both of the Soviet Union. That series is deadlocked 2 to 2 after four games. The winner of the finals match will challenge world chess champion Boris Spassky, who won the title three years ago from Petrosian.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, July 15, 1971 - Page 28 — Chess: Fischer's Recent Showings Create Unbeatable Image by Al Horowitz —A chess tournament for computers will be held in Chicago over the first weekend in August. It is reassuring to know that some of our best technical minds are at work in this area, and we may someday have a machine that can hold its own with Bobby Fischer. Clearly no human player appears capable of doing it. Whatever the final result of his match with Fischer, Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark can content himself with the thought that he was the last one to beat Bobby—in a game at the interzonal tournament at Palma, Majorca, in 1970. The way things have been going of late, Larsen may be able to make the same boast in 20 years. After his interzonal defeat by Larsen, Fischer closed out the tournament with seven straight victories. He then went on to rout Grandmaster Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union, 6-0, in their quarter-final eliminations for the world challenge against Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Fischer quickly gained a 4-0 lead over Larsen in their semifinal match, running his streak of victories over top opposition to 17.
Larsen Springs Surprise — In the first match game, Larsen, with the Black pieces, sprang a little surprise when he played the French Defense, an opening he has not used much and for which he appears temperamentally unsuited. If Fischer was surprised by Larsen's choice, he was hardly unprepared, and soon got a winning game. The opening is interesting. Bobby has long favored the relatively quiet lines arising from 7. P-QR4 or 7. N-B3 over the wild play arising from 7. Q-N4. Although devotees of the French Defense may be disappointed not to see the latter, sharper move, the variation actually played presents its own problems, mainly concerned with the placement of some pieces. Does the Black queen, for example, belong on QR4 or QB2? How soon should White play P-QR4, is at all? Does White's queen-bishop belong on its original diagonal, or on the diagonal QR4-KN8? Should White play B-K2 or B-Q3 or maybe P-KN3 and B-KR3? The second game was a catastrophe for Larsen. He had a big advantage all the way, but got into time pressure, and doubtless overlooked Fischer's brilliant 42. … R-R5.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, July 15, 1971 - Page 2 — Illness Stops Chess — Denver, Col. (AP)— Illness has sidelined Bent Larsen of Denmark forcing a postponement in his world semi-final elimination chess match here against American Bobby Fischer. Paul Klein of Ecuador, arbiter of the match, said a fifth game between Larsen and Fischer could be played Sunday or Tuesday. It had been set for 4 p.m. today. Fischer leads the match 4-0 and needs only 1½ points more to clinch the 10-match semi-final and go against the winner of a Moscow match between Victor Korchnoi and former world champion Tigran Petrosian. Details of Larsen's illness were not released by Dr. Robert P. Johnston of Denver who examined the chess player. Klein said he accepted Johnston's advice that Larsen not play today. A second examination is planned for Saturday.
Read More
Greeley Daily Tribune Greeley, Colorado Thursday, July 15, 1971 - Page 7 — Fischer String Continues; Accuracy Proves the Key — Denver (AP) — How does a chess grand master win game after game against top opposition? If the name is Bobby Fischer of the United States the answer is accuracy. Never make a mistake. Continue to put pressure on your opponent until he makes a single misplay. Take immediate advantage and never relent until you have won material or forced checkmate. It seems simple, but only Fischer has been so consistent. At the present, he has a fantastic winning spree of 10 straight games, six in a match with Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and four in the current match with Bent Larsen of Denmark. Let us examine the four games against Larsen in some detail. In the first game Larsen played the French Defense, which he had not used in years. If Fischer was surprised, he didn't show it. In fact, he seemed much more familiar with the opening than Larsen. Fischer offered a pawn on the 13th move, and Larsen accepted. Fischer soon dominated the center of the board, prevented Larsen from castling and, a few moves later, won two minor pieces for a rook. Larsen tried sharp counter play which might have succeeded against a lesser opponent, but Fischer fought back and won the ending. The second game developed along quiet positional lines. After some exchanges, an ending resulted. It was Larsen having a slight advantage through the greater activity of his rook.
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 37 — World Chess - Only Needs A Win And a Draw — Denver, Colorado (UPI)—United States chess ace Robert “Bobby” Fischer, attacking aggressively the moment he sees a weakness in his opponent, led 4-0 today in a 10-game match against Bent Larsen of Denmark. Fischer had a somewhat backward position Tuesday in the fourth game with Larsen, typical of the King's Indian Defense which he adopted with the black pieces. Larsen advanced on the queen side, dominating the area with a rook on the sixth rank. His plan was to penetrate behind Fischer's pawns and try to win one or more of them. Rather than defend, Fischer chose instead to counterplay on the king's side. His play seemed slow, but his goal was a major one-a direct attack on Larsen's king. Larsen was first to weaken when he he visualized danger and retreated a knight on the 24th move. This put the piece in a weak position for the moment. Fischer struck immediately and advanced a king side pawn with a threat to attack the knight. From that point, Fischer swiftly moved his pieces toward the king side, his threat becoming stronger with each move. Larsen, deeply involved on the other side of the board, could not react quickly enough and Fischer forced a break in the pawns guarding Larsen's king, setting the stage for the finish. The final blow came when Fischer's knight attacked Larsen's queen and rook and threatened the king. Larsen conceded defeat on the 33rd move. Greater accuracy had been the secret of Fischer's success. Larsen had made several errors, Fischer none of significance. In the first game, Larsen captured a pawn which allowed Fischer to dominate the board. In the second game, an error made when Larsen was short of time was enough for the loss. The third game was worse. Larsen played badly on his 11th move, saying later he had confused two opening systems. Fischer allowed him no chance to recover. Paul Klein of Ecuador, arbiter of the match, said a fifth game between Larsen and Fischer could be played Sunday or Tuesday. It had been set for 4 p.m. (2200GMT) Thursday.
★
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 8 — World Chess Play Adjourns — Moscow — Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi adjourned their sixth game in the semifinal for the world championship here Thursday on the 42nd move, Tass News Agency said. They will finish the game today with Korchnoi in a position to fight for a draw. All five previous games between the two players have been drawn. In Denver, the fifth game of the Bent Larsen-Robert Fischer semifinal chess match will be played Sunday. The game originally was scheduled for Thursday but was postponed when Larsen became ill, United Press International reported. Fischer leads in the series 4-0.
★
Read More
The Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 7 — Chess - Fischer Beats a Jinx by Leonard Barden — Most chess players find that some opponents and certain openings give more problems than usual. Even Bobby Fischer knows this feeling, and the commentary in his book My 60 Memorable Games notes that “the Winawer variation has given Fischer consistent trouble. He has had the utmost difficulty cracking Black's tortoise-like shell; even his successes are unconvincing. Maintaining the same line of attack year after year has provided his opponents with ample opportunity to sharpen their defenses.” Two of Fischer's rare losses with the white pieces are against the Winawer to Mednis in the U.S. championship and to Kovacevic at Zagreb last year. Hence it is only a small surprise that the first game of the Fischer-Larsen match in the semifinal world title eliminator should be a Winawer French. Larsen rarely selects this opening, but he places great importance on psychological factors. The result, however suggests that Fischer has beaten his jinx. The latest score is Fischer 4, Larsen 0, while in the other all-Russian semifinal the current result is Korchnoi 2½, Petrosian 2½. This week's game shows the contrast between the fighting chess of attack and counter-attack in Fischer's win, and the blander low-risk strategical play in the five draws between the Russians. …
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 47 — Larsen Tougher Than Taimanov? — Virtually everybody (on this side of the Atlantic, anyway) agrees that the eight-time United States champion, Bobby Fischer, will beat Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark in their semi-final candidates' match, but there is considerable speculation about the final score. Some people, apparently awestruck at Fischer's 6-0 victory in Vancouver against Soviet Grandmaster Mark Taimanov in the quarter-finals, predict that Larsen may meet the same fate. Others suggest the match will be very close. Larsen should be a much tougher customer than Taimanov. His results over the last five years have shown him to be, next to Fischer, the top grandmaster in the West. He has played Fischer many times in tournaments, and, although Bobby has a substantial plus score, Larsen has won several fine games. The two games below are among the many between two fine players over the last decade. Both are taken from the great international tournament held at Santa Monica, California in 1966, where Fischer finished second to the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, and Larsen finished third. Fischer and Larsen were fighting to catch Spassky, and so produced a game of more than usual tension eve for these two fierce competitors. In the early middle-game of the encounter that was won by Fischer, there is an interesting bit of by-play. When Fischer plays 18. … R-K1, he appears to offer Larsen the opportunity to draw by repetition: 19. B-N5, R-Q1; 20. B-K2, R-K1 etc. Instead, Larsen plays 19. P-B3, spurning the draw, but at the same time creating a weakness on the black squares. Would Fischer have agreed to a draw by repetition had Larsen played for one? Probably not. In the second game, Bobby loses in a very uncharacteristic way: With a slight positional advantage he makes a miscalculation. “I do not know what Fischer overlooked,” Larsen remark in his annotations to this game, “but it must have been something very simple.” He goes on conjecture that Fischer overlooked that after the possibility of 31. B-6 P-Q5; 32. QxRPch KxQ; 33. R-R3ch, the Black queen could interpose. Anyway, in the final position, Black's passed pawns are a decisive advantage.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 41 — Sixth Chess Match Ending — Moscow (Reuter) — Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi adjourned their sixth game in the semi-final of the world chess challengers' elimination tournament Thursday on the 42nd move, Tass news agency said. They will finish the game today with Korchnoi in a position to fight for a draw. All five previous games between the two have been drawn. The winner of this series plays the winner of the Bobby Fischer-Bent Larsen semi-final for the right to challenge Boris Spassky of Russia for the world chess championship.
★ ·
★
Read More
Greeley Daily Tribune Greeley, Colorado Friday, July 16, 1971 - Page 24 — Larsen Feeling Better, Match Expected Sunday — Denver (AP)—Danish chess champion Bent Larsen, sidelined by illness after four games in his match with American grandmaster Bobby Fischer, is expected to be well enough to resume play Sunday, match officials said Thursday. Larsen requested a postponement of the match that had been scheduled for Thursday after a doctor examined him earlier in the week and advised several days of rest and medication for an undisclosed illness. The Dane was down four games to nothing in the scheduled 10-game world semifinal elimination match against Fischer when he became ill. Match officials said he appeared extremely fatigued following Tuesday's game, in which he resigned after 33 moves, and the doctor who examined him indicated his blood pressure was high. It was believed that Larsen, a stocky man, might have been affected by Denver's one-mile altitude, which sometimes causes visitors to become fatigued. Under the match rules, a player is allowed two postponements, and the next game conceivably could be delayed until Tuesday. Fischer needs just 1½ points, with one point awarded for a victory and a half-point for a draw, to clinch the match and go against the winner of a Moscow match between Victor Korchnoi and former world champion Tigran Petrosian. The winner of that match will challenge Russian Boris Spassky, current world title holder.
★
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 17, 1971 - Page 21 — Chess: Fischer the Invincible — After scoring three wins in succession, Bobby Fischer, USA, has established an almost overwhelming advantage over Danish grandmaster, Bent Larsen, in their best of 10 games match at Denver, Colorado. Play is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at Temple Buell College. Fischer now needs only 2½ points from the remaining seven games to win the match. Players and public are in the same room. The latter can move to another room to listen to commentaries or the game in progress. Denver, aided by sponsor Caswel Silver, president of the Sundance Oil Company, outbid Los Angeles and New for the match. Fischer has now run his winning streak to 16 successive games in international competition without allowing even a draw. The seven last games of the Interzonal, the six in his match with Taimanov, and the present three vs. Larsen. He always plays to win no matter what the score is. A sort of gladiatorial “thumbs down.” By contrast, the match at Moscow between former world champion, Tigran Petrosian, and Viktor Korchnoi, has produced four successive draws. Dr. Max Euwe, president of FIDE, is in attendance. Winners of these two matches will meet in September to determine a challenger for Boris Spassky's world title in 1972.
Read More
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Saturday, July 17, 1971 - Page 31 — Chess: Fischer Leads In Challengers Match — Bobby Fischer has established an almost overwhelming lead in his best of ten games match with Bent Larsen, Denmark, having won the first three games. He needs only 2½ points from the remaining seven games. Play is at Temple Buell College, Denver, Colorado. Four draws have been recorded in the match at Moscow between former world champion Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. Winners of these two matches will meet in September to determine a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky in 1972.
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Saturday, July 17, 1971 - Page 5 — Soviet Pair In Sixth Chess Draw — Moscow, Friday. — Soviet Grand Masters Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosyan continued their sequence of drawn games with a 42nd-move draw in the sixth game of their world chess title semifinal match here today. The two players had adjourned the game on the 42nd move yesterday and today agreed to consider it drawn, without resuming play. The winner will meet the winner of the semifinal being played between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Bent Larsen of Denmark, in which Fischer now has a 4-0 lead. (AAP-Reuter)
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Saturday, July 17, 1971 - Page 39 — Grand Masters Evenly Matched — Moscow (UPI) — Soviet grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian today adjourned the sixth match of their world chess semifinals tournaments after 42 moves, the news agency Tass said. The agency said Korchnoi, attacking the queen's flank of his opponent, held the advantage after five hours of play. The two men were even at 2.5 and 2.5 in the best-of-ten series. All of the first five games were drawn. The other semifinals match is being played in Denver, Colorado, between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Bent Larsen of Denmark.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 55 — Fischer and Larsen Plan To Resume Match Today — Denver, July 17—Bobby Fischer of the United States and Bent Larsen of Denmark will resume their chess match at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Temple Buell College here. The fifth game, scheduled for last Thursday, was postponed at the request of Larsen who complained of illness. He was examined by Dr. Robert P. Johnston of Denver this morning and pronounced fit to play. Fischer leads 4 to 0 in the 10-game semifinal series to determine a challenger to the world chess champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Moscow, July 17 (Reuters) — Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi agreed to a draw after only 13 moves in the seventh game of their world chess title contenders' semifinal here today, according to Tass, the Soviet news agency. All six previous games were also drawn by the two Soviet grandmasters.
Read More
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph Colorado Springs, Colorado Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 50 — Chess Sunday — Denver (UPI) — The fifth game of the Bent Larsen-Bobby Fischer world semifinal chess match will be played in Denver Sunday. The game was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed when Larsen became ill. Fischer leads the series 4-0 over his Danish opponent. The American needs only to win one and at least draw one of the six remaining games. The winner of the match plays the winner of another semifinal match in Moscow for the right to challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the USSR for the world title he won three years ago.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 45 — The King's Men - Even in Chess There is Drama Aplenty by Merrill Dowden —“We know about the technical aspects of chess tournament,” a colleague recently told me. “But what about the other side of the coin? What goes on behind the scenes? What about the drama? What does a player of Bobby Fischer's stature do while waiting for his opponent to move, or on a day off from the tournament grind?” I attended a major tournament in which Fischer played some time ago, and thus feel fairly well qualified to answer these relevant and timely questions, coming as they do at a time when Fischer seems almost a shoo-in for a shot at the world championship. The tournament was held in the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York, a mecca for chess players from all parts of the globe, inasmuch as the Henry Hudson also is the home of the Manhattan Chess Club. The ballroom was crowded with hundreds of spectators, because Fischer is a phenomenon who attracts chess addicts in the same manner as steel is drawn to the magnet. Larry Evans, former American champion and winner of many great tournaments was playing, along with other international masters, but I'll focus on Fischer. What amazed me most was not his precise play and brilliant combinations, but the relative rapidity of his moves. Most of the time he would study the board with intense concentration for only a matter of seconds, and then his move would be registered on the giant overhead boards put up so the crowd could follow the games. It was almost as if he had a computerized mind, so fast did he run through every conceivable variation before making his decision. Ad against this kind of opposition, every decision had better be right. There can be no second guessing.
Confidence Unlimited - Time trouble is virtually a stranger to Bobby. It's almost always his hapless opponents who experience this problem. After making his move, he will leave his chair and pace the playing arena, pausing now and again to see how the other masters are doing. If a game is adjourned, most masters will sit up half the night analyzing the position, trying to find a winning line. Fischer does this too, but to a lesser extent than most. His self-confidence knows no bounds, but seems well justified by his incredible record in both tournament and match play. “I should have been world champion 10 years ago,” he was quoted recently. This may sound immodest, but it has the ring of sincerity. Aside from Fischer's electrifying performance, the thing that impressed me most about the New York tournament was its cathedral-like quietness. Chess enthusiasts, players and kibitzers alike, are a well-disciplined lot and they respect the necessity of a climate in which the contestants can concentrate completely. I was reminded of a sequence from the old movie, “Around the World in 80 Days,” in which a cat, walking across the well-carpeted floor of a chess club, stirred the players to a state of righteous indignation. Unfortunately, some players take their losses quite hard, and certain masters, after dropping an important match, have been known to retreat to their hotel room, there to sulk for the rest of the day.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 100 — Fischer 4, Larsen 0! 5½ Points Needed — When U.S. chess genius Bobby Fischer defeated Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union by 6-0, it was an amazing feat, a record in the annals of grandmaster chess. It could hardly be expected that this would happen again against top competition, certainly not against Bent Larsen of Denmark, who in 1968 had won the Chess Oscar as player of the year. Yet Fischer's streak has continued, and he won the first four games in succession, without so much as adjourning one of the games with Larsen. At this writing, with six games remaining on the schedule, Fischer needs another 1½ points for a total of 5½ to clinch the match. Larsen's grim task is to gain five points of the six to tie the match, well-nigh impossible in view of Fischer's current form. Accuracy has been the determining factor, with Larsen making one or more errors in each game, with none of any consequence for Fischer. Time control was a major factor in the second game, which was evenly contested in the opening and middle game. After 20 moves Larsen had used over two hours, Fischer about 45 minutes. When the queens were exchanged Larsen had a slight advantage, with his rooks more aggressively placed. He played to open lines for a further advance. This gave Fischer opportunities as well, however. On the 37th move Larsen overlooked a sharp tactical point which cost him two pawns. He continued for 54 moves, but the game was hopeless for some time. In the third game Larsen blundered on the 11th move, when P-K4 was necessary. He stated later that he confused two opening systems. Fischer quickly forced the win of a pawn plus a better position. This was ample advantage. Fischer simplified by exchanging several pieces and soon established a winning position in the ending. The fourth game was a battle of diverse strategies, and here too Fischer proved superior.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 42 — Dane Ready to Resume Chess Match — Denver (UPI)— Denmark's Bent Larsen has recovered from a minor illness and is ready to meet U.S. chess ace Bobby Fischer today in the fifth game of their 10-game match. Larsen was examined by his doctor late Saturday morning. No details of the illness have been revealed but it was believed caused by the strain of the tournament. Larsen became ill Wednesday, forcing postponement of the scheduled Thursday game. Fischer leads 4 to 0. In Moscow Soviet chess players Tigran Petrosyan and Viktor Korchnoi to the seventh draw in their 10-game world semifinals match, the Soviet news agency Tass said. Neither man has won a game and the draw, which came after only 13 moves, leaves the score at 3.5 to 3.5. Petrosyan and Korchnoi are playing to determine who will play the winner of the Fischer-Larsen match. The winner of that match has the right to challenge world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in 1972 for his title.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 152 — Chess: Fischer Continues to Swing by Harold Dondis — Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian have drawn for straight games in the current challenger matches. Bobby Fischer continues his astounding performance with four straight victories in Denver over Bent Larsen, the scores of the first three are set forth below. We have run out of superlatives in describing Fischer's play. He now has 17 straight victories against International Grandmasters.
Read More
Oakland Tribune Oakland, California Sunday, July 18, 1971 - Page 29 — Chess to Resume —Denver (AP) — Danish chess champion Bent Larsen, sidelined by illness after four games in his match with American grandmaster Bobby Fischer, is expected to be well enough to resume play today.
★
Quad-City Times Davenport, Iowa Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 21 — Wins 5 In Chess — American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer contemplates his opening move Sunday in the world semifinal match's fifth game he won from Dane Bent Larsen. Fischer has won all five games so far in their 10-game match and now leads 5-0 in points. He needs just one-half point to clinch the match. The next game is scheduled for Tuesday.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 22 — Chess: Psychological Factor a Spur In Fischer's Winning Streak By Al Horowitz — “There have been times in my life,” José Capablanca, a former world chess champion wrote in the preface to one of his books, “when I came very near thinking that I could not lose even a single game. Then I would be beaten, and the lost game would bring me back from dreamland to earth.” Capablanca, at the height of his powers, was indeed well-nigh unbeatable: from 1914 to 1924 he lost only a single game. But merely to be unbeaten over a long period of time is one thing; to win every game is quite another. It has not really been that long since Bobby Fischer started on his incredible string of victories, but as reports of fresh triumphs come in, it sometimes seems as if he has been winning for as long as one can remember.
★
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 19 — Fischer Wins 5th Straight Chess Game — Denver (UPI) — Robert Fischer of the United States won his fifth straight game Sunday night against Bent Larsen of Denmark, raising the possibility of another shutout against one of the world's top chess aces. Fischer now leads 5-0 in a semifinal match of the world candidates' tournament to decide who will play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for his world chess title in 1972. The match appeared virtually over Sunday night since Fischer needs only a half a point—a draw—on one of the remaining five games. Larsen must win all five to force the match to a draw and into extra games. Larsen resigned the match after 46 moves. The sixth game is scheduled for Tuesday night at Temple Buell College in Denver. Fischer made chess history in the quarterfinals of the present tournament series when he defeated Mark Taimanov 6-0, the first such shutout recorded in a match between two grandmasters at this level.
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 27 — Fischer Leads, 5-0, in chess semifinal — (Reuter) Denver—Bobby Fischer took a commanding 5-0 lead in a semifinal of the World Chess Championship here last night when his opponent, Bent Larsen of Denmark, conceded the game. Larsen conceded after 46 moves when each player had only a king and three pawns left on the board. The Dane, who became ill on Friday night, forcing the game to be held over until Saturday, initiated an exchange of men that left the players with a king and three pawns after only 40 moves. Larsen moved to attack a pawn but Fischer made a flanking move on two unprotected pawns, blocking them from moving forward. It was evident that Fischer would have gained in an exchange and Larsen conceded. Fischer now needs only a tie — which is worth half a point — to win the 10-game series. The next game will be tomorrow. The winner meets the winner of a series between Russians Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian for the right to challenge world champion Boris Spassky of Russia next year. All seven games of that series have been drawn.
Read More
Times-Advocate Escondido, California Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 3 — Yank in 5-0 chess lead — Denver (AP)—For the fifth time in as many games Bobby Fischer of the United States showed his chess mastery over Bent Larsen of Denmark, forcing Larsen to resign after 46 moves and taking a virtually insurmountable 5-0 lead Sunday in their semifinal challenger series here. Fischer needs only a half point to win the match while Larsen, whose illness forced a postponement of the fifth match originally set for last Thursday, must gain five points to tie. The sixth match will be played Tuesday. Larsen, with the black pieces, played the same opening series he had tried in the third game. He had an improvement in mind which he hoped would surprise Fischer. The move appeared successful as Fischer took almost a half-hour for his reply, more than on any other single move in the match. After that, he played quickly, having evidently worked out a satisfactory counter. Fischer sacrificed a rook for a bishop, gaining a strong formation in the center as compensation. The resulting pressure forced Larsen on the defensive for the rest of the game. Larsen finally succeeded in exchanging most of the pieces to remain in an ending with equal forces.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 11 — It's Five Straight For Fischer — Denver, Colorado (Reuter) — U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer won his fifth straight game Sunday in his world chess championship semi-final match with Bent Larsen. The Danish grandmaster resigned on the 47th move. Fischer, with a 5-0 record, now needs one-half a point in order to advance to the final of the challengers' competition to pick an opponent for world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The two Soviet grandmasters in the other semi-final, Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, drew their seventh straight game in Moscow Sunday. Each now has 3½ points in the 10-game match. The pair agreed to the draw after only 13 moves, the shortest draw so far in the challengers' round. Fischer's fifth win came in an endgame position where Larsen found he was helpless to prevent the American from winning the exchange. Each player had a king and three pawns left at the time.
★
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 19 — Soviet Pair Draw Seventh Chess Game — Moscow (AP) — Soviet grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian played, drew their seventh consecutive game in a semi-final of the world chess challengers' tournament. Moscow radio reported that the men agreed to the draw after 13 moves. It was the shortest match in the competition this year. Each player now has 3½ points. The first to accumulate 5½ points is the winner. A player gets a point for a victory and half a point for a draw. The winner probably will play Bobby Fischer of the United States in the final. Fischer leads Bent Larsen of Denmark 4-0 in their semifinal in Denver, Colorado. The winner will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, July 19, 1971 - Page 22 — Fischer Defeats Larsen in Denver — U.S. Grandmaster Captures 5-0 Lead in Series — Denver, July 18 — Bobby Fischer maintained his winning streak today by defeating Bent Larsen of Denmark in 46 moves in the fifth game of their chess match at Temple Buell College. With the score of the match 5-0, Fischer needs only a draw in any of the remaining five games to clinch a victory in the challenger semifinals. The winner here will face the winner of the semifinal match in Moscow between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. The winner then will play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title. The opening of today's game here, a Sicilian Defense, was identical to that of the third game until Fischer's 10th move. Larsen then varied.
Plots His Strategy -- Fischer took almost half an hour for his 11th move, plotting his strategy. He then advanced his king bishop pawn, as he had in the earlier game.
This time it involved a sacrifice of a pawn by Fischer, but as compensation he won the major central line. Larsen played to exchange queens, trusting that the pawn advantage would be more valuable in an ending. Fischer went along, gaining time to place his rooks and bishops in dominating squares. Later, Larsen returned the pawn to try to win one of the rooks for his bishop. Fischer again went along, noting that his two bishops would be powerfully placed, and that he would gain at least one pawn. With a rook on the seventh rank, Fischer succeeded in tying up the black pieces with threats against Larsen's king. When an opportunity offered, Larsen gave up the rook for bishop and pawn, to equalize the forces. At that point he would have been satisfied to draw —for the first time in the match. It was not to be. Once again, Fischer had seen more deeply. Fischer had a passed pawn on the queen rook file, while Larsen had three pawns to two on the other side. Fischer advanced the distant pawn, forcing Larsen's king to march across the board to stop it. Fischer's king then moved to the cluster of pawns that Larsen had abandoned. It was clear then that Fischer would open the way for a pawn to advance to queen, and Larsen resigned.
Read More
The Courier-News Bridgewater, New Jersey Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 1 — Bobby Fischer Studies the Board Before a Move — Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of the United States studies the board before a move as he downed Bent Larsen of Denmark last night in the sixth and deciding game of a 10-game World Chess Championship semifinal challenger series.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 6 — Fischer Beats Dane in Chess — Denver (UPI) — New York chess wizard Robert J. (Bobby) Fischer, 28, defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in 40 moves Tuesday to win a place in the finals of the world chess championships. Fischer defeated Larsen in six straight games in the best-of-10 series to eliminate the Dane from the world playoffs. Fischer now will face the winner of the semifinals series being held in Moscow between Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. That series is deadlocked at 4-4, with all eight games having ended in draws. The winner of the finals match will play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world chess title in 1972. Fischer cut a deeper notch in chess history Tuesday by again shutting out a chess grandmaster in international competition. It had happened only once before—when Fischer defeated Russian Mark Taimanov in the Vancouver quarterfinals.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 33 — Fischer Trounces Larsen to Take Series — Denver, July 20— Bobby Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in 40 moves in the sixth game of their chess match in Temple Buell College here today. The final score was 6-0. Fischer thus clinched the match, the second successive series that he won with the identical score, the previous one being against Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union in Vancouver. Immediately after the match here, Fischer shook hands with his opponent. They chatted congenially and discussed the match for half an hour as reporters, spectators and television men mingled on the stage. Fischer appeared pleased and relaxed and even granted a television interview after the game. Never before in Grandmaster chess has a player shut out his opponent without allowing a draw. Fischer has done it twice. Larsen played hard for the win. He used the Bird's opening, which was transposed into a form of the Sicilian defense. Fischer adopted a rather backward defensive game. Larsen took command of the center with his pawns, looking for good spots for his pieces. Fischer was under greater pressure than at any time in the match, and he realized it. Though far ahead in games, he was determined not to lose and played carefully. On the 19th move, Larsen sacrificed a pawn to keep his attack moving. His queen and bishop advanced toward the black king, setting up menacing threats. He also moved his king rook pawn forward. Fischer replied calmly, finding adequate defenses. When Larsen offered a second pawn, he took that as well. This was probably not best for Larsen, as his attack faltered and the extra pawns aided Fischer's defense. Larsen could have obtained a draw by perpetual check, but he disregarded the possibility since a draw would have won the match for Fischer anyway: He only needed half a point to take the series. Near the end, Larsen found he had used up almost all of his allotted time. He made the required 40 moves with seconds left on his clock. But he was forced to exchange queens and other pieces, and with two pawns down his game was hopeless. After a long look, Larsen resigned the game and the match. The next step for Fischer is a match with the winner of the series still being played in Moscow between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. Fischer and Larsen had agreed earlier that the games were to be played under ideal conditions. Sponsors spent $1,500 to provide special lighting fixtures for the players, who faced each other across the game board on the stage of an auditorium seating 500. Spectators were allowed to sit only in the last six or seven rows, to maintain the silence required by the players. A demonstration board in an adjoining hall allowed some 300 chess aficionados who attended the daily matches to follow the games more closely.
Read More
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 12 — New York's Fischer Moves Into World Chess Finals — Denver — New York chess wizard Robert J. “Bobby” Fischer, 28, defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in 40 moves yesterday to win a place in the finals of the world chess championships. Fischer, the undisputed king of American chess, defeated Larsen in six straight games in the best of 10 series to eliminate the Dane from the world playoffs. Larsen stayed on the attack in the opening stages of the game and appeared to have the early game. But Fischer battled back near the end to take command of the board and win the match and series. Fischer now will face the winner of the semifinals series being held in Moscow between Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. That series is deadlocked at 4-4 with all eight games having ended in draws. The winner of the finals match will play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world chess title in 1972. The win yesterday ran Fischer's string of victories to 18 in international competition without a defeat.
Read More
Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph Colorado Springs, Colorado Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 26 — Bobby Fischer Wins Sixth Chess Match — Denver (AP) — American Bobby Fischer again demonstrated his apparent invincibility in chess Tuesday night, rolling to his sixth straight victory over Bent Larsen of Denmark in their chess match here. Fischer thus clinched the semifinal challenge match in the minimum number of games. It had been scheduled for the best in 10 games. The next step for Fischer is a match tentatively set for late in September against one of two Russians, Tigran Petrosian or Victor Korchnoi, whose series is still in progress. The winner of that final challenge encounter goes against the world's chess champion, Boris Spassky of Russia. Larsen put up perhaps his strongest game of the series. Starting with the old fashioned Bird's opening, he gained space in the center and king side. Larsen sacrificed first one and then a second pawn to pen his line and keep his attack rolling. Fischer held fast, however, finding adequate rejoinders at every point. Larsen might have shifted tactics and played to a draw, but this also would have eliminated him, since Fischer needed only 5½ points total to win the match. Trying hard for the victory, the Dane went further than the position warranted, and his attack was soon rebuffed. Fischer forced the exchange of queens to simplify the game, while retaining his two-pawn advantage. On the 40th move, Larsen realized the hopelessness of his game and resigned the game and the match.
Read More
The Record Hackensack, New Jersey Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 22 — Brooklyn's Chess Whiz Wins Again — Denver (UPI) — Robert (Bobby) Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark yesterday for the sixth consecutive game and advanced to the finals of a worldwide chess tournament to select a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Fischer's shutout of Larsen was his second such win in the tournament playoffs. He defeated Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union 6-0 in the quarterfinals last spring in Vancouver. Fischer, 28, who has been playing chess since he was 6, said that Larsen had had many good chances during the six games and that the match was not nearly as one-sided as the score would seem to indicate. Fischer will play the winner of a semifinal match between Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi, now being played in Moscow. The first eight games in that match have ended in draws and the score is tied at four points each. Five and a half points are required to win. Fischer has played both Russians and has broken about even against them. The most recent meeting was last year when he won two games and drew two games against Petrosian in a match between 10 Russian players and 10 players selected from the rest of the world. The winner of the final match will play 24 games with Spassky from his title in 1972.
Read More
Tampa Bay Times St. Petersburg, Florida Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 60 — Chess Champs Still Tied — Moscow (UPI) — Soviet grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian, unable to crack each other's defense, agreed to their eighth draw Monday in a semifinals world chess championship match, the news agency Tass said. Korchnoi studies his 16th move for 20 minutes before proposing a draw. Petrosyan agreed, making the score in the 10-game series 4-4. The tedious series of draws was in contrast with the victories of America's Bobby Fischer, who a few hours earlier scored his fifth win over Denmark's Bent Larsen in Denver. Fischer needs only one-half point to win that semifinals match, and currently leads 5-0. The winners of the Denver and Moscow matches will meet later this year to decide who will get a chance to play world champion Boris Spassky in 1972. The world chess title is decided every three years.
Read More
Quad-City Times Davenport, Iowa Wednesday, July 21, 1971 - Page 12 — Pressure Situation — Danish champion Bent Larsen makes a move while his opponent, grandmaster Bobby Fischer of the United States, watches intently in their World Chess Championship semifinal challenge series match. Fischer gained his sixth straight victory to clinch the series after Larsen resigned on the 40th move. (AP Photo)
Read More
The Daily News Lebanon, Pennsylvania Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 22 — Chess Championship — Bobby Fischer, right, New York, discusses post-game analysis after beating Bent Larsen of Denmark in Denver Tuesday to win the semifinal candidate match for the World Chess Championship. The 28-year-old American won the semifinals, 6-0 and will play the winner of a semifinal tournament currently being played in Russia for the world title. Fischer won the last game in 40 moves.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Times Recorder Zanesville, Ohio Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 10 — Gains World Finals - U.S. Chess Wizard Wins Again — Denver (UPI) — New York chess wizard Robert J. “Bobby” Fischer, 28, defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in 40 moves Tuesday night to win a place in the finals of the world chess championships. Fischer, the undisputed king of American chess, defeated Larsen in six straight games in the best of 10 series to eliminate the Dane from the world playoffs. Larsen stayed on the attack in the opening stages of the game Tuesday and appeared to have the early game. But Fischer battled back near the end to take command of the board and win the match and series. Fischer now will face the winner of the semifinals series being held in Moscow between Soviet grandmasters Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi. That series is deadlocked at 4-4 with all eight games having ended in draws. The winner of the finals match will play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world chess title in 1972. Fischer cut a deeper notch in chess history Tuesday by again shutting out a chess grandmaster in international competition. It had happened only once before—when Fischer defeated Soviet Mark Taimanov in the Vancouver quarterfinals. The Tuesday win ran Fischer's string of victories to 18 in international competition without a defeat. Prior to the faultless wins over Larsen and Taimanov, Fischer had won his last seven games in interzonal play in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Fischer, who started playing chess at the age of 6, has reached the finals through an unusual route. He did not play in the U.S. chess championship in 1969, which seemed to eliminate him from world title competition. At the time, he was on a layoff from tournament chess which lasted 18 months. In 1970, he resumed play. Paul Benko, one of the American qualifiers, dropped out to make way for Fischer and the International Chess Federation approved the switch. Fischer went on from there to mount his astounding series of victories over the world's best players.
Read More
The Sacramento Bee Sacramento, California Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 22 — Bobby Fischer — Dazzling U.S. Chess Ace — Bobby Fischer, the young American chess genius presently engaged in grueling matches to determine a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, already has scored what many regard as chess history. Fischer, of New York, has done his country proud with a display of abilities which can only be compared with the spectacle of a Soviet baseball team beating the American World Series champions. In his first match of the candidates' playoff series, Fischer faced one of Russia's most promising young stars, Mark Taimanov. He defeated Taimanov in six straight games, an event almost unparalleled in competition between international grandmasters. Usually, the majority of games end in a draw, with the winner edging out victory by the margin of only one or two victories out of a number of games. But that was not all. They young Fischer, whose fighting spirit has been admired by chess devotees the world over including much of Russia where the game is practically the national sport or pastime, then went on to tackle the formidable Danish master: Bent Larsen. Fischer has achieved the nigh incredible feat of winning six straight games from Larsen, with no draws. Most observers in the chess world believe now it is inevitable Fischer will emerge the challenger against Spassky for the world title. Whatever the outcome, the young American already has stirred the excitement of the chess world and his countless fans in the U.S. by the victories he has scored so far. May he go all the way.
Read More
St. Louis Post-Dispatch St. Louis, Missouri Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 50 — The Chess Tiger — Bobby Fischer may not be exactly a household word to American sports fans but he is currently in the midst of an accomplishment that might be compared, say, to pitching 20 consecutive shutouts in baseball, or for a team to hold the opposition scoreless throughout an entire professional football season. Bobby Fischer plays chess, perhaps better than anyone else in the world, and he has just won his twelfth straight match in a tournament that ultimately will determine the international champion. This feat is unprecedented in grandmaster competition, where players settle for a draw unless a clear-cut victory is in sight. Mr. Fischer, who only a few years ago was the enfant terrible of international chess, shuns draws even in theoretically barren positions. He plays to win. He is now 28 and if age has mellowed him it has not impaired his aggressiveness. Whether he defeats the Russian who currently is world champion or even reaches the tournament finals, Bobby Fischer already has produced an exhibition of brilliance that will endure in the history of the game.
★
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 5 — Fischer in Chess Final — (AAP-Reuter) Denver, Colorado, Wednesday, — Bobby Fischer of the United States won the semi-final of the world chess championship last night, with his sixth successive win in the series over Bent Larsen, of Denmark. Fischer will now play the winner of the semi-final match being played in Moscow between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, both of the Soviet Union. The winner of that match will then challenge world champion Boris Spassky, also of the Soviet Union. The Petrosian-Korchnoi match is deadlocked at 4-4 with all eight games drawn.
Read More
The Billings Gazette Billings, Montana Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 17 — Restless Chess Champ by Richard J. Schneider — Denver (UPI) — U.S. chess champion Robert J. “Bobby” Fischer said Wednesday that if he becomes world chess champion he would be read to defend his title within a year. Under current international chess rules, the world champion is challenged every three years, and Fischer would like to see that changed. On Tuesday, Fischer won a semifinal match in the current world challenge series by blanking Danish chess master Bent Larsen 6-0. Fischer now plays the winner of another semifinal match in Moscow between Tigran Petrosian and Victor Korchnoi to earn the right to challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. “The championship match should be every two years,” Fischer said, and perhaps even more often. He said he thought the champion also should play more often between championship matches, “either for the title or maybe without the title at stake.” He said the current system was “like having a baseball World Series every three years. It's stupid.” Fischer said he also would like to see the matches longer and the addition of rules to eliminate long strings of draws for which each player gets half a point. The semifinal match in Moscow has resulted in eight straight draws neither man winning a game. The score stands at 4-4. Fischer said he thought the Russian match might even be prearranged. “I'm not surprised if their match is prearranged. I'm not saying it is, but it could be,” he said. Larsen, however, disagreed, saying the Russians are “too individual” and “do not do these things.” The Danish player, who lives in Copenhagen, said international chess rules should be changed, but not the way Fischer has suggested. He said that matches up to the quarterfinals in the challenge series should be won after a player wins three games, not six as Fischer suggests. “There can be many draws and the games can get very long,” he said.
★ ·
★
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, July 22, 1971 - Page 30 — Larsen's Choice Is Fischer's Gain — Dane Had a Sure Draw, But Tried in Vain to Win — Denver, July 21 — Bobby Fischer (correction: of New York residency), with only one more hurdle between him and a match challenging the world chess champion, racked up his second straight shutout of a grandmaster last night after his opponent turned down a sure draw. The opponent, Bent Larsen of Denmark, could have forced the draw in the sixth game of his match with Fischer through a perpetual check. Fischer needed only the draw's half point to win the match. Larsen therefore tried to win—and lost for the sixth consecutive time. Fischer's previous grandmaster victim of a 6-0 shutout was Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union, in the quarter-finals of the current series. That match represented the first shutout of a grandmaster in chess history. After Fischer's 29th move in last night's game, Larsen could have forced the draw by playing 30. NxP, giving up his knight. Fischer's best reply would have been 30. ... BxN, and Larsen could have continued with 31. ... RxR followed by 31. ... BxR; 32. Q-N5ch. Larsen could then have continued checking indefinitely, resulting in the draw. This would have broken Fischer's fantastic string of victories in match play, which had already reached 11, though Larsen would still have lost the match.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 35 — Fischer Now a Chess Hero in the Soviet — by Bernard Gwertzman —Moscow, July 22 — Bobby Fischer of Los Angeles, who is now only one step from challenging the Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky for the world chess title, has suddenly become a celebrity in the chess-crazy Soviet Union. The 28-year-old American's crisp, aggressive play in shutting out Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Denmark's Bent Larsen by 6-0 scores has startled experts here and aroused considerable popular interest in the American. Long-time foreign residents say he is on the way to becoming the most popular non-Russian since the American pianist Van Cliburn. Fischer's string of 12 consecutive victories in championship matches has no equal in chess history, and this was underscored by Soviet commentators. “A miracle has occurred,” the chess expert in Sovetsky Sport said today, discussing Fischer's victory over Larsen in Denver on Tuesday night. In a Moscow park several old men playing chess talked about Fischer. They bestowed on him the popular Russian description “molodyets,” which means roughly “quite a guy.” Some felt he was not certain to meet Spassky in the challenger round, but others believed he would, and would win. Part of the reason for the enthusiasm expressed for the American has been the disappointing pace of the match between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, the Soviet players. The winner of that match will play Fischer in September for the right to meet Spassky here next spring.
Read More
The Times-News Twin Falls, Idaho Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess Ace Primed to Meet Russians — Denver (UPI) — Robert J. “Bobby” Fischer, the U.S. chess ace who has advanced into the finals of the current world challenge competition, is eager for the next round. He's eager to take on the Russians, because he wants to take the title away from them. On Tuesday, Fischer won his sixth straight game from Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen to take a world semifinal match played in Denver. The victory ran his string of wins to 19 games in international competition.
Read More
The Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess - The Living Legend by Leonard Barden — On November 23 last year, Bobby Fischer drew with grandmaster Polugaevsky in the interzonal tournament. Between that time and the sixth game of his match with Larsen, Fischer has played and beaten nineteen grandmaster opponents -- Geller, Ivkov, Uhlmann, Taimanov, Mecking, Gligoric, and Panno (the last by default) at the interzonal, six games in the match with Taimanov and six against Larsen. When Bobby is called a “living legend” it is more than a journalist's catch phrase, for none of the greatest players of former days like Morphy, Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine could boast of such a fantastic series. It is hardly surprising that Larsen's chess in games 2-4 of the match, given below, shows several hints of loss of morale. Not so long ago, in 1967, Larsen himself set a record by winning four strong tournaments in five months.
Read More
The Sacramento Bee Sacramento, California Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 10 — Former Chess Champ Wins Ninth Match — Moscow (AP) — Soviet Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian defeated fellow countryman Viktor Korchnoi Thursday night in the ninth match in the semifinal round of the World Chess Challengers Tournament. The former world champion's victory, which came on the 42nd move, puts him in the lead in the best-of-ten series with five points to Korchnoi's four. If Petrosian wins the next match he will face American Bobby Fischer for the chance to battle with world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring. Fischer defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark 6-0 in their semifinal round in Denver, Colorado.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 34 — Ex-Champion Wins In Chess — (Reuters) Moscow — Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian Thursday defeated grand master Victor Korchnoi in the ninth game of their contenders semifinals match for the world title. The official Soviet news agency, Tass, said Petrosian now leads the series by five games to four. The 10th game is to be played next Saturday. It will be enough for Petrosian to draw to win the right to play in the finals of the challengers tournament against Robert Fischer of the United States.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Saturday, July 24, 1971 - Page 24 — And Who Is Bobby Fischer? — For reasons that go deep into American history and the national psyche, chess has never attained the status in the United States of baseball or football or even bridge. Compared with the multitudes to whom Babe Ruth or Red Grange or Eli Culbertson were intimately familiar names, how many Americans have ever heard of Paul Morphy or Frank J. Marshall? Can Bobby Fischer change this situation? He is already a hero in the Soviet Union, where millions of chess fans have ecstatically hailed his recent remarkable shut-out victories over Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen in the preliminary rounds to select the challenger for the world champion Boris Spassky. He has won twelve successive games against two of the world's greatest chess masters. At 28, after too many years of erratic and often-disappointing play, Bobby Fischer finally appears to be developing into the most brilliant star in the world chess firmament. He deserves to be better appreciated here in his native land.
★
Read More
Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Saturday, July 24, 1971 - Page 16 — Chess - Fischer Repeats Star Performance by Harry Mather — By winning six consecutive games over his opponent in the semi-finals, Bobby Fischer duplicated his performance in the quarter finals and now qualifies for the challengers' final in September. This amazing record brings his total to 19 consecutive wins. During the inter-zonal last fall, Fischer was 3½ points ahead of his rival after winning the seven games. In the quarter finals at Vancouver it was 6-0 over Taimanov, and now 6-0 over Larsen — for a total of 19 games without conceding even a draw! By way of contrast, Petrosian and Korchnoi appeared to be setting a record of consecutive draws in the other section of the semi finals until Thursday. After eight straight draws Petrosian took the lead, claiming victory on the 42nd move. Fischer and one of the Soviet players will play a 12-game final match on neutral ground early in September for the right to meet world champion Boris Spassky next year. Exact location of the challengers' final has not been set, but from all appearances it will be in Yugoslavia, France, or Argentina.
Read More
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Saturday, July 24, 1971 - Page 31 — Fischer Outclasses Larsen Winning 6-0! — Accomplishing one of the most remarkable feats in chess history, Bobby Fischer, USA grandmaster, has duplicated his performance of defeating M. Taimanov 6-0, by downing Bent Larsen, Denmark, by the same score in the K.O. Match tourney of the current world series at Denver. He will now meet the winner of the T. Petrosian vs. V. Korchnoi match at Moscow, in which eight successive draws have been recorded! It will be played in September in a best of 12 games match, the winner to meet Boris Spassky for the world title in 1972.
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 24, 1971 - Page 40 — Fischer, 5; Larsen, 0 — Bobby Fischer, U.S.A., maintained his winning momentum by defeating Bent Larsen, Denmark, in both the fourth and fifth games of their match at Denver, in the world series Candidates K.O. tourney. Larsen had the fifth game postponed a few days, due to indisposition. In the match at Moscow, Petrosian and Korchnoi have scored eight draws!
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, July 24, 1971 - Page 18 — Soviet Chess Finals Stalled by Illness — Moscow (AP) — Former world champion Tigran Petrosian postponed because of illness today what might have been his winning match against Soviet grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi in the semi-final round of the world chess challengers' tournament. The government news agency Tass said today's game will be played Monday. Russian grandmaster Petrosian is leading 5-4 in the best-of-10 series, after defeating Korchnoi on the 42nd move in the ninth match. The previous eight were all ties. If Petrosian wins or draws Monday's match, he will face American Bobby Fischer in September in the final round to decide who will try to take the world champion crown from Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The players got one point for a win and a half point for a draw. If, however, Korchnoi wins the game Monday and brings the score to 5-5, the winner will be decided by the first victor in an additional series of games.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 150 — ‘It Is Fischer’ — A little more than a year ago, someone asked Bobby Fischer, the 28-year-old American chess master, who he thought was the world's greatest player. “It is nice to be modest,” Mr. Fischer answered, “but it would be stupid if I did not tell the truth. It is Fischer.” Last Tuesday, in Denver, he moved a step nearer to proving his boast. In what amounts to the quarter finals of the world chess championship, Mr. Fischer scored the last of six straight victories over the Danish player Bent Larsen, thus earning the right to play whichever of two Russian masters wins the other quarter final. If Mr. Fischer wins the semifinal, scheduled for September, he will then meet the current world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The prospect of a Spassky-Fischer match has provoked great excitement in Russia, where chess is a national pastime. One Soviet expert last week commented: “From a little boy who cried after every loss, Fischer has turned into a real fighter, possessing in perfection an entire arsenal of modern means of chess combat. . . .”
Read More
The Argus Fremont, California Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 7 — Chess: New Slant On Fischer by Richard Shorman — Soviet attitudes toward Robert Fischer have mellowed in recent weeks, no doubt due in part to Fischer's unparalleled put-down of grandmaster Mark Taimanov. (And now Larsen, too!) Now, instead of detracting from Fischer's conspicuous accomplishments whenever possible, the emphasis is on backing a winner in anticipation of further success. Should Fischer lose his bid to end Soviet domination of the game at the championship level, the qualified praise will only serve to enhance the stature of the man who beats him. The following excerpt, bolstering Fischer's image to the point of nearly claiming him as a product of “the Soviet school” of chess, makes fascinating reading.
Read More
The San Francisco Examiner San Francisco, California Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 131 — Bobby Fischer's Total Victories — Chronicle chess columnist and International Chess Master George Koltanowski has provided us with this story on the recent sensational feats of Bobby Fischer on his way, quite possibly, to the Chess Championship of the World. Shortly before his semifinals match with Bobby Fischer began, Denmark's Bent Larsen told a reporter: “I am convinced that I will play (Boris) Spassky in 1972 for the World Championship.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 100 — Fischer 6, Larsen 0! 19 Games Straight — Bobby Fischer of the U.S. continued his devastating pace when he defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark in the fifth and sixth games of their match in Temple Buell College in Denver. The match ended with a perfect 6-0 for Fischer, duplicating his previously unprecedented feat of shutting out Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union by the same score in Vancouver. Last December Fischer won his final seven games in succession in the Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Add the 12 victories in the matches, and it is 19 games against top competition without so much as a draw to break the streak. There is nothing remotely similar in the long history of chess. After the fourth game Larsen asked for a postponement as a result of illness. This was granted by match director Paul Klein of Ecuador after Larsen was examined by a local physician. The specific nature of the illness was not divulged. Coming back for the fifth game Larsen seemed rested and confident. The opening was identical to the third game until Fischer's 10th move. In the prior game Larsen had blundered early. This time he revealed the variation he had apparently prepared for the match. It was designed to hold back Fischer's advance on the king side. Fischer considered the position carefully and still moved his pawn forward, offering it as a sacrifice.
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 115 — Chess - 19 Straight for Fischer by Harold Dondis — While Korchnoi and Petrosian continue their struggle with eight straight draws, Fischer has swept Larsen off the boards with an astounding 6-0 victory, marking Fischer's 19th straight victory in international play. It is a tragic blow to Larsen's magnificent chess career. Below is the fourth Fischer-Larsen game. It is a King's Indian with Fischer using the same set-up as against Taimanov. Larsen elects to attack on the Queen-side but his mobilization there came to a dead stop, while his King is easy prey on the other side. This is not the most exciting game of the match. The fifth game will appear next week. The sixth game more nearly resembles the first game in that it is a go-for-broke attack by Larsen. Fischer has the upper hand most of the way, though Larsen puts him to a stiff defensive test and can draw by 30. NxP. The opening is Larsen's specialty, a Sicilian with an early P-KB4 by white. It does not stop Fischer, though he uses more time than is usual for him on the clock.
Read More
Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 41 — The Chessboard - Fischer Win Hair-Raising — Bobby Fischer's victory in his first game against Bent Larsen of Denmark in their candidates' match was a hair-raising affair of the type one comes to expect between two combative grandmasters. Larsen set of the French Defense to Fischer's 1. P-K4 and soon was a pawn ahead although he had forfeited his right to castle. Later Fischer gave up a rook for two minor pieces, but his king was put in grave danger. After the ensuing complications, the American emerged with rook and two bishops against Larsen's queen. Fischer also had a distant passed pawn impossible for Larsen to stop—and that gave Fischer the point.
Read More
The Kansas City Star Kansas City, Missouri Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 60 — Chess Champion — The Wall Street Journal recently had a long article about Bobby Fischer, the 28-year-old American chess genius, who is on his way to winning the world championship. He would be the first American ever to do so and the first non-Russian to hold the title in 25 years. Considering that chess is a national sport in Russia, this would be quite a propaganda victory for this country, but few are aware of it. The Star's coverage of the semifinal candidate match in Denver between Fischer and Bent Larsen of Denmark was somewhat modest to say the least. I don't believe it was on TV at all. Donald McCrory, 2400 W. 70th Mission Hills
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 13 — Petrosyan Becomes Ill, Plays Korchnoi Monday — Moscow (AP) — Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosyan was forced to postpone yesterday's match against Soviet champion Viktor Korchnoi because of illness in the semifinal round of the World Chess Challengers' Tournament. The postponed game will be played Monday with Petrosyan in position to gain the finals against American Bobby Fischer with either a victory or a draw against Korchnoi. The finals winner will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Read More
The Miami News Miami, Florida Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 20 — Russians Ask Chess Match Be Held There — Moscow (Reuters) — The Soviet chess federation today suggested that the final of the world chess title challengers' tournament — between America's Bobby Fischer and Soviet grandmaster Tigran Petrosyan — be held in the Soviet Union. The proposal was cabled to Max Euwe, president of the World Press Federation, Izvestia reported. The winner of September's final will go on to contest the world title with the current holder, Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky. Petrosyan, 42-year-old former world champion, beat his compatriot Viktor Korchnoi with a single victory in a 10-game match which ended yesterday. Fischer, a 28-year-old (Correction: Resident of New York), defeated Denmark's Bent Larsen in six straight games with an ease which Izvestia said “startled and disconcerted” Soviet chess fans.
★
Read More
Des Moines Tribune Des Moines, Iowa Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 43 — Fischer: Vida Blue of Chess by David Anderson — (Chicago Sun-Times) What Bobby Fischer has been doing in chess this season is an impossibility — something like Vida Blue or Satchel Paige pitching 12 no-hit games in a row. In May in Vancouver, B.C., the 28-year-old Fischer knocked off Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union 6 to 0. Just this month, in Denver, he trimmed Bent Larsen of Denmark 6 to 0 also. In big league chess, no one in the history of the game has ever shut out two of the 10 best players in the world in 12 straight games, no draws. Fischer next meets Viktor Korchnoi or Tigran Petrosian, both of the U.S.S.R., in September. The winner goes on to play the world champion, Boris Spassky. Fischer became a grand master of chess when he was 15, the youngest ever. (Grandmaster in chess equals black belt winner in karate.) Fischer was 6 when he started playing chess with a set his 12-year-old sister, Joan, bought for them. They had tired of Parcheesi, Monopoly and all the other games Joan had found in their Brooklyn neighborhood, where they had moved with their mother. At first, chess was just another game, Fischer has said, “only a little more complicated.” When he was 7, Bobby found an old book filled with charts of chess playoffs. He studied it for hours — and he was hooked. From then on nothing mattered except the game. He read every article, magazine and book on chess he could get. At 12 — somewhat old for chess prodigies — he played in a small Brooklyn tournament and came in third. But a few months later he joined the Manhattan Chess Club and began holding his own against the greatest players in the United States. He became known as “the sweatshirt kid,” “the boy robot” and “the corduroy killer.” At 13, he became the youngest player to win the National Junior Championship. After getting into the big leagues of chess, Fischer won the annual U.S. championship eight times. As he has grown older in the game, the Bobby Fischer-watchers — and there are thousands of them throughout the world — have noticed a slow change. He doesn't bawl now when he loses, as he did when he was a boy. He is not as rude as he was. He doesn't stalk out of tournaments if he doesn't like the lighting or the shape of the chessboard table. He has picked up control. But one thing that hasn't changed is his will to win. And if he wins the finals and goes on to beat Spassky, he will be the first American world chess champ in 100 years.
Read More
The Evening Sun Baltimore, Maryland Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 54 — Jack Chevalier: Champions in Chess Must Develop Early — How hey heck do you begin a column about chess? The Ruy-Lopez opening, perhaps? How about the Fried Liver attack? Or maybe, being a novice …
The Berkshire Eagle Pittsfield, Massachusetts Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 22 — Bobby Fischer March on Moscow — There is no question but that the Russians are apprehensive, if not downright scared. It isn't Nixon and Mao; it's Bobby Fischer and Spassky. The big question in the Kremlin right now is whether or not the 28-year-old American chess genius can unseat world champion Boris (could there be any other first name for a Soviet chess champ?) Spassky. Riding the crest of smashing victories over Mark Taimanov (6-0) and Bent Larsen (6-0), seem to have enough momentum to overcome the best of the borscht circuit. Although he has been the Vida Blue of American chess for the past 14 years, Fischer's fame has been garnered more from his bad-boy antics than from his playing achievements. Always a loner and distrustful of other people, he has stalked out of competitions in high dudgeon or been eliminated after low endeavor. It is only then that the press medium has commented on his ability, or occasionally with feature articles that stressed his temperament. Other nations of the world, especially Russia where chess is a way of life, know more about Fischer and his capabilities than nearly all Americans. If Bobby can work his way to the finals and then beat Spassky, which is no mean task, he will probably get the attention he so richly deserves, though it is doubtful that any of the TV networks will give him live coverage by satellite as they do for such important events as golf matches and football games. Then, of course, he will also face the problem of becoming the darling of all (??? The USSR had more akin with Fascist/Rightwing regimes; i.e., mega-death tolls, slave labor, oppressive invasion of privacy, censorship, prioritizing military profits over the lives of individuals or citizens than the genuine Social Democratic left) the right-wing organizations in this country, who don't care who or what you are so long as you beat the Soviet Union at something. The Rev. Carl McIntyre might even give a parade in Washington in his honor. Terribly difficult game, chess. For a variety of reasons.
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 4 — Soviet, U.S. Chess Masters to Meet — Moscow, Tuesday. — Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union last night won his semifinal match against compatriot Viktor Korchnoi in the tournament to pick a challenger for the world chess championship. Petrosian will meet Bobby Fischer of the United States in the challengers' final in September. The winner of that match will play world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union early next year. Petrosian, a former world champion, drew his tenth game with Korchnoi on the 41st move all night giving him 5.5 points to Korchnoi's 4.5 points. Fischer's 6-0 semi-finals victory over Bent Larsen on Denmark has heightened Russian interest in his comping encounter with Petrosian. The last challenger finals in 1968 and the world championship in 1969 were all-Soviet affairs. At that time Spassky beat Korchnoi for the right to play against Petrosian then world champion.
Read More
The Sacramento Bee Sacramento, California Wednesday, July 28, 1971 - Page 17 — Petrosian Wins World Chess Semifinal Test — Moscow (UPI)— Former world champion Tigran Petrosian won his world semifinal chess match against Viktor Korchnoi when their 10th and final game ended in a draw, the Tass news agency said. Petrosian will meet American Bobby Fischer in September to determine who will play reigning world champion Boris Spassky for the title in 1972. The final score was 5.5 to 4.5 points. The two grandmasters played eight successive draws. Petrosian broke the deadlock by winning the ninth game and needed only a draw in the tenth to ensure victory. The tenth game drew on the 41st move. Korchnoi, playing white, used the king's pawn variation of the Catalan opening.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Pantagraph Bloomington, Illinois Friday, July 30, 1971 - Page 4 — Fischer's Wins Making Chess History — Editor, The Pantagraph: I found the Mauldin cartoon on the editorial page July 28 very interesting. It was one comparing the moves of President Nixon and Bobby Fischer. It was of particular interest because the Pantagraph has failed to give any coverage (save one small paragraph in a larger feature) of either of Fischer's two recent impressive match wins over Taimanov or Larsen. The only readers aware of the meaning of the cartoon were probably the chess players that have kept up with the matches from other news sources. (The Bloomington-Normal area has one of the highest per capita number of active chess players in the United States.) Fischer's clear 6-0 match wins over Grandmasters Taimanov and Larsen are unparalleled in chess history. Couple that with his six straight wins against other grandmasters in the Interzonal tournament and Fischer has achieved a place in chess history alongside Morphy and Lasker. We sincerely hope the match between Fischer and the other finalist (probably Petrosian of Russia) will be covered by the Pantagraph. Hopefully you would continue coverage through the world championship match against Spassky, current world champion and resident of Russia. These matches are tentatively scheduled for this fall and next spring. Garrett Scott, President, Twin City Chess Club, Director, United States Chess Federation 828 W. Oakland.
Read More
Stevens Point Journal Stevens Point, Wisconsin Friday, July 30, 1971 - Page 4 — Chess Interest — For a nation which prides itself on its sports conscientiousness, the United States never has been much of a fan of the chess board. People who can name the starting lineup on just about any big league baseball or football team never heard of Paul Morphy or Frank Marshall. All that may have to change shortly, because an American is well on his way to a spectacular win in the world chess championship. Bobby Fischer already is a household name in Russia, where chess is regarded as a serious test of skill and where the present world champion, Boris Spassky, resides. Fischer's record in working his way up to the championship test has been nothing short of spectacular. In the preliminary rounds, Fischer won a dozen successive games against two of the world's greatest chess masters. The concentrated and slow-paced style of the game may not appeal to the American masses, but a champion is a champion. Bobby Fischer, at 28, has proved himself worthy of a special niche in the world of sporting contests.
★
Read More
Globe-Gazette Mason City, Iowa Friday, July 30, 1971 - Page 3 — Praise or Psyche-Out? — There is no parallel in America for what chess is to the Soviets. It is the national sport whose masters—hoverers over a mere couple square feet of chessboard—are revered more than men of brawn who dominate whole playing fields and ice rinks. It is therefore no small matter for the Soviets to have watched America's Bobby Fischer charge through the preliminary rounds toward meeting, after but one more hurdle, the Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky for the world title. The Soviets have marveled at the 28-year-old American's drubbings of their own Mark Taimanov and Denmark's Bent Larsen—both in 6-0 shutouts, no less. His aggressive play was in sharp contrast with the dull Petrosian-Korchnoi match which ran to eight drawn games before Petrosian found the courage to try to win a game. In part, then, the sudden praise of Fischer in the Soviet press has been to rub in Soviet scorn for their two countrymen's play, likened to a tennis match in which the contestants merely lobbed the ball back and forth. But Mr. Fischer is likely aware of another possible motive. As American swimmer Don Schollander wrote in his recent book on competing abroad, the Soviets play the psych-out game for all its worth. Effusive praise for Fischer in the Soviet press may be but a strategy to set him up for rougher treatment in the final two rounds against their men. Fischer, most chess authorities agree, has the ability to reign as world champion if he can balance the brilliance he has shown since his child prodigy days with the cool and caginess it takes to deal with the Soviet masters. In any event, he has epitomized in his recent challenge matches that spirit of sportsmanship the Soviets most admire—as one Soviet chess commentator put it … “The law of sports is uncompromising fight.” But a Fischer win in Russia would mean a single-handed victory of a magnitude that could be equaled only by an entire American Olympics team—if then.—Christian Science Monitor
Read More
The Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, July 30, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess: The Fischer Bishops by Leonard Barden — After Fischer's clean sweeps in his matches with Taimanov and Larsen, club tournament and county players will scan the young American's games for winning ideas of general application. The basic thread which runs through all Fischer's play is freedom from serious error, technical chess in its best and most precise sense. Two of the strands within this framework are his excellent opening knowledge and his confidence in active bishops in open positions. Such bishops may be confronted by passive enemy bishops, cramped knights, or even disconnected rooks. These two Fischer hallmarks are linked because his favorite anti-Sicilian method with B-QB4 aims at free bishop diagonals, while the underlying theme of his King's Indian and Grunfeld formations with Black is to gain activity for initially cramped bishops. This weeks games complete the Fischer v. Larsen series begun in the two previous Guardian articles: both show the Fischer bishops, although in the final game it is only after a tough defensive struggle that he emerges with a won ending of bishop against knight. One aspect of the Fischer v Petrosian final world title eliminator this autumn will be a struggle of minor pieces, for Petrosian is noted for his skill in achieving blocked games where knights function well against bishops. Petrosian beat Korchnoi 5½-4½ by winning the ninth game of their match and drawing the rest.
Read More
The Des Moines Register Des Moines, Iowa Saturday, July 31, 1971 - Page 6 — An American World's Chess Champ? — Americans scarcely noticed last week when the top U.S. chess player, Bobby Fischer, shut out Denmark's grandmaster, Bent Larsen, 6-0 in their best-of-10 game match in Denver, Colo. Russians were much more interested. So many were absorbed by the contest that members of the sports department of Izvestia, the government newspaper in Moscow, answered the telephone by saying “6-0” without waiting to be asked. Each win of a chess game counts a point and a draw counts a half point. Beating a player of Larsen's skill without a loss or draw is considered phenomenal. It was all the more remarkable in that it followed a 6-0 drubbing by Fischer of a Soviet grandmaster, Mark Taimanov. Both wins were part of an elimination process for the right to play the reigning world champion, Russia's Boris Spassky. Fischer's last hurdle before meeting Spassky for the world's chess championship is another Russian, whom Fischer will play next spring. Russians dominate in chess in part because the Soviet government subsidizes players. The best players are spotted early and are given rigorous training. About four million Russians play chess in organized competition. Only about 24,000 Americans take the game seriously enough to play in rated tournaments. The few players in this country who make a living playing chess live a hand-to-mouth existence, chiefly from the modest money prizes they win at privately-sponsored tournaments. If Bobby Fischer plays and beats Spassky, it would be the equivalent of American-born soccer players winning the World Cup, the symbol of international soccer supremacy. Such a chess feat probably would encourage more American youngsters to take chess seriously. That would be good for the youngsters and good for the U.S. and Russia. Competition over the chess board is healthier than most of the forms competition has taken between two countries.
Read More
Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Saturday, July 31, 1971 - Page 22 — Chess: Sicilian Kills Bird by Harry Mather — With Bobby Fischer of the United States and Petrosian of Russia established, the finals for the world challengers are scheduled for early in September. Possibly the most interesting struggle of the Fischer-Larsen match occurred in the sixth game, which is given below, with Larsen playing white and Fischer black. This game illustrates both the intense attacking power of Larsen and the defensive ability of Fischer. Larsen used the Bird Opening which Fischer transformed into a Sicilian Defense … Vancouver will be a centre of Canadian chess activity Aug. 23 to Sept. 3, at which time world champion Boris Spassky will compete in the Open. In addition to this the annual conferences of both the Canadian Chess Federation and world organization will be held at the U.B.C. campus. Saskatchewan will be represented at the Canadian Chess Federation.
Read More
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Saturday, July 31, 1971 - Page 33 — Fischer-Larsen Game Analyses — In the Final of the Challengers Fischer meets Petrosian, who defeated Korchnoi, 5½-4½. Fourth match game, Denver, Colo., 1971: Attacking on opposite wings, Fischer gets there first. … 1st game of match at Denver, 1971: a dramatic introduction to the series. (Game analyses).
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, July 31, 1971 - Page 11 — Game Three — Here are two games of note from the World Championship Candidates' Quarterfinals. The first was played in Vancouver; the second a continent and an ocean away was in Seville. Fischer won his match; Huebner quit after seven games, while he still had good winning chances. -- Game Three -- This follows Game One for the first ten moves. Taimanov succeeds in mounting a strong offensive. But time, again, was the big factor as he consumed 72 minutes on his faulty 20th move. This left him approximately two minutes to reach the time control on move 40. Forced on the defensive, he lost his Queen and resigned. 20. Q-KR3! gives White a winning attack. Now he is forced to retreat and Black's extra pawn is decisive.
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 31, 1971 - Page 44 — Fischer Defeats Larsen — U.S.A. grandmaster, Bobby Fischer, defeated Bent Larsen, Denmark 6-0, at Denver to duplicate his earlier victory over Mark Taimanov, USSR, by the same score. He will now meet the winner of the Petrosian vs. Korchnoi match at Moscow in the current world series. Petrosian won the ninth game to lead 5-4, with only one game to go. He needs only to draw. Second game from the match at Denver, 1971 … Continues with analysis of second & third games.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 108 — Petrosian Wins — Former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union defeated his compatriot Victor Korchnoi by 5½-4½ in Moscow in the semi-finals of the elimination series to determine a challenger for the world title. After drawing the first eight games of the match Petrosian won the ninth, which turned out to be all he needed. A draw in the 10th and final game was the clincher. Petrosian had won a previous match in similar fashion against Robert Huebner of West Germany. Playing in Seville, Spain, Petrosian drew the first six games, then won the seventh, when Huebner resigned the match as a result of illness. Petrosian and Fischer will contest a 12-game match, scheduled to start the third week in September. The site has not yet been agreed upon. The winner will take on world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring. Fischer is on a record run that has now reached 12 successive match victories, 6-0 against Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and 6-0 against Bent Larsen of Denmark. What happens when the man who wins every game meets the man who draws nearly every one? A good indication was a four-game match between Fischer and Petrosian last year. On that occasion they “split.” Fischer winning two games and Petrosian drawing two. Since the payoff is still on wins, Fischer was the match victor, by a 3-1 score.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 44 — Spassky Prefers Fischer As Chess Title Opponent — Vienna, July 31 (Reuters)— The world chess champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, says that he will probably defend his title against a compatriot, Tigran Petrosian, but that he would prefer to play against Bobby Fischer, the American grandmasters. Fischer recently defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark, earning a match against Petrosian for the right to take on Spassky in the championship round. Spassky told the Hungarian grandmaster Laszlo Szabo, in an interview in today's issue of the Budapest newspaper Magyar Nemzet that “Fischer's competition results are better, but a competition is one thing and a challenger's match is another.” “I think it would be easier for me to play with the American player than with Petrosian, and the problems involved in the the match would also better engage my attention,” Spassky said.
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 108 — Fischer In 1970 — After having been away from chess for more than a year, Bobby Fischer came back stronger than ever in 1970. Playing a short match with Petrosian (see above) and four major tournaments, he scored 80% against the strongest competition to earn the Chess Oscar for the year. This editor prepared a booklet titled FISCHER 1970, published by the U.S. Chess Federation with all 73 of his games for the year. The prices is $1.75. Included are the grandmaster tournaments in Rovinj-Zagreb, Yugoslavia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Chess Olympiad in Siegen, West Germany, and the Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The 25 pages include comments on each game, tables and introductions to each event, and a general summary of Fischer's activities. The book is offset printed from original typed copy. Earlier books in this series, also prepared by this editor, contain all the games of the Buenos Aires Tournament and the Amsterdam Tournament of 1970. Buenos Aires was one of Fischer's greatest triumphs, in which he finished 3½ points ahead of the field. With 153 games in 36 pages, the price is $2. The Amsterdam Tournament, organized by the IBM Corp., resulted in a tie for first by world champion Spassky and his compatriot Polugaevsky. It has 120 games in 24 pages and is priced at $1.75. Anyone wishing autographed copies of one or more of these books can send his check to Isaac Kashdan, Chess Editor, Los Angeles Times. The price for all three is $5.
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 93 — World Chess Title - Fischer V. Russia — WORLD championship series designed to produce the most worthy challenger for the world chess crown always create great interest among many millions of chess players in all civilized countries and especially in those where chess rates as a national pastime. The cycle takes four years and as the number of contenders is reduced the interest grows. The third elimination stage is the so-called candidates tournaments played in a series of individual matches among eight players. With the Soviet Union being the unquestioned leader in world chess, it was not surprising that the world crown stayed in that country for the past 25 years. Now it looks as though a change is in the wind. The American boy wonder, Bobby Fischer, now grown up, has not only thrown a challenge, but has virtually trampled on the opposition by winning his quarter-final and semi-final matches against renowned grandmasters, Mark Taimanov of USSR and the great Dane, Bent Larsen, with unprecedented 6-0 scores. In the final, which should be his hardest test to date, he will meet the ex-world title-holder, Tigran Petrosian, considered as one of the chess giants of all time. The chess world will hold its breath during the match and the general public will take a special interest because the match will have position undertones with the West at last seriously challenging the East on the chess board at any rate. If Fischer wins as he is expected to do, he still has to overcome the final hurdle, the 24-game match against the holder, Boris Spassky.
Read More
Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 85 — The Chessboard - Fischer Continues Streak — Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of the United States is maintaining a blistering pace in the semifinal round of the candidates matches played to select a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. As this is written, Fischer has scored five straight wins in his match with Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark, thus extending his candidates match record to 11 consecutive wins against no losses and no draws. Fischer's performance is virtually without precedent. He is undoubtedly playing the best chess of his career. His play is precise and sharp and he subjects his opponents to unrelenting pressure. A good example of his play is his victory over Larsen in the second game of their match. 9. Bg5 (Since this bishop must beat a hasty retreat, it might have been better to place it immediately at K3. Now came 13. f4 (feeling that he enjoys a slight edge—control of Q5, mobility—White undertakes a kingside attack) 16. f5 Bd7 (and not 16. … PxP; 17. PxP BxP(B4?); 18. RxB!) 17. b4 Qe5 (at fist glance, this seems an uneasy spot for the Black queen); 19. Bf4 (now it appears that the Black queen is in serious danger, but Fischer has an escape route in mind), 20. Nxe4 Qxe4 (and White replied): 21. Bd3 Qd4+ (The Black queen sidesteps, but the position still is complex and fraught with hazards.) 25. Bxd2 (White has retrieved his pawn and appears to stand well.) 26. Bf4 (White does not relish the prospect of … K-N2 and …, R-KR with a strong attack against his king.) 31. Rf1 f5 (Black has secured his king and now can turn his attention elsewhere. There followed 32. Re1 Rf7 33. b5 (stymied on the kingside, White seeks play on the opposite wing), 37. … Ra4 (Typically Fischer. A sharp move in a seemingly innocent position spells the beginning of the end. If now 38. BxR, RxPch; and 39. … KxR, winning. There followed 38. Rc1 Bxb5 39. Bxf7 Rxh4+ 40. Kg2 Kxg5 41. Bd5 Ba6 (suddenly White is quite lost); 45. Kg1 Kf4 (the king is a fighting piece—especially in the endgame); 50. Bf1 Bf3 (Black is skillfully weaving a mating net); 51. Rb8 Be4 52. Ba6 Ke3 53. Rc8 Rb1+ 54. Kh2 Kf4 and White resigns.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 14 — The King's Men — You Might Be Surprised at Your Chess Potential — … There have been few grandmasters who have not attained considerable prominence whilee still in their teens or early twenties. There comes to mind Paul Morphy, who was champion of the world at 22; Mikhail Tal, world champion at 23; Jose Capablanca, champion of Cuba at 12, and Bobby Fischer, champion of the United States at 15. And, of course, Sammy Reshevsky, who was giving simultaneous exhibitions at the age of 6 …
★ ·
★
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 79 — Fischer Game — The fifth Fischer-Larsen game is in some respects the best of the match. Larsen improves on the opening of the third game, Fischer sacrifices a pawn and permits an end game. The tactical maneuvers are fascinating as Fischer, with attack and blockading moves, finally wins a passed pawn and the contest in the game.
Read More
Pampa Daily News Pampa, Texas Sunday, August 01, 1971 - Page 4 — Dock Strike More Than One Month Old — San Francisco (AP) — More than 1,000 sailors, including Russians playing chess by radio, are waiting out the West Coast dockworkers' strike by sitting aboard idle ships in ports San Diego to Seattle …
New York Times, New York, New York, Monday, August 09, 1971 - Page 31 — Fischer Munches a Bagel and Finds 11 Chess Rivals a Piece of Cake —By Paul L. Montgomery, Bobby Fischer, America's chess wonder, diffidently demolished 11 grand masters and masters in a rapid-fire tournament yesterday at the Manhattan Chess Club. The 28-year-old genius, munching a bagel and lox and sometimes chuckling to himself while his opponents squirmed, won 21 matches and drew one in four hours. Mr. Fischer, who will face Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the world chess challengers tournament next month, started playing at the Manhattan Chess Club when he was a 10-year-old in sneakers and crew cut, and returned yesterday to help the club dedicate its new quarters.
Soltis Scores 18-4 Mr. Fischer's final score after meeting each opponent twice was 21½-½. The other leading finishers were Andrew Soltis, the current champion of the Marshall Chess Club, 18-4; Robert Byrne, an international grandmaster, 17½-4½; and Arthur Feuerstein, the current Manhattan Chess Club champion, 11-11.
Though the outcome was a foregone conclusion—Mr. Fischer has won 19 straight games in the highest echelons of international competition — the club's new quarters at 14 East 60th Street were crowded with spectators. All kept their eyes on the leading player.
Mr. Fischer lives for chess, with occasional breaks for eating. When he arrived in New York Thursday, his first request at his hotel was for a room without a view so that his nearly continual analysis of games would not be disturbed.
Mr. Fischer's eating breaks however, can be as prodigious as his chess-playing. Rosser Reeves, advertising man and president of the Manhattan Club, says he saw Mr. Fischer devour two complete Chinese dinners the other night.
Yesterday, Mr. Fischer delayed the early rounds until his favorite meal—bagels and lox and milk—could be sent for. However, Mr. Reeves and Burt Hochberg, the club's executive director, were not troubled with Mr. Fischer's infamous irascibility about tournament conditions.
The club is designed for silence, with quiet fluorescent lighting, cork walls and soft rugs. Harry Zelenko, who designed the setting, said he put in the cork walls “to muffle further all the muffled curses.”
A Tense Appearance Mr. Fischer looks tense when he plays — his jaw muscles working, his fingers touching his chin, his knee jiggling, his shirttail out. His eyes, however, when he surveys the board, are bleak and calm.
Under the rapid-fire tournament rules, a player has five minutes to make all his moves. The winner is the one who checkmates his opponent, forces him to resign, or whose opponent runs out of time. Mr. Fischer rarely took more than three of his five allotted minutes to win.
One of the grand master's early victims was Louis Levy, who said: “It's just going through the motions. His mind is the closest thing to a machine you'll ever see.”
Mr. Soltis, who is a reporter for The New York Post and an international chess master, came close to beating Mr. Fischer when he had a queen against the grand master's rook in an endgame. He blundered, however, under pressure of time and it was quickly over.
“You know you're going to lose,” Mr. Soltis said. “Even when I was ahead I had a feeling.”
Walter Shipman, a lawyer, became something of a club celebrity when he drew with Mr. Fischer—the only game the grandmaster did not win. Actually, Mr. Shipman, too, had a winning game, but blundered into the draw. In their second game, it was over quickly. “He murdered me,” the lawyer said.
Mr. Byrne, the only other grandmaster in the tournament, also had Mr. Fischer cornered, but made a mistake and lost. Usually, a chess game under international rules takes about five hours to play, and the time pressure in rapid transit chess tells. “There are blunders in this kind of chess, and I did one of them,” Mr. Byrne said.
Despite his runaway lead, Mr. Fischer maintained a competitive interest in the tournament, studying the score sheet after each round and calling out, “Who's next?” to his opponents.
In his play, Mr. Fischer showed no quarter. “Pawn takes pawn is a terrible move,” he told Mr. Feuerstein after he had beaten him and they were talking over the game. “What kind of move is that?”
The predominantly young crowd, standing on chairs and craning to see Mr. Fischer's play, was quiet and appreciative, laughing occasionally with their champion at the hopelessness of his opponents. “He is the strongest player who has walked this earth,” Mr. Reeves said as master after master tipped over their kings to signify defeat.
Read More
The Evening Sun Baltimore, Maryland Monday, August 09, 1971 - Page 4 — Fischer Opens Club With 21 Chess Wins — New York (AP) — Chess genius Bobby Fischer drubbed 11 grandmasters and masters in a rapid-fire tournament as he helped dedicate the Manhattan Chess Club's new quarters. Fischer, who started playing at the club when he was 10, won 21 matches and drew 1 in four hours of play Sunday. Under rapid-fire rules, each player has a total of five minutes to make all his moves. “It's just going through the motions,” said Louis Levy, one of Fischer's earliest victims. “His mind is the closest thing to a machine you'll ever see.” Fischer, 28, has won 19 straight games in top international competition and faces Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in the semi-finals of the World Chess Tournament next month.
Read More
The Herald-News Passaic, New Jersey Thursday, August 12, 1971 - Page 6 — Yugoslavia Checked for Chess Challenge — Ventura, Calif. (AP) — The world championship elimination chess match between America's Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union most likely will be held in Umag, Yugoslavia, says the president of the World Chess Federation. Dr. Max Euwe of Holland, interviewed yesterday at the 72nd U.S. Open Chess Championship, said the match will be conducted in mid-September. The winner faces Boris Spassky, Russia's defending world champion.
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Thursday, August 12, 1971 - Page 50 — Hugh Downs Interviews Bobby Fischer — After interviewing Bobby Fischer, the chess champion (to be seen Aug. 19), Hugh Downs, who fancies himself a chess player, asked for a game. As might be expected, he was soundly trounced.
The Herald-News Passaic, New Jersey Thursday, August 12, 1971 - Page 14 — In The World of Chess — THE emergence of Bobby Fischer, erstwhile bad boy of international chess, as a serious contender for the world title now held by the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky is incredible. Chess has a small fascination for most Americans; it's as if a winning skipper in an America's Cup challenge turned up on a corn field in Kansas. Fischer must still face Tigran Petrosian, another Soviet star, in a semifinal match next month in Moscow. If he gets by this hazard, he will face Spassky next spring, also in Moscow. It's a daunting prospect; the Russians take chess about as seriously as the Brazilians take soccer. The one man it doesn't daunt is Fischer. Last year someone asked him who he thought was the world's finest chess player. “It's nice to be modest but it would be stupid if I did not tell the truth,” he said. “It is Fischer.”
Read More
Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona Thursday, August 12, 1971 - Page 2 — Fischer To Meet Tigran Petrosian — Ventura, Calif. (AP) — The president of the World Chess Federation said Wednesday the world championship elimination match between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union most likely will be held in Umag, Yugoslavia. Dr. Max Euwe of Holland interviewed at the 72nd U.S. Open Chess Championship, said the match will be held in mid-September. The winner meets Boris Spassky, defending world champion from Russia. Euwe said the Fischer-Petrosian match will be 12 games. If there's a tie, a sudden death situation would be ordered.
Read More
The Argus Rock Island, Illinois Saturday, August 14, 1971 - Page 4 — Brain Power Is Slighted By Fandom by Julian W. Ramsey — Chess requires more brains than any other form of competition, yet its stars receive the least attention in the U.S. This was understandable while the Russians and other foreigners monopolized the honors, but now the U.S. has a chess wizard in Bobby Fischer and it is time to give him some attention. Fischer, a one-time Brooklyn prodigy, at 28 has become about the greatest chess player in the world. In 12 successive game victories he knocked off Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen for the right to challenge the world champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, for the international title. While chess requires more gray matter than any other form of competition, it is likely that football requires less, unless track be included, yet is the most popular American sport. You could never teach an animal to play chess — not even a monkey, a dolphin or a crow — and if you did, he wouldn't be very good at it. […] This isn't intended to downgrade athletics, but to point out that physical dexterity is a matter of muscular coordination and quick reflexes, in which animals excel. Those who strive at it are entitled to their monetary rewards. But chess requires sheer brain power and it seems too bad that a player like Bobby Fischer has more admirers in Russia than in the U.S.
Read More
Longview Daily News Longview, Washington Saturday, August 14, 1971 - Page 11 — Blums Takes Chess Event — Raimunds Blums won the round-robin chess tournament, sponsored recently by the newly-organized Cowlitz Chess Club, according to Dave McNally, president. There were 14 participants, and the event was held in the club's building at 7th and New York in Longview — near the Cowlitz Fairgrounds. The club meets there every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Blums' record was 12½-½ with a point being awarded for each win, and half a point for each draw. Alfred Krums was second with 10½-2½ and Sam Spatz placed third with 10-3.
McNally said the club has much interest in international chess play. There will be a World Playoff in September between America's Boby Fischer and Russia's Tigran Petrosian to see who will get to challenge world champion Boris Spassky of Russia. Spassky is scheduled to play in Vancouver, B.C. in August in tournament competition.
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, August 14, 1971 - Page 46 — On the Way to the World Championship — Former world champion, Tigran Petrosian, of Tiflis, who edged Viktor Korchnoi, USSR, 5½-4½, in the semi-final of the K.O. Match tourney at Moscow, earns the dubious privilege of meeting Bobby Fischer, USA, in the final. A best of 12 games match set for September. Petrosian had heavy going with Korchnoi, winning only one game with the other nine drawn. In previous tourney play they had met 23 times, with the score 4-3 and 16 draws in favor of Petrosian, which may account for the caution this time. However, that is a large part of Petrosian's style, as in winning from R. Huebner earlier in the tourney, he scored only one win with six draws. To what extent this “rock” will obstruct the “Computerized Steamroller,” as Time magazine calls Fischer, remains to be seen. Fischer's successive defeats of Taimanov and Larsen by 6-0 scores has the chess world agape. The winner will meet world champion, Boris Spassky, USSR, for the title next year.
Read More
The Des Moines Register Des Moines, Iowa Saturday, August 14, 1971 - Page 2 — Four-Way Tie — International grandmaster Larry Evans of Reno, Nevada pulled into a four-way tie for the U.S. chess championship after a grueling eight-hour-long victory in Ventura, California. The victory over Lazlo Binet of Caracas, Venezuela, pushed Evans into a tie with Lubomir Kavalek of Washington, D.C.; Samuel Reshevsky of Spring Valley, N.Y., and Walter Browne of Australia.
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 1 — On a Coming US-Soviet 'War' - Fischer Wants No Doubts He's Best in Chess — Comparing documentation from 1964 to the dubious and overtly negative, exagerrated claims made about Bobby Fischer that contradict with facts.
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 43 — Bobby Fischer: Chess Is His Life — 'His Mind Is the Closest Thing to a Machine You'll Ever See . . . When I Was Ahead I Knew I Was Going to Lose,' Say Opponents. By Ross Newhan, Times Staff Writer — New York—The other day, during a lunch of lox and bagels at the Manhattan Chess Club, Bobby Fischer quickly demolished 11 masters and grandmasters of the science. His opponents were mere pawns. “He was just going through the motions,” said one of Fischer's foes. “His mind is the closest thing to a machine you'll ever see.” “You know you're going to lose,” Bobby Fischer first played at the Manhattan Chess Club when he was 10 years old. He will be remembered as the prodigy who won the United States championship at the age of 14. Now 28, he has since won eight U.S. titles. He has won 19 straight matches from the game's highest ranking players, including a recent 6-0 humiliation of grandmaster Mark Taimanov. Fischer is preparing to meet Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the world challengers tournament next month. A victory will send him against Boris Spassky, holder of the world title, a crown that has eluded Fischer, who describes the Russians as blatant cheaters. Fischer's bid to win the world title is a crusade. Chess is his life, his passion.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 13 — The King's Men: Fischer Favored For Title, But There Are Dissenters by Merrill Dowden — What are Bobby Fischer's chances of becoming world chess champion in 1972? I predicted in this column more than a decade ago that he would become world champion, and certainly nothing has happened in recent times to change that conviction. Indeed, many observers, dazzled by Bobby's unprecedented feat in defeating two grandmasters by a combined score of 12-0, are already acclaiming him as the inevitable successor to the chess throne now occupied by the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky. Not all prophets share this view, however. One notable dissenter is the eminent English master and analyst, C.H. O'D. Alexander. ‘I would back Spassky to win,’ he was quoted in the British magazine, The Guardian. Alexander went on to hedge somewhat. “There is one word,” he added, “that may overthrow the most careful balancing of chances—genius. It may be that Fischer has this; that he is, as some people think, the greatest player the game has ever seen. And, if this is really so, a match against Spassky could bring out his full powers and then, not for the first time, your columnist will prove to be completely and hopelessly wrong.” Of course, there is no certainly that such a match will even take place. Fischer must first defeat former world champion Tigran Petrosyan, also of the Soviet Union, in the finals of the world challenge series. This match will take place in September. For the record, let it be noted that Fischer played Petrosyan four games last year. He won the first two, and was content to draw the others.
★
Read More
Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 57 — Draws Mar Soviet Match — In marked contrast to the candidates' match between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Bent Larsen of Denmark, in which the American won six games straight, the match between Tigran Petrosian and
Viktor Korchnoi, both of the Soviet Union, was deadly dull, producing eight draws in the first eight games. Even the Russian chess fans, who for the most part think their chess heroes can do no wrong, reportedly grew restive as the encounter continued its placid way. Small wonder, then, that Fischer has become a hero in his own right to the Soviets, who up until now have no been exactly lavish in their praise of the American grandmaster's accomplishments. Their change of heart might be better understood through a comparison of the first game of the Korchnoi-Petrosian match with the first game of the Fischer-Larsen match published here earlier.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 92 — Fischer Favored To Beat Champion: Expert Puts Odds at 60-40 by Harry Schwartz — The president of the International Chess Federation said last week that he “would put the odds at 60-40” that Bobby Fischer would beat the world champion should the two play next year. The chess official, Dr. Max Euwe, former world chess champion, also said: “Remember, however, Fischer has to get past Tigran Petrosian next month, and that won't be easy. Petrosian has a genius for squeezing out victory after a series of long dull games. His style is the very opposite of Fischer's open, creative games.” Dr. Euwe—his name is pronounced as though it were Erva—who is in this country to meet with American chess officials, reported that there had been no agreement yet on the site for the Fischer-Petrosian 12 game series that will pick the challenger to meet the champion, Boris Spassky, next March or April. Site a Problem -- “The Russians like Holland, which Bobby doesn't like,” he said. “They're not enthusiastic about Yugoslavia, where Fischer is a hero. Maybe I'll have to decide the issue by tossing a coin in front of the American and Soviet Ambassadors in Amsterdam,” Dr. Euwe said. The former world champion made no secret of his admiration for the young American.
Read More
The Miami Herald Miami, Florida Sunday, August 15, 1971 - Page 165 — Today — To be announced (7); Chess champion Bobby Fischer talks with Hugh Downs (7:30)
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, August 23, 1971 - Page 25 — Attention of Chess World Focuses on UBC Congress by Bill Rayner — Vancouver, this outpost of chess civilization becomes the international focal point of the game this week. Beginning Tuesday and running through to Sept. 4, the 42nd Congress of the World Chess Federation (Federation Internationale Des Echecs) will be held at the University of B.C.'s Cecil Green Park.) It will be attended by some 50 delegates and officials, including Dr. Max Euwe of The Netherlands, FIDE president; world chess champion Boris Spassky, a Soviet Union delegate; J.G. Prentice, Chess Federation of Canada president; deputy FIDE president N. Rabell Mendez of Puerto Rico; Fred Cramer, FIDE vice president for the U.S., and Ed Edmondson, executive-direction of the U.S. Chess Federation. Like most international organizations, FIDE has had its troubles in the past. But the 1971 Congress is expected to be a relatively quiet one. The delegates will go into closed-door committee meetings Tuesday, emerging for general assembly meetings August 31. The three main committees are the central committee, qualifications and rules. The Congress will award grandmaster and international master titles, appoint officials and rule on a host of issues, both minor and major. The most interesting issue this year should be the rules governing the world championship cycle. At present, a three-year cycle of tournament and candidates' matches decides the challenger for the world champion. Many believe this to be a cumbersome and time-consuming, although it does produce eventually a worthy challenger. But it does seem preferable to a previous method of a single, massive candidates' tournament, with opportunities for collusion or the possibility of a fluke victory by a lesser player. (Before FIDE took control of the world championship, the challenge system was in effect and chess was forced in the 1930s to watch the spectacle of a great player, Alekhine, winning the title from another great player, Capablanca, then ignoring Capablanca's justifiable attempts at a rematch.) Interest over the world championship is heightened this year by the brilliant play of U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer. Fischer, now 12-0 in the candidates' round (beginning with a 6-0 sweep of Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov in Vancouver in May), is only one match away from meeting Spassky for the title. He meets ex-champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union next month in the deciding candidates' match and is heavily favored to win. For the first time, therefore, since Euwe himself held the title just before the Second World War, the Soviet domination of the world championship is in danger. For Euwe, 70, this Congress marks the end of his first year as FIDE president. The gentlemanly, businesslike professor of mathematics was elected for a four-year term last September at the 41st Congress in Siegen, West Germany. He succeeded Folke Rogard of Sweden, who took over as president in the late 1940s and ruled firmly through the turbulent cold war years of chess and politics. Chess' cold war has ebbed in recent years, although Soviet intransigence still pops up occasionally. (In 1970 the Russians refused to compete in the world student team championship because Israel, the host country, was “unsafe,” and they threatened to withdraw Taimanov from his match with Fischer here this spring in a dispute over playing conditions.) So apart perhaps from the world championship question, no major crises are expected at this year's Congress. Compromise is the thing and international co-operation is in the ascendancy. The Congress is being held concurrent with the Canadian Open chess championship, also at UBC. Both the Congress and the Open will conclude Sept. 4 with a banquet at the UBC Faculty Club.
Read More
The Leader-Post Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Monday, August 23, 1971 - Page 7 — Fischer's Chess Chances Mooted by Ken Pritchard — New York (CP) — Can Bobby Fischer go all the way this time? That's the question chess aficionados are debating as officials try to decide on a site for the world challengers' final between the 28-year-old Fischer, presiding genius of United States chess, and Tigran Petrosian, 42, the former world champion from the Soviet Union. The winner of that clash, scheduled for next month, will battle defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next March or April for world supremacy. Max Euwe of Holland, former world champion who is president of the International Chess Federation, said here this week that the site of the 12-game series between Fischer and Petrosian remained up in the air. “Maybe I'll have to decide the issue by tossing a coin in front of the American and Soviet ambassadors in Amsterdam,” he said. Euwe is among Fischer admirers. He gives the young American a 60-40 chance to become world champion in 1972. Euwe, now 70, won the world title in 1935 from Alexander Alekhine, a Russian-born Frenchman. Alekhine took it back from the tall Dutchman two years later. Fischer's biography, as presented in Anne Sunnuck's Encyclopedia of Chess, says he once declared himself the greatest chess player who ever lived. Within the next few months he will have the chance to prove he's at least the best of the current crop. In 1957, Fischer won the U.S. championship for the first of eight times. The next year, at age 15, he became an international grandmaster after placing fifth in the inter-zonal tournament and qualifying for the world candidates' tournament. The Brooklyn bachelor has shown stunning form in his current quest for the world title. He finished first by a wide margin in a preliminary tournament in Spain last December. In the ensuing elimination matches he knocked off Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union 6-0 in Vancouver and toppled Bent Larsen of Denmark by the same score in Denver, Colorado.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, August 25, 1971 - Page 30 — Six Months' Training For World Title Defense - Soviet Champion Spassky Alerts His Chess SS by Bill Rayner — Sometimes toward the end of September, Boris Spassky's chess secret service goes into operation. This is when Soviet Union grandmaster Spassky, champion of the world, goes into training for the defense of his title. No matter that the championship match won't be played until next March. In the Soviet Union, methodical preparation is everything and Spassky is no exception. “All the details of my training are secret,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “My chess secret service will be in effect.” Spassky was relaxing at his hotel between duties as a U.S.S.R. delegate to the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Congress and as an entrant in the Canadian Open chess championship. Both are being held at the University of B.C. Spassky, 34, is of average height and build, with a certain north of Russia handsomeness and a deep voice. In more than adequate English, he responded to questions after first seeming to analyze them as he would a position on the chessboard.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, August 25, 1971 - Page 30 — Chess Tourney: Student Tackles World Champion by Bill Rayner — Life at the Burnaby Chess Club will never be quite the same again for Simon Fraser University student Pete Danenhower. For Danenhower, 19, had the once in a lifetime opportunity Tuesday night of playing — and losing to — world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in the opening round of the Canadian Open chess championship. It was one of the more interesting games of the first night's play in the 11-round Open, which with 153 players is the second largest in its history and has the strongest field. Four grandmasters and three international masters are entered along with some of Canada's strongest players. Besides Spassky, the grandmasters are Pal Benko and Lubomir Kavalek of the United States and Walter Browne of Australia. The international masters are Duncan Suttles of Vancouver, Zvonko Vranesic of Toronto and Hans Ree of The Netherlands. All won their games, as did the other top-ranked players in the tournament. Spassky attempted no tricks against his less-experienced opponent. He employed the Benoni defence against Danenhower's queen pawn opening and soon had a methodical kingside pawn assault rolling that eventually broke through white's defences.
Read More
Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Wednesday, August 25, 1971 - Page 16 — Evening The Score — Donald C. Stone (right), Fair Haven, amateur radio operator, real estate broker and chess player, learned that a California cross-country bicycle rider had carried a jar of Pacific Ocean water to New Jersey to dump it in the Atlantic. To keep things even, when Mr. Stone went to Ventura, California to participate in a chess tournament, he took a jar of Atlantic Ocean water, taken from Sea Bright, to dump into the Pacific Ocean. Pouring the water out is Dr. Max Euwe, Amsterdam, president of the World Chess Federation, who was in Ventura for the U.S. Open.
Read More
The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Monday, August 30, 1971 - Page 3 — Reds Hit Fischer for Chess Boast — Moscow (UPI).—Russia's leading sports newspaper accused America's Bobby Fischer Sunday of “trying to stir up an unhealthy hullabaloo” against Russian chess players. A commentary published by Sovietsky Sport denied that the Russians conspire unfairly to defeat foreigners. At the same time, the commentary praised Fischer for the brilliance of his world championship challenge round victories over Russia's Mark Taimanov and Denmark's Bent Larsen. “In both matches Fischer showed he is an all-around chess player, unusually strong in both positional and combinational games,” Sovietsky Sport said. “He may well have some vulnerable points, but that does not prevent us from viewing him as an outstanding chess player and one of the important challengers from the chess crown. “However, we cannot ignore a number of recent statements Fischer mad … which can only cause a determined protest in any unprejudiced man.” The newspaper quoted Fischer as saying he had been the best chess player in the world for the past 10 years. It said he accused Soviet players of conspiring to play draws against one another while playing to defeat foreign players. “He has not been the best chess player in the world for the past 10 years. He has yet to prove he is now … certainly, Soviet grandmasters did not arrange any plots.” The newspaper said it admired “Fischer the chess player.” “But the Fischer who is trying to stir up unhealthy hullabaloo around the struggle for the world championship . . . the Fischer who is trying to soil his fellow grandmasters, can only arouse astonishment, not to say something stronger against him,” the commentary by Sovietsky Sport said.
Read More
The Capital Journal Salem, Oregon Monday, August 30, 1971 - Page 4 — A Cheer For A Gallant Knight — Russia for many years has been as fearsome on the chess board as on the launching pad, but this coming month it will have to face that American genius of total dedication, Bobby Fischer. Fischer, as 28, lives for the game and continually analyzes attacks and defenses with a single-minded purpose of defeating the former world champion, Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, in the semifinals of the world chess challenge. The USSR, with more active chess players than the U.S. has high school football players, has dominated the battle of pawns, knights and castles, and valiantly protected the only kind of king it recognizes. For eight consecutive times it won the world team title and Russia's Elisaveta Bykova three times picked up the women's crown. However, America's leading hope, the grandmaster of the checkmate sport, has zeroed his computer-like brain in on the Russian. And all of the fans who thrill at the silent gallop of a queen's knight to square QB-6 will cheer loudly in silence.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, August 30, 1971 - Page 25 — Canadian Open Chess - Suttles Moves Out of Lead -- Protesting by Paul Raugust —Canadian champion Duncan Suttles of Vancouver lost the lead in the Canadian Open Chess Championship on Sunday night as he went down to defeat at the hands of world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Suttles, a 24-year-old international master, had taken sole possession of first place Saturday by defeating U.S. grandmaster Pal Benko in the fifth round. Spassky had to settle for a draw in the same round in a game against Lubomir Kavalek, another U.S. grandmaster, leaving seven players tied for second place. The young Canadian champion played Sunday's game under protest as he was forced to play with the disadvantages of black for the fourth time in the 11-game tournament. Both Spassky and Suttles had played three games with black and two with white going into the sixth round. Suttles' number one position paired him against the highest-rated player in the next division, which happened to be Spassky with 4½ points.
★
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Monday, August 30, 1971 - Page 25 — Chess Venue Up In Air by Paul Raugust — A toss of a coin may turn out to be the only way that the U.S. and Soviet chess federations will agree on the site of the finals in the world chess championship challengers series. Delegates of the two chess federations have been meeting in Vancouver during the past week but have been unable to agree on a site for the match between grandmasters Bobby Fischer of New York and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. Ed Edmondson, vice-president of the U.S. Federation, said Sunday that the only thing agreed upon so far is that the negotiations be concluded by Tuesday. If no agreement has been reached by then, World Chess Federation president Dr. Max Euwe of Holland will be asked to flip a coin to settle the issue. The U.S. wants the match held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while the Soviets are determined it be held in Athens, Greece. Boris Rodionov, who leads the Soviet delegation in the negotiations, says he is opposed to a site in either North or South America because Fischer has already played two matches in the challenger's series in the America's. Fischer played Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov in Vancouver in May and Bent Larsen of Denmark in Denver, Colorado in July, defeating each by a score of 6-0. But Edmondson argues that these are the only two matches in the candidates' series' 20-match history to be held outside of Europe. Edmondson also said that the world federation is almost bankrupt and could well use the 6,000 Swiss Franks the Argentinians offer to pay the federation for the right to hold the match. This figure is substantially more than what has been offered by the Greeks. Edmondson and Rodionov planned to mix business with pleasure today as they were to continue negotiations during a sight-seeing tour of Vancouver Island. Winner of the Petrosian-Fischer match, to be held in late September, will advance against world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow in a 24-game match to be played in the spring of 1972.
★
Read More
The Daily Tar Heel Chapel Hill, North Carolina Tuesday, August 31, 1971 - Page 35 — The World's Best — …Harmon Killebrew and Frank Howard stopped belting home runs and Bobby Fischer started fulfilling his promise as the world's best chess player.
The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, August 31, 1971 - Page 9 — Television Guide: Mike Douglas Show — Co-host-Jim Backus. Scheduled: Hugh Downs, Kaye Stevens; Sam and Dave, music group; Bobby Fischer, chess player.
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Tuesday, August 31, 1971 - Page 12 — Match Site Talks Still Deadlocked — Vancouver (UPI) — Negotiations to pick a site for the final challengers match in the world chess championship remained deadlocked last night, and the flip of a coin may decide the issue today. The match between grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union will determine who will face world chess champion Boris Spassky of Moscow in a 24-game title match next year.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Tuesday, August 31, 1971 - Page 27 — Canadian Open Chess - Grandmasters Falter by Paul Raugust — The elite grandmaster division isn't fairing well at all in the Canadian Open Chess Championship. The third of four grandmasters competing in the tournament went down in defeat Monday night. The latest victim was U.S. grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek who lost to international master Hans Ree of Holland. The win gave Ree a narrow lead in the seventh round of the 11-game tournament being held at the Ponderosa Cafe on the University of B.C. campus. Ree now has 6½ points from six wins and one draw. The other grandmasters defeated to date are Pal Benko, also of the U.S., and Walter Browne of Australia, who won the U.S. Open in Ventura, California earlier this month. The fourth grandmaster, world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union had to settle for his second drawn of the tournament Monday night in a game against international master Zvonko Vranesic of Toronto. Spassky's earlier draw was in the fifth round against Kavalek. The seventh round left three players tied for second place behind Ree, although more could join the second place tie as at least two key games were adjourned to this morning. Tied for second place were Spassky, Vranesic and Canadian champion Duncan Suttles who defeated Craig Barnes of the U.S. Monday. All have six points. The two adjourned games that could provide more second-place contenders were between George Kuprejanov and Ian Hambleton, both of Toronto, and former B.C. champion Bob Zuk and Stan Pakost, both of Vancouver. All had five points going into the seventh round. Grandmaster Browne moved into third place, along with at least four other players, by defeating Peter Murry of London, Ontario. Also in third place were Ed Formanek of Ottawa, who defeated American Mike Franett, and E. Bone of the U.S., who defeated Dr. Elrod Mackasy of Vancouver. Kavalek is also in third place, but more players will join this position after the adjourned games are completed this morning. All of the 153 competitors remaining in the tournament -- three have withdrawn -- have now recorded at least half a point. J. Riddle of Victoria became the last player to pick up points Monday when he defeated R. Hughes of White Rock who has half a point for one draw so far. There are 10 Canadian from six provinces playing in the tournament, 40 Americans from 10 states, two Brazilians, two from Holland, one Australian and one player from the Soviet Union, representing the strongest field ever in a Canadian open chess tournament. The competition ends Friday night.
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 43 — Russian Chess Champ Tripped by Rules — Vancouver (CP) — Hans Ree of Holland, an international master, drew on the assistance of the rule book Tuesday night and continued to hang on to a piece of first place in the Canadian open chess championship. The eighth round of the 11-game tournament proved another difficult one for the grandmasters in the competition. The rule book worked against two of them. Ree, who held a half-point lead going into the eighth round, insisted that his game against world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow be drawn as the champion repeated a position three times, contrary to international chess rules. The draw was the second in a row for Spassky and the third of the tournament.
Read More
The Sydney Morning Herald Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 21 — Chess — Karen Opit, of Moriah College, has won the NSW girls' junior (under 18) chess championship, obtaining seven points out of seven.
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess Match Site Draws Soviet 'nyet' — Once again a Russian “nyet” is echoing about the University of B.C. And, as it did here last spring, it involves U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer and a game of chess. Then, the dispute was over the playing conditions at UBC for the challengers' round match between Fischer and Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov. The Russians vetoed the Graduate Centre site chosen for the match and won their point when the games were switched to the Student Union Building. This time, there is a more difficult problem: the choice of a city for the final challengers' round match between Fischer and Soviet grandmaster Tigran Petrosian. Soviet negotiator Boris Rodionov is here for the World Ches Federation (FIDE) Congress at UBC's Cecil Green Park, as is Ed Edmondson, U.S. negotiator and executive director of the U.S. Chess Federation. They are sandwiching their deliberations between official business at the Congress. The position is this: Four invitation has been received as the site of the match, from Skopje and Umag, Yugoslavia; Buenos Aires and Athens. The Russians have summarily rejected Skopje, Umag and Buenos Aires and have opted for Athens. Edmondson leans toward the South American site, but is willing to compromise. “We'll play in Athens if the Russians agree to a city in the America's for the world championship match — providing Bobby beats Petrosian,” Edmondson said Tuesday night. “Or, if we play this match in Buenos Aires, we'll agree to play the world championship in Athens. It seems a reasonable compromise, but the Russians have turned it down.” Winner of the Fischer-Petrosian match will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a 24-game match for the title next spring. Edmondson said the decision could hinge on a coin flip by FIDE president, Dr. Max Euwe of The Netherlands, should the Russians not budge from their position. He ruled out Vancouver as a compromise site. The Fischer-Petrosian match is scheduled to start Sept. 22.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 6 — In Chess Climax - Hard Last Stage Faces Spassky by Bill Rayner — Chess fever inched toward the critical stage Tuesday as the Canadian Open championship entered its final — and most tense—phase. Tournament director Phil Haley had to haul out his rule book twice to decide the outcome of two key games, while several other were adjourned with the outcome in doubt. The rule book gave grandmaster Hans Ree of The Netherlands a draw with world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and denied one to U.S. grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek. In question was the rule governing the claiming of a draw by repetition of position.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 25 — Chess Open -- Rule book saves one, trips two by Paul Raugust — Has Ree of Holland, an international master, drew on the assistance of the rule book in continuing to hang on to a piece of first place in the Canadian Open Chess Championship here Tuesday night. The eighth round of the 11-game tournament proved another difficult one for the grandmasters in the competition. The rule book worked against two of them. Ree, who held a half-point lead going into the eighth round, insisted that his game against world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow be drawn as the champion repeated a position three times, contrary to international chess rules. The draw was the second in a row for Spassky and the third of the tournament.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Wednesday, September 01, 1971 - Page 2 — Argentine Chess Federation Offer — The Argentine Chess Federation has offered $11,000 dollars each to chess masters Robert Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of Russia if they will play their decisive world championship elimination match here. Sources added they understood Fischer was prepared to accept the offer, but Petrosian preferred to play in Europe.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, September 02, 1971 - Page 30 — Chess: Fischer's Defeat at the Hands of Spassky—an Off-Moment — Bobby Fischer's 19-game victory streak, which includes 6-0 triumphs over Grandmaster Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Bent Larsen of Denmark in the world chess eliminations, started in a tournament in Palma, Majorca, in Spain. The last match the New Yorker lost was to Larsen, Denmark's grand master. Only the mighty José Raul Capablanca, a Cuban genius and one-time world champion, came close to approximating this feat. For 10 years, Capablanca did not lose a single game. Now actuaries need a good look at their basic figures. Is it perfection in strategy and tactics that insures victory, or is it the absence of blunder that safeguards each position? The blunder quota of Fischer's opponents—even the grandmasters—is out of line with their ability. A slip of the finger or a mental block or hallucination are part and parcel of the repertoires.
Fischer Suffers Lapse -- The following game, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union against Fischer, at the Siegen, West Germany, Olympiad, shows a blunder-prone Fischer in an off-moment. The defeat was three months before Fischer's most recent setback against Larsen. The defense, a Gruenfeld, is a favorite with Fischer. Early, Fischer obtained the edge because of White's isolated queen pawn. Out original appraisal favored Black. But it was indeed difficult to confirm the point. Instead of move 24. … BxBch, Black could retain the better position by 24. … B-N3. Then after 25. QxPch, QxQ; 26. NxQ R-Q7; 27. BxB PxB. After 32. … Q-B2, Black was in trouble. But 32. … K-N2 would not do because of 33. P-B5 Q-Q4 (to anticipate the dire threat of 34. Q-R4) 34. N-K8ch K-N1; 35. Q-K6ch R-B2; 36. PxP R/7xR; 37. PxRch, RxPch; 38. K-R1. Thus Fischer pitched a bungling game. But is is interesting to note that Dr. Max Euwe, a former world champion and now president of the International Chess Federation, gives Fischer a 60-40 chance of beating Spassky if Fischer should win his elimination match against Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union and qualify to challenger for the world title held by Spassky. It is conceivable that those who were blanked by Fischer should be down-rated to a “draw odds” group. This means, if they can manage to draw, they are credited with a victory. But it is rather clear that they cannot draw by splitting a point too easily. In “draw odds,” the weaker player gets the White men. But Fischer has proved that he can play White or Black and win.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, September 02, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess Talks Continue - Vote Could Settle Venue — A democratic vote here Friday at the World Chess Federation (FIDE) Congress could decide the site of the challengers' elimination match between grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the U.S. and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. Ed Edmondson of the U.S. and Boris Rodionov of the U.S.S.R have been negotiating here for several days, and it was previously expected that FIDE President Dr. Max Euwe of The Netherlands would break any deadlock. But Euwe asked the Congress general assembly Wednesday whether it wished to rule on the site if the negotiators fail to come to an agreement. The assembly said it would, and the vote, if necessary, will take place Friday morning. At issue is the choice of four sites: Skopje and Umag in Yugoslavia, Athens, and Buenos Aires. The Russians have vetoed every city but Athens, while the U.S. favors Buenos Aires but is willing to compromise. The bid from Buenos Aires seems to be the better one. It has bid $12,000 to stage the match, plus a $1,500 donation to FIDE and expenses for seven persons from each country. The $1,500 donation would be a major gain for FIDE. The 70-member federation has an annual budget of only $15,000. Athens has bid $10,000, plus expenses. Winner of the 12-game Fischer-Petrosian match will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring in a 24-game match for the title.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, September 02, 1971 - Page 6 — Ontario Players in Tourney Spotlight — Two Ontario players are in the spotlight today as the Canadian Open chess championship enters its penultimate round …
★ ·
★
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, September 02, 1971 - Page 43 — Make Chess -- And Not War; Psychiatrist Wishes That All Would Play — A young woman from Bahia in Brazil says she has found a solution to the world's problems. The Panacea? Chess. “Chess is so complicated,” says Ruth Cardoso, a combatant in the 11-day Canadian Open chess championships now ending at the University of B.C., “that all other issues pale in comparison. […] “And it is rude that many men feel women can't think abstractly enough for chess.” “There are players too who will try every trick in the book to win. I recently played a man from the Philippines who was an insatiable talker. He'd arranged 11 draws simply because his opponent would accede just to get rid of him. I refused, so he said he'd beat me blindfolded. I won.” Ruth has great admiration for U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer. His brilliant successes, she feels, have advanced immeasurably the cause of the game. “He really fights. He wants to win and he doesn't make easy draws. It has never happened before that someone won 6-0, and twice. That's fantastic. “Chess is like anything else in life. It's a fight.”
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Thursday, September 02, 1971 - Page 5 — Ottawa Man May Defeat World Chess Champion — Vancouver (CP) — An untitled Canadian player, Ed Formanek of Ottawa, stood on the brink of knocking world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow out of top-money contention in the Canadian open chess championship Wednesday night. Formanek, who has already defeated two grandmasters in the 11-round tournament, held a decided edge when his game against Spassky was adjourned to this morning. Playing the white pieces, Formanek was ahead by virtue of the strength of a rook to a bishop and threatening to even the count at six pawns apiece. Canadian champion Duncan Suttles of Vancouver and Hans Ree of Holland, both international masters, couldn't break their first-place deadlock as they agreed to a draw on the 18th move of their game. Both now have 7½ points. The winner of the Spassky-Formanek game will move into a first place tie with Suttles and Ree. Spassky and Ree are the only players to remain undefeated. Both have drawn three games. Only one player remained with a possibility of taking sole possession of first place in the ninth round. He is George Kuprejanov, who, with seven points, adjourned his game against Grandmaster Walter Browne of Australia, the U.S. open champion, who has 6½ points.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, September 03, 1971 - Page 1 — U.S. Wins Twice at Chess Parley by Bill Rayner — The United States scored a significant double victory today as the World Chess Federation (FIDE) ended its congress at the University of B.C. FIDE president Dr. Max Euwe announced that the nodraw system will be in effect in the next world championship cycle. This has long been proposed by U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer, who contends that drawn games are ruining chess. Euwe also said that Buenos Aires will be the site of the final challengers' elimination match between Fischer and Soviet Union grandmaster Tigran Petrosian. Buenos Aires had been favored by the U.S., while the Soviet Union had wanted Athens, and no change in the drawing system. Winner of the Buenos Aires match, to begin Sept. 30, will meet world champion Boris Spassky, of the Soviet Union, for the title, probably in April of 1972. Site of that match has not been determined. In the next world championship cycle, from 1972 to 1975, the congress decided that only wins will count in the challengers' series. With draw games not counting, three wins will be needed in the quarter-final matches, four in the semi-finals, and five in the final challengers' match. The world championship match in 1975 will be decided by the first player to score six wins. The structure of the world championship cycle has also been altered. There will now be two interzonal tournaments in 1973, instead of one. Eight grandmasters will be seeded into this tournament without having to qualify. They will be picked by a FIDE committee. Also seeded will be six defeated challengers from this year's matches and a top junior player. The inter-zonals will select three players each to join the two seeded players from the world championship final, as previously. No sites for the inter-zonal have yet been chosen. The site for the Fischer-Petrosian match was drawn by lot after it became apparent that the congress would be widely split over the choice of sites. The congress earlier this week decided to choose the site after the U.S. and Russian negotiators could not agree. Winner of the match will get $7,500 and the loser $4,500. U.S. Chess Federation executive-director Ed Edmondson said he was highly pleased with the outcome of the congress. “We've been pushing for the no-draw system for some time now,” he said. “It will make chess a lot more interesting.” Edmondson said he was also happy over the choice of Buenos Aires, even though the U.S. victory was by chance.
Read More
The Oshkosh Northwestern Oshkosh, Wisconsin Friday, September 03, 1971 - Page 6 — Cold War Chess Opponents — Beginning about the middle of September, and possibly to be staged in Yugoslavia, an American will engage a Russian in the semi-finals of the world chess challenger tournament. The winner will challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the title in March, 1972. The American is Bobby Fischer, now 28, who has been playing chess in big-time competition for 14 years. The Brooklyn, N.Y., resident was once the “enfant terrible” of chess, but is now said to have his temper under tighter control and should continue to give a good account of himself as a representative of his country. He will meet Tigran Petrosian, a former world champion who has lost only twice in his last 61 games. Both of those losses were to Fischer in the Russia vs. World match in 1970. In pursuit of the world championship that has been a Soviet monopoly since 1948. Fischer has won his last 19 games in matches against grandmasters. Chess experts groping for a parallel to make Fischer's feat intelligible to non-players speak of hitting 19 home runs in 19 times at bat. In a typical demonstration, Fischer on Aug. 9 demolished 11 grandmasters and masters in a rapid-fire tournament at the Manhattan Chess Club where he started playing at the age of 10. While there is little attention to the Petrosian-Fischer match in the United States, it is reported to be the talk of Moscow. Let's hope the talk in America will be good after the match and that Fischer will gain in ability enough to wrest the world title from Spassky next March. To devotees, it isn't just a game.
Read More
The Selma Times-Journal Selma, Alabama Friday, September 03, 1971 - Page 4 — Editorial Research Reports - Cold War Chess; For What It's Worth — (Editor's Note: Bobby Fischer of the United States is scheduled to face Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the world chess challengers tournament beginning sometime between Sept. 12 and 15 at a site still to be announced possibly Yugoslavia. The winner will challenger world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title in March 1972). George Bernard Shaw called chess “a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time.” That may still be the majority opinion. But there are those like French artist Marcel Duchamp who see the subliminal attraction of the the royal game. “In chess,” he says “there are some extremely beautiful things in the domain of movement, but not in the visual domain. It's the imagining of the movement or of the gesture that makes the beauty … It's completely in one's gray matter.”
Read More
Fitchburg Sentinel Fitchburg, Massachusetts Friday, September 03, 1971 - Page 6 — Wachusett Chess Club To Begin Season Sept. 7 — The executive board of the Wachusett Chess Club has announced that it will commence its 1971-72 season on Tuesday, Sept. 7, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Fitchburg YMCA on Wallace Avenue. The board encourages all chess players in the area, despite their level of play, to attend the first session and partake in the activities. The first meeting will feature a detailed report on the progress of U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer, who has been clobbering the opposition on his way to the world championship chess title. After having soundly defeated Russian grandmaster Mark Taimanov 6-0 and Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen by an identical score, the 28-year-old Fischer has one more obstacle to surmount before he can play world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the coveted title. That one obstacle is the Armenian grandmaster and former world champion Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian and Fischer have clashed over the board 18 times in the past 13 years, with the score presently standing at 3 wins apiece and 12 draws. The tie, however, will be broken by the end of their 12-game match, which is scheduled to begin in the third week of September, presumably in Yugoslavia. The 42-year-old Petrosian should be somewhat pessimistic about his chances, since his last win against Fischer was back in 1962 when the American superstar was 19 years old and still on his way up. Last year in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, the phenomenal Fischer trounced the overcautious Petrosian twice in a four game match and effortlessly drew the remaining two games.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 18 — Site of Chess Match Set — Vancouver, British Columbia, Sept. 3 (Reuters)--Buenos Aires will be the site of the final challengers elimination chess match between Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of the United States and Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, the World Chess Federation announced here today. The winner of the match, which will begin Sept. 30, will meet the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, for the title, probably in April 1972.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 45 — Canadian Open Chess : World Champ Spassky Wins But Shares Money by Paul Raugust — World champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union Friday night became 1971 Canadian Open chess champion, but had to settle for only half of the $1,000 first-place prize. Spassky tied with international master Hans Ree of Holland in points which gave each player half of the top prize, but he won the title because his record of seven wins and four draws was against higher-rated players than those who played Ree.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 45 — Chess Congress - Argentina Gets Nod For Finals by Paul Raugust — Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday was awarded the final match of the world chess championship challengers' series by the World Chess Federation. The match, between Bobby Fischer of New York and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, is to begin Sept. 30. Winner of the best-of-10 series will advance against world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow for world supremacy. A dispute over the site of the Fischer-Petrosian match threatened to split the World Chess Federation which has been unable to agree on a site but finally holding its annual congress in Vancouver for the past two weeks.
★
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 16 — Concentration — on a game in the Canadian Open Chess Championship in Vancouver is Canadian champion Duncan Suttles of Vancouver (CP Wirephoto)
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 16 — Bobby — If there are any positive superlatives left over to describe Bobby Fischer's play in the past few months, I don't know what they are. His blanking out Russia's Mark Taimanov in Vancouver toward the end of spring was masterful. Six straight games! So far as I can recall there has never been a comparable shellacking in Candidates' play. But for Fischer then to pull the same stunt in Denver against Denmark's Bent Larsen was to make chess history not likely to be duplicated in this lifetime of anyone reading this column. Poor Larsen! Just a few days before his ignominious defeat at Bobby's hands, he was quoted in a Swiss magazine as saying that he had every hope and intention of going all the way to the top and playing the world champion in 1972. That dream was cracked with the first game in Denver, shattered in the second and pulverized in the next four. The finals, which will pit Fischer against Tigran Petrosian, the winner to play world champion Boris Spassky, should be truly exciting. If all goes well with Fischer, it will be the first time in years that world chess has not been dominated by the Russians. “I have a sense of mission to win the championship,” Bobby said immediately after his victory. “I feel I have been the best player in the world for 10 years.” Nobody has ever accused Fischer of false modesty. But he just might be right. Several times in the past it has seemed that only the notorious Fischer temperament has stood between him and the summit. And, actually, there is really no guarantee that it won't again. But as things stand now, after a century in the wilderness, the U.S. at last has someone who has a chance to become the Champion of the world.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, September 05, 1971 - Page 106 — Chess: Most People Would Bet on Fischer by Al Horowitz — The final match of the Candidates' series, between America's Bobby Fischer and ex-world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union will begin in a few weeks, but most people are not talking about what will happen in that match, but in the one after it. “After I take care of Petrosian,” Bobby himself has said, “I go on to play Spassky,” and indeed there isn't anyone in the chess world outside of Russia—perhaps outside of Petrosian's native Armenia—who doesn't think Bobby will “take care of” his next opponent as easily as all that. The causes for such optimism on the part of Bobby's well-wishers are many. Fischer, there are their respective performances in the matches leading up to the final match. While Fischer was blitzing Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov and the Danish star Bent Larsen—both by 6-0—Petrosian was winning his matches in the least incisive fashion imaginable. Against the relatively unknown West German player Robert Hubner he drew the first six games before winning the seventh and, against his compatriot Viktor Korchnoi, he drew the first eight. A greater contrast could hardly be imagined. A second reason to encourage those who hope for an easy Fischer victory is the result of his most recent encounter with Petrosian. At the match that pitted 10 Soviet players against a team selected from among the leading players of the rest of the world, Bobby met Petrosian on second board and beat him by 3-1—two wins for Bobby, and two draws. If the results of this meeting are any indication, Bobby has Petrosian's number.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Sunday, September 05, 1971 - Page 22 — Free Press Note : Soviet Russia — it's leading sports “newspaper” the other day loosed a loud blast at the great U.S. chess player, Bobby Fischer. The sheet admitted that Mr. Fischer is an “all around chess player, unusually strong in both positional and combinational games,” but added that recently he has been telling untruths about Russian chess experts. These folks, Fischer was quoted as charging, habitually plot to play draw games against one another but play to defeat foreign players. This is far from the first time such charges have been fired at Soviet chess players. And it's at least a fair bet that the charges are true. The Kremlin habitually uses sports for political purposes. So here's a suggestion: Why not a free-world chess federation of some sort, which would refuse to recognize chess “champions” in Soviet Russia, Red China, or any of the Captive Nations, until and unless ironclad international chess tournament rules to preclude cheating were accepted by those nations? All this isn't overly important; but why should free-world chess players hold still while Reds play them for patsies?
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Morning Call Allentown, Pennsylvania Sunday, September 05, 1971 - Page 26 — U.S. Chess Youth's Game — A Russian champ has ruled the chess world each year since World War II, Dubeck said. The U.S. federation would like to see that change. Steering the conversation deftly away from his own chess accomplishments, Dubeck told of the success of Robert Fischer, “an American on his way to becoming the first non-Russian world champion since the 1940s.” Fischer will meet former world champion “Petrosian” in two weeks and the winner will clash with another Russian, world champion Boris Spassky in the spring, Dubeck said. The challenge of chess, as in sports and other human endeavors, is “the desire to win,” he said. At the tournament or non-professional level, it isn't the indicator of mental prowess it is at the professional level.
Read More
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Fort Worth, Texas Sunday, September 05, 1971 - Page 3 — Chess Title on Line — The final challengers' series for the world chess championship will be played in Buenos Aires between grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of Russia …
★ ·
★
Southern Illinoisan Carbondale, Illinois Tuesday, September 07, 1971 - Page 5 — Chess Played to Win — Jim says there are a few drawbacks to being a chess player: “I think chess isn't given the recognition it deserves. Bobby Fischer is trying to win the world title from the USSR's Boris Spassky now, but don't read about it in the papers or see it on television. “I don't think its realized how many chess fans there actually are. I think there ought to be a greater appreciation of chess. Russia has held the World Championship for 27 years because they put emphasis on chess, and encourage their young to play. […] Jim predicts that Boris Spassky will retain his championship from Bobby Fischer because “if Fischer loses a game he gets shook up and he has trouble coming back and winning.”
Read More
The Indianapolis Star Indianapolis, Indiana Sunday, September 12, 1971 - Page 105 — Fischer, U.S. Chess Star, Trains For Title Games With Russians by Ann Hencken —New York (AP) — Thud. Thud. Thud. Bobby Fischer slams his chessmen across a plastic fold-up board with the intensity of a boxer training on the heavy bag. The 28-year-old chess star is psyching himself up for the big one-a pawn-to-pawn confrontation with the Russians for the world championship in chess. High strung and restless, Fischer sits at a desk in his small Westside hotel room as he plots strategy, playing against himself. In the style of the lone American hero, he sees himself laying siege single-handedly to the entire Russian chess establishment. If he wins, he'll be the first American to ever hold the official title and the first non-Russian victor in 25 years. “THERE'S ONE way to deal with the Russians — with power. That's all they understand,” said Fischer. Getting up from his game, he lunges to a table and flicks on his white transistor radio. The blaring pop music cuts the quiet in the inside room, which he specifically requested for better concentration. Fischer — who seems like a big, healthy, energetic, corn-fed tennis player — is not even-featured but somehow good looking with blond hair, fair skin, and a broad, bright smile. He wears a blue suit, custom made in Madrid by a Chinese tailor, an 11-year-old gold tie clip set with the chess figure of a knight and $4 shoes from Argentina. He rarely dresses in casual clothes.
Read More
Hartford Courant Hartford, Connecticut Sunday, September 12, 1971 - Page 54 — Ready for Russians — Bobby Fischer, America's 28-year-old chess grandmaster, prepares for a single-handed, pawn-to-pawn confrontation with the entire Russian chess establishment, for the world championship in chess (AP Newsfeature Photo).
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, September 12, 1971 - Page 90 — Fischer, Petrosian Meet In Argentina — U.S. chess ace Bobby Fischer and former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union will start a 12-game-match in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Thursday, Sept. 30. This is the final in a series of elimination matches to determine the challenger for the world championship title now held by Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Argentina had been Fischer's first choice of the three countries bidding for the match. Petrosian preferred Greece. Yugoslavia was given little consideration, despite the great interest in chess there. With the rivals unable to agree, the question was who would make the decision as to the site. Normally it would be Dr. Max Euwe of Holland, president of the International Chess Federation. As it happened, however, the federation was holding its annual congress in Vancouver, ending last weekend. Dr. Euwe was willing to leave it to the delegates representing some 50 countries. Representatives of the U.S. and Russia did some fast counting of prospective votes, and as has happened in weightier political matters, were uncertain of the result. They decided to toss a coin, and Argentina won. Games will be played at the rate of three each week, on Thursdays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Any game not finished in the first session will be competed the following day. The winner of a game will score one point. Draws will count half a point for each player. A total of 6½ points is required to win the match. Fischer is favored based on his excellent recent record. He is on a fantastic winning streak that has reached 19 games in succession without a single draw. This includes match victories by 6-0 over Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Bent Larsen of Denmark, a completely unprecedented feat in grandmaster chess. Petrosian had a much harder time in his preliminary matches of the current series. Against Robert Huebner of West Germany he drew the first six games and won the seventh. Huebner then resigned the match for reasons of health. A single game was also the margin in Petrosian's encounter with his compatriot Victor Korchnoi. Eight draws were run off before Petrosian succeeded in winning the ninth game. The 10th was also drawn for a total of 5½-4½. In individual results over their lifetime Fischer and Petrosian are exactly even, with three wins each and 12 draws out of 18 meetings. In their most recent series last year Fischer was the victor with two wins and two draws. This is the first time since 1948 that a non-Russian has been so close to the world championship. All title matches since then have been between two Soviet grandmasters.
Read More
Lansing State Journal Lansing, Michigan Sunday, September 19, 1971 - Page 67 — Local Clubs Reflect Interest Here — Fischer and Evans — Bay City hosted the 1963 Western Open (a nationally ranked affair) that attracted Bobby Fischer. Flint has been the scene of several simultaneous matches drawing top-ranked U.S. masters. In 1964, one simultaneous affair featured Bobby Fischer against 58 players (four of whom played the master to a draw). In 1965, Larry Evans played 37 persons in Flint simultaneously also drawing four. Nobody beat Fischer or Evans in those events. The fact that neither Fischer nor Evans bothered to stop in Lansing while they were in Michigan might be an indication of this area's low standing in their eyes. But perhaps that's unfair, because Fischer and Evans didn't both to go to other Michigan cities either.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, September 19, 1971 - Page 56 — The King's Men: Fischer-Petrosyan Match Stirs Wide Interest Here by Merrill Dowden — I have never seen so much interest in a chess match as there is in the upcoming showdown between the American grandmaster, Bobby Fischer, and former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. This extreme interest is not confined to chess players. Many persons, whose only conception of a Knight is a medieval soldier in shining armor, are eagerly awaiting the outcome of this classic event. There are several reasons: The Fischer-Petrosian clash will be the finals of the world challenge series, and to the winner will go the right to play the reigning world champion, Boris Spassky of Moscow, who will put his title on the line. And the ease with which Fischer has won the world's strongest tournaments during the past year. And the frosting on the cake, of course, was his unprecedented 12 straight victories over the Soviet grandmaster Mark Taimanov and Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen in the quarter-finals and semifinals of the world challenger series. Fischer, with his boyish grin and awkward manners, seems to possess a certain charisma which appeals to the masses. In this respect, as well as his exceptional fighting style, he may be compared to the legendary Paul Morphy, who was the only world champion America has produced. And that was more than a century ago. Americans are hungry for a long overdue championship, and Fischer seems by far the best bet since Morphy to bring home the bacon. What are Fischer's chances against Petrosian? They have met 18 times, and the score is even, with three wins each and 12 draws. However, in four match games last years, Petrosian didn't win one. Fischer won the first two, then was content to draw. It would seem, therefore, that Fischer's genius is in full flower, while Petrosian's is on the wane. It would be unrealistic, however, to expect Fischer to defeat the former world champion as convincingly as he did the other grandmasters.
Read More
Lansing State Journal Lansing, Michigan Sunday, September 19, 1971 — Miguel Najdorf moves against Pat Murphy, one of 30 persons who he was playing simultaneously.
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Saturday, September 25, 1971 - Page 29 — Fischer Tackles The Tiger — Buenos Aires (AP)—Bobby Fischer of the United States is expected here for month-long chess struggle with the Soviet Union's Tigran Petrosian to decide who is to become Boris Spassky's challenger for the world title. Petrosian arrived Wednesday and cautiously refused to predict the possible results of the twelve scheduled games that will begin Sept. 30 and [thru] Oct. 31. “I don't know, said Petrosian when asked if he expected to defeat his U.S. rival. “Let's wait for the game to find out.” However, Petrosian smilingly reminded newsmen that in Russia they call me the “Tiger.” The remark came after one newsman noted that Petrosian is known as the “Boa” in chess circles, because of his choking approach to his rivals positions. Asked who he believed was the best chess player in the world, Petrosian answered: Boris Spassky. The game will be played at the modern 1,000-seat San Martin Municipal Theater, where Fischer won a chess tournament last year.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Saturday, September 25, 1971 - Page 101 — Bobby Fischer - Miracle Man of Chess — Brooklyn [raised] Robert Fischer doesn't beat his chess opponents … he destroys them. And now the American grand master is about to begin a tournament that could strip Russia of one of her most cherished treasures, the world championship of chess. For an incisive study of Bobby Fischer, the goals he has set for himself and the way he expects to reach them, read chess grand master and author Robert Byrne's special report tomorrow in the …
Read More
The Morning Call Allentown, Pennsylvania Saturday, September 25, 1971 - Page 6 — Good Move — To The Editor: I wish to commend you on your recent coverage of chess events in the Lehigh Valley and also, the recent article about Bobby Fischer. Please, continue coverage of Fischer's progress in his world championship bid and coverage of chess events in general. P.S. My wife and i also greatly appreciate your new Sunday TV magazine! Mr. E. Olin Mastin Jr., East Greenville, Pa.
Read More
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Saturday, September 25, 1971 - Page 49 — Not a First — When Bobby Fischer won the U.S.A. closed championship at New York a few years ago by defeating all his opponents this seemed like a new record. Later it was pointed out former world champions Emmanuel Lasker and José Capablanca set up 'picket fences' in important tourneys at N.Y. in 1893 and 1913. Similarly Fischer's victories this year over M. Taimanov and B. Larsen by 6-0 scores in the current world series were hailed as something new in top flight competition. Without detracting from this remarkable accomplishment, it should be noted that Capablanca defeated Boris Kostic, Yugoslavia, 5-0 in their match at Havana in 1919. The match was to be one of eight games up but Kostic resigned after losing five games in succession. In previous tourney play they had drawn all their games and finished one-two in the tables. Kostic complained of the heat at Havana, as Lasker did in his title match with Capa there in 1921. On doctor's advice he resigned after 14 games, with the score 4-0 against him, and 10 draws.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, September 26, 1971 - Page 228 — Chess: Fischer Adds One More to His Score by Al Horowitz — A CHESS fest at the Manhattan Chess Club a few Sundays ago consisted of a double-round, 12-man round robin of five-minute chess games. The players in this battle royal were all high echelon competitors, representing metropolitan's best in chess. The event, to celebrate Fischer's ascent to the world title in the qualifying matches, added another victory to his already invincible score. Fischer finally posted 21½-½, followed in order by Andrew Soltis, a many-time champion of the Marshall Chess Club; 18-4; Robert Byrne, 17½-4½; Arthur Feuerstein, present champion of the Manhattan Chess Club, 11-11; Edmar Mednis, 10½-11½; Walter Shipman, 10½-11½; Louis Levy, 8½-13½; George Kramer, 8½-13½; Neil McKelvie, 7½-14½; Alex Kevitz, a club champion in the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, 7-15; James Gore, 6-16; and Paul Brandts, a former New York State champion 5½-16½. Fischer drew only one game with Walter Shipman of Bayshore, Long Island. The game appeared in a Monday edition at that time. In the Fischer vs. Shipman, Ruy Lopez below, Fischer essayed a line recommended by one-time world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz in his Modern Chess Instructor in 1889. This debut was included under the Cozio Defense in the year 1490. Here, Black's first error was 11. … P-B4. Instead 11. … B-R4 was correct. Later 12. … Q-B2 makes the loss imminent.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Sunday, September 26, 1971 - Page 82 — He Hopes to Beat The Russians At Their Own Game by Robert Byrne. Buenos Aires. —Robert Byrne, author of this article, is a noted chess writer who has long been a friend and chess foe of Bobby Fischer. Byrne is one of the world's 60 international chess grandmasters, the highest rank. The Russians are worrying. One of their baubles is, apparently, in the process of being taken from them. To be exact, this treasure is the world chess championship. The man likely to best the Soviets at their own game is Robert J. Fischer of Brooklyn. Now 28, Fischer is that rare genius, a celebrated child prodigy who grew up to realize his brilliant boyhood promise. Single-minded of matchless talent, Bobby Fischer will begin playing a 12-game match here Thursday in a theater crowded with chess fans from all over the world. His opponent will be the Russian star Tigran Petrosian. Their contest may stretch over the next four weeks. Its outcome will determine who is to meet Boris Spassky, current titleholder and another Russian, for the championship. If Fischer finally triumphs over Spassky, he will be breaking a long-standing Soviet monopoly.
Read More
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Fort Worth, Texas Sunday, September 26, 1971 - Page 77 — Chess Competition — Buenos Aires (Reuter) — Bobby Fischer, 28-year-old American chess prodigy, arrived here Friday to prepare for his vital 12-game match against Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union.
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, September 26, 1971 - Page 51 — The King's Men - Fischer Now Is Man of Hour in Russia by Merrill Dowden — American grandmaster Bobby Fischer, now only a step away from challenging Boris Spassky for the chess championship of the world, has become a celebrity in the chess-crazy Soviet Union. Writing under a Moscow dateline, Bernard Gwertzman of The New York Times News Service makes this report: “The 28-year-old American's aggressive and crisp play in shutting out Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Denmark's Bent Larsen by 6-0 scores has startled chess experts here and aroused considerable popular interest in the American who long-time experts say is on the way to becoming the most popular non-Soviet since pianist Van Cliburn.” Fischer's string of 12 consecutive victories in championship matches at grandmaster level was without precedent, and this face was underscored by Soviet commentators. “A miracle has occurred,” the chess expert in Sovetsky Sport said, discussing Fischer's victory over Larsen in Denver. Gwertzman reports that in a Moscow park, several old men playing chess were quite willing to talk about Fischer. They bestowed upon him the popular Russian description, “molodyets,” which means, roughly, “quite a competitor.” To get a chance at Spassky and the title, Fischer must first defeat another Russian, former world champion Tigran Petrosyan. That match, originally scheduled for September, has been postponed at least until next month.
Read More
Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Sunday, September 26, 1971 - Page 13 — The Chessboard: Fischer Facing Final Test — Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of New York faces the final test in his quest for a chance at the world chess championship when play begins Thursday in his candidates' match with Grandmaster Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, in Buenos Aires. The winner of the 10-game match will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, in a title match next spring. On form, Fischer, who has been beating everyone in sight recently, is favored to win this encounter, but no one denies that Petrosian is a tough opponet. It bids fair to be the best match of the year, with the American, who always plays to win, pitted against the former world champion who has no qualms about drawing discreetly when the going gets tough. Among his more recent exploits Fischer scored 21½-½ against 11 strong opponents in a double-round speed tournament at New York's Manhattan Chess Club. Walter Shipman of New York gained the only draw against Fischer, but lost the second game, the score of which appears below. The time limit for each game was five minutes.
Read More
Portage Daily Register Portage, Wisconsin Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 3 — Bobby Fischer at Grossinger — International chessmaster Bobby Fischer, left, combines business with pleasure as he plays match with Larry Evans, three-time chess champion and current co-holder of the U.S. title, in indoor pool of Grossinger, New York, Hotel recently. Fischer has been in training at the Catskill resort for his upcoming encounter with former world's champion, Tigran Petrosian in Buenos Aires, beginning Sept. 30. - UPI Photo
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 66 — Botvinnik Sees Era of Fischer, Spassky — Moscow (UPI) — Mikhail Botvinnik, one of the Soviet Union's greatest chess players, says America's Bobby Fischer and Russia's Boris Spassky will dominate world chess throughout this decade. For former world champion Tigran Petrosian, this is not encouraging. Petrosian, a Soviet Armenian, and Fischer begin a 10-game match Thursday in Buenos Aires for the right to challenge Spassky's world title. “There is every reason to assert that the 1970s will see keen rivalry between Spassky and Fischer,” Botvinnik said in a review of chess, published in the current issue of Yunost (Youth) magazine. “Chess lovers around the world will gain a lot of memories from the struggle of these two chess players, but it cannot now be told who will have the odds in his favor,” he said. This was the highest praise the Soviets have ever given the 28-year-old American, a brash, outspoken chess personality whom Russians respect but do not like. Botvinnik is the grand old man of Soviet chess, a mathematical genius who was world champion from 1948-56, 1958-60 and 1961-62. He then retired to help develop a computer programmed with chess-like patterns of logic. His comments on the even of the Fischer-Petrosian match were all the more striking because of the intensive pride the Russians take in their own domination of world chess. Spassky, 34, won the world title in 1969 from Petrosian, who is now in his 40s. Botvinnik said he rated Spassky “a more level-headed and many-sided player and man than Fischer, although Spassky is perhaps not as capable of counting variants as quickly and skillfully as Fischer.” Botvinnik, however, discounted predictions that Fischer would roll over Petrosian without a defeat in the same way as he disposed of the previous two opponents on his current campaign. “Fischer sometimes loses,” he said “because man is not a machine.”
Read More
The Spokesman-Review Spokane, Washington Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 12 — U.S. Champ Seeks World Title Chance —Buenos Aires (AP) U.S. chess ace Bobby Fischer opens a 12-game match Thursday with Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union to determine the challenger for the world chess title. Petrosian, former world champion, and Fischer will start their month-long series at 3 p.m. EST in the theater San Martin. Although the theater will set about 1,000 persons, the audience is expected to be limited to 600 or 700.
Fischer's Decorations — Fischer, 28, stipulated no one should be seated within 20-30 feet of the playing table on the stage. He also insisted on indirect lighting that has been specially installed, on a chess board and pieces that would not reflect light, and that no spectators within his view use pocket chess boards. Petrosian, 42, an Armenian now living in Moscow, did not request any special provisions.
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Orlando Sentinel Orlando, Florida Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 4 — U.S. Chess Star Awaits Red Test — Buenos Aires (Reuter) Bobby Fischer, golden boy of American chess, admitted here that he sometimes weeps if he loses a match — but he added: “When the Russians lose, they really get sick.” Fischer, 28, begins a 12-game match against Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union here Thursday to decide which of them will challenge Boris Spassky, also of the Soviet Union, for the world title. THE TWO players met the press together Monday night in the office of the undersecretary for sport at the ministry of social welfare. Fischer, who has not had to weep for a long time — he has won his last 19 games — said he thought the world title should be disputed every two years, instead of every three as at present. He added that Petrosian “is undoubtedly a better finalist than Botvinnik, who's an old man now.” THIS BROUGHT a laugh from Petrosian, a 42-year-old Armenian, who beat Mikhail Botvinnik to take the world title in 1963, and held it for six years. Petrosian praised the performances of Fischer, New York-born one-time child prodigy, who won his first major title when he was 15. “The results obtained by chess master Fischer speak for themselves,” Petrosian said.
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Daily Notes Canonsburg, Pennsylvania Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 4 — Bobby & Chess — Probably the world's most intellectually demanding board game is chess and for decades the Russian chess masters have ruled the world. The game is almost a national pastime in Russia, the government subsidizes it and there are four million members of the USSR chess federation. By comparison, the game is unsupported by the government in this country and attracts fewer fans and players. Perhaps the rat-race pace of America's dollar culture leaves most citizens little time for chess. But now comes an American sensation, Bobby Fischer, who has stirred excitement both in this country and in Russia. Fischer is the highest-rated grandmaster in the history of the game, on the basis of his sensational winning streak. Late this month he begins a series of matches with Tigran Petrosian, and the winner of this series will then play Boris Spassky, the world champion. Should he defeat the Russians he will be the world title holder. Many Americans think he will. Whether or not he does, Fischer, neither a high school or college graduate and a self-made expert, has done much for American chess and for international competition.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, September 29, 1971 - Page 30 — Survey by Tass Gives Fischer Favorite's Role — Moscow, Sept. 28—Chess experts surveyed by Tass the official Soviet press agency, give Bobby Fischer, the American champion, a slight edge over his Soviet opponent in the forthcoming international chess matches. The 28-year-old American from New York meets a former world champion, Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union at Buenos Aires in a 12-game match starting Thursday. The winner will qualify to play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, the world champion, for the title next spring. In this chess-crazy country where Fischer was once frequently criticized for his outbursts of temper, the American has gained popularity this year with stunning victories. Among the experts predicting a Fischer victory were Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union and Miguel Najdorf of Argentina.
Read More
The Record Hackensack, New Jersey Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 14 — Chess Battles Begin — Buenos Aires (AP) — U.S. chess expert Bobby Fischer received the white pawn last night in the draw for the semifinal tournament against Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union and will thus make the first move in the first game today. Fischer held the pawns in his cupped hands, and Petrosian tapped the hand that held the black. White will then rotate between the two players in the other 11 games of the match to determine who will meet the Soviet Union's world champion Boris Spassky,for the title. Gaining the first move is a slight advantage, with white winning 60 per cent and black 40 per center of the games won in tournament chess. Fischer and Petrosian, who reigned as world champion from 1963 to 1969, have styles of play that are as far apart as two grandmasters can be.
CAPTION: WHICH HAND?—U.S. chess master Bobby Fischer, left, holds the chess pieces behind his back as Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union taps the hand to determine the draw for the semifinal tournament in Buenos Aires Wednesday. Petrosian drew black, thus giving Fischer the first move and a slight advantage. The winner will meet the Soviet Union's world champion Boris Spassky for the title.
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
The Windsor Star Windsor, Ontario, Canada Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 16 — Fischer Favorite to Win Two-Men Tourney — Buenos Aires (AP) — Chess experts here for the tournament between Bobby Fischer of the U.S. and former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union favor Fischer to win the 12-game match that opens today. The winner will meet the Soviet Union's world champion, Boris Spassky, for the title. Fischer and Petrosian have styles of play that are as far apart as two grandmasters can be. New York-born Fischer players ever game to win. He will accept a slightly inferior position if both sides have a chance rather than simplify and allow a draw. The cautious Petrosian holds his opponent at bay at all times, ready to equalize but waiting to take percentage of an error. Both appear to be in good physical condition for the exhausting, month-long match that goes through Oct. 31 at the Theatre San Martin. The lanky, 28-year-old American, who stands about four inches taller than Petrosian, 42 and chunky, got in shape with tennis sessions. Petrosian swam and took long walks. Fischer is on a winning streak that reached 19 games in a row. This started with the last seven games of the interzonal tournament last December. It continued when Fischer defeated Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Bent Larsen of Denmark by identical scores of 6-0. This feat is unprecedented in grandmaster chess. The top players generally draw about half the games played and even a single victory by 6-0 without a draw is considered an outstanding achievement. Petrosian also won two previous matches in the elimination series to determine a challenger for the championship, but by very close margins. Against Robert Huebner of West Germany, Petrosian drew the first six games, then won the seventh. At that point, Huebner resigned the match. Petrosian then met his compatriot, Victor Korchnoi, with almost the same results. The first eight games were all drawn. Petrosian won the ninth, drew the 10th, and won the match by the odd point. Fischer and Petrosian have met 18 times previously, and are even with three wins apiece and 12 draws.
★ ·
&starf ·
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
Daily Press Newport News, Virginia Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 4 — Cold War Chess — The world championship of chess has been a Soviet monopoly since 1948 but Bobby Fischer, of Brooklyn, at the age of 28 and after 14 years in competition has advanced to the semi-final round of the current tournament in a way that indicates he has a better than fair chance to capture the title. Fischer has brought his aggressive style to full fruition this year, doing something that in chess had been viewed as an impossibility — shutting out in succession during the tournament two of the 10 best players in the world in 12 straight games, with no draws. This has been compared with pitching 12 no-hit games in a row, or hitting 19 home runs in 19 at-bats. More high-level chess games result in deadlocks than are won or lost; grandmaster faced with defeat can usually bring about a draw. Today he meets former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in Buenos Aires in the opener of a 12 match series which will determine who will take on reigning titlist Boris Spassky in a showdown next spring, perhaps in Yugoslavia. If he passes both tests he will be the first American in 100 years to gain the international championship of chess, and this would be a real blow to the Soviet Union, where chess has more devoted adherents than anywhere else. While the Petrosian-Fischer matches, before they begin, are already the talk of Moscow, the progress of an American into the next-to-last round is causing little stir in this country, where impending World Series and the early stages of a football season tax no one's mental capacities.
Read More
The Independent-Record Helena, Montana Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 4 — America's Unsung Hero — The majority of Americans probably don't know the difference between a knight and a rook or a Sicilian defense and a queen's gambit in the intricate game of chess. But a young New Yorker who quite possibly knows more about the game than anyone else in the world is deserving of some long overdue notice by his countrymen. Bobby Fischer is now single-handed storming the Kremlin where Russian chess masters have built an almost impenetrable wall around their coveted world dominance of the game. The Russians have held the world championship in chess since 1937. It is their national sport. Everyone either plays — on park benches, in trains, during lunch hours—or avidly follows the progress of his favorite player. They are good. But on top of that, the Russians have protected their title with a series of elimination matches and downright refusals to play that have made it nearly impossible for anyone to get a shot at their top man, World Chess Champion Boris Spassky. Now Fischer, after spectacular victories over several international grandmasters in elimination matches, is in Buenos Aires to play her [Russia's] number two man, ex-world champ Tigran Petrosian, in a semifinal match. If Fischer wins he will face Spassky next spring and possibly gain a real coup for the U.S. It isn't the world title, itself, however, that deserves special notice now. It is the 28-year-old's quiet rise to preeminence in a country that lavishes undue praise and fantastic wealth on the “superstars” of her gridirons and courts and ball parks. Fischer is a high school dropout who taught himself to read Russian in order to study Russian chess books. Since winning his first U.S. championship at 14 and becoming the youngest international grandmaster at 15, he has supported himself by winning tournaments, giving demonstration matches and writing books about chess. There were no lucrative college scholarships, multi-million dollar contracts or plump endorsements. He has lived a life of lonely hotel rooms, strange towns and restaurant food. He is seldom recognized outside his own small circle of friends and today is better known and respected in Russia that in his own country. He possesses an awesome ability in a game that demands unbelievable concentration, memory, skill and ability to withstand pressure. For all that, he is poorly rewarded and internationally known and respected. And he still remains America's unsung hero.
Read More
The Montana Standard Butte, Montana Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 2 — A Chess Club — Other Place Youth Center Is Recruiting Young People
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, September 30, 1971 - Page 30 — U.S. Chess Player Favored by Experts — Petrosian Match to Start in Buenos Aires Today — Buenos Aires, Sept. 29—Among the chess aficionados who have gather here for the tournament beginning tomorrow between Bobby Fischer of New York and Tigran Petrosian of Moscow, the feeling was that the odds favored the temperamental, 28-year-old American. The opening game of their 12-game match is scheduled to get under way at 5 p.m. in the Teatro San Martin. The winner will meet the current world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, in a title contest next year. To win the elimination match, a contestant needs 6½ points, with a point scored for each game won and ½ point for each game drawn.
Petrosian Held Title — The match has excited considerable speculation. As a former world champion, Petrosian, 42, is a formidable opponent. He rarely blunders on the board. However, Fisher is riding a winning streak of 19 games in a row. The streak began in an international tournament last December and continued in the elimination matches when he defeated Mark Taimanov, the Soviet grandmaster, and Bent Larsen, the Danish grandmaster, by scores of 6 to 0—a notable feat in grandmaster play. Fischer and Petrosian have styles of play that are as far apart as two grandmasters can be. Fischer plays every game to win, with brilliance and flash. He attempts to win even with the black pieces, the usual defensive pieces, sometimes leaving himself open to attack. Petrosian is cautious, holding his opponent at bay and ready to equalize, but waiting to seize advantage from an error. He plays for a draw more often than he plays to win.
Rivals Are Even — The two have met 18 times previously and are even, with three victories and 12 draws. In their most recent encounter, which was last year, Fischer won 3 to 1. In the elimination series, Petrosian defeated two opponents, Robert Huebner of West Germany, and Viktor Korchnoi of the Soviet Union, but by slim margins. Both of the grandmasters here appear to be in good physical condition for the exhausting, month-long match. Games are scheduled for Thursdays, Sundays and Tuesdays from 5 P.M. to 10 P.M. Any adjourned games will be completed the following day.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 38 — Petrosian Defeated by Fischer in First Game of Match — Buenos Aires, Sept. 30—International Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, a former world champion, in 40 moves tonight in the first game of the final candidates elimination tournament. At the end, with only seconds left on his clock, Petrosian had to lose a knight in a hopeless position. The opening was a Sicilian Defense, with Petrosian handling the black pieces. This opening is rarely played by Petrosian. He found a new move on his 11th turn that led Fischer to take more than half an hour on his next few moves. Petrosian had the initiative after giving up a pawn. His pieces commanded the main open lines, and Fischer's king seemed in danger. Fischer defended carefully, playing to exchange pieces and simplify the game. The players had, in effect, changed their normal styles of play, as Fischer is generally aggressive and Petrosian is at his best on the defensive. Fischer succeeded in equalizing, leading to a rook-an-knight ending. One difference between the two was that Petrosian began to get short of time, whereas Fischer had no problems in that area. On his 29th move, Petrosian repeated moves, apparently satisfied with a draw. Fischer evaded this attempt, finding a method of developing winning chances through a passed pawn on the king's rook file. Petrosian tried for counter play, which proved inadequate. A well-calculated 38th move—R-K 41—was the winning one. Fischer continued his fantastic winning streak that has now reached 20 games in a row without allowing as much as a draw to any of his opponents. A total of 12 games are scheduled, with 6½ points required for victory. The winner will meet the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, in a 24-game match for the title next spring. Shortly after play began at the San Martin Theatre here, the lighting above the playing table, which had been specially installed at Fischer's request, failed. The blackout lasted 13 minutes, during which time the game was suspended by Lothar Schmidt of West Germany, the match arbiter. The theatre was completely filled with spectators, except the first three rows, which were kept empty at Fischer's request. Over 1,000 people could not purchase tickets, but could watch the game on special demonstration boards that were set up in the lobby.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 28 — Fischer Wins In Chess Opener — Buenos Aires (UPI) — U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer took a 1-0 lead over Tigran Petrosian of Soviet Union in their candidate's chess match when the former world champion resigned on the 40th move of their opening game Thursday night. Fischer overcame a difficult moment during the middle game and the irritation of a faulty lighting system to come back and win the first of the 12 scheduled games. The second game will be played Oct. 5. Winner of the match will play Boris Spassky, the Soviet Union's world champion, for the title. Petrosian, 42, world champion from 1963 until he lost the title to Spassky in 1969, gave in when Fischer, 28, threatened to queen a pawn. The Russian grandmaster still had two pawns, a rook and a knight left but was not able to stop the only pawn Fischer had left from promotion. Fischer, U.S. champion at 14 and the youngest-ever grandmaster at 15, had a rook and a knight in addition to the pawn. Petrosian, playing black and using a Sicilian defense, appeared to have control of the match through the 15th move when he had superior position. But Fischer offered a bishop trade and castled to relieve the pressure. For Fischer, it was his 13th consecutive candidates' tournament victory. Earlier this year, he overwhelmed Denmark's Bent Larsen and the Soviet Union's Mark Taimanov by identical 6-0 scores. Fischer, a stickler about lighting arrangements, suffered through 11 minutes of near-darkness when several neon lights on the stage went out 18 minutes into the match.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 67 — American Wiz Beats Russian In Chess Duel by Robert Byrne — Buenos Aires, Sept. 30—Bobby Fischer took the opening game of his 12-game match with Tigran Petrosian here in the Teatro General San Martin tonight. The winner of the series goes on to a championship bout with Boris Spassky. The fantastic Fischer has now won 13 games in a row since qualifications began in May. Outmaneuvering the ex-world titleholder by delicate positional play, he forced resignation by setting up an unstoppable passed pawn. Unfazed by the Soviet star's surprise sacrifice of his queen's pawn, Fischer deftly organized his position around the end game possibility of getting to the weak pawns on the king's bishop file.
Route to Victory — Cunningly preventing 16. — RxNP by 17. B-Q3 BxP; 18. NxB RxN; 19. QxQ RxQ; 20. RxKRP, getting a winning passed rook's pawn, he dragged Petrosian into the fatal finish. Bobby coolly shrugged off the attempt to invade his position via the queen's bishop file, merely converting it into an opportunity for simplifying and clarifying his pressure on the half-open line. Petrosian's desperate pawn advance at the 25th move was based on the white rook's inability to maintain the pawn captured, but he did not reckon with Fischer's invasion on the king's rook file.
Forces Concession — Once the passed pawn was off and running, Bobby could afford to ignore the trifling attack on his knight's pawn. He immediately revenged its capture by trapping the intruding knight, and, when his own knight cut off the enemy rook from returning to stop the pawn, Petrosian had to concede.
Read More
Nanaimo Daily News Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 2 — Fischer Takes Chess Lead — Buenos Aires (Reuter)—Bobby Fischer, 28-year-old U.S. grandmaster, defeated former world champion Tigran Petrosian Thursday night in the first game of a 12-game match to decide who will challenge Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world chess title. Fischer, playing whites, displayed his usual adamant will to win, and at the 28th move refused an offer for a draw by his 42-year-old Armenian opponent opening the way to victory with a pawn heading for coronation in the king's sector, and finally winning at the 40th move. The game was played to a full house in the 1,200-seat San Martin Theatre. Petrosian surprised experts with a very aggressive variant of the Sicilian defense against Fischer's pawn-king-four opening.
Read More
The Morning News Wilmington, Delaware Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 3 — Fischer Wins Chess Game — Buenos Aires (AP)— U.S. ace Bobby Fischer won the first game of his semifinal chess tournament with Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union last night, scoring the victory in 40 moves. The opening was a Sicilian defense, which Petrosian played in black. In the end game, Fischer outplayed Petrosian and forced the win of a knight. Petrosian resigned at that stage. Fischer, 28, from New York, and the 42-year-old Petrosian thus ended in about four and a half hours the first game of their 12-game tournament to determine who will meet world champion Boris Spassky for the title.
Read More
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 15 — Chess Semifinal Begins — Buenos Aires (AP)—Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union and American Bobby Fischer opened their 12-game chess match yesterday afternoon to determine who will be the challenger for the world's championship. Fischer, with the white, and the first move. Petrosian, 42, then initiated the Sicilian defense, seeking to disorient this 28-year-old opponent. The winner of the month-long series will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Games are being played at the San Martin Theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. Earlier yesterday, Fischer and Petrosian visited President Alejandro A. Janusse, who made them a present of two onyx chessboards. Fischer later described the chessboards as “really fantastic.” The Russian player said he didn't consider himself unlucky for having to play the opening game with the black pieces. “I'm not a racist,” he said. “Black or white are all alike for me.” When asked if he expected to play all the scheduled 12 games, Petrosian said: “I might win before that.”
★ ·
★
Read More
Pacific Daily News Agana Heights, Guam Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 31 — Fischer Picked To Win — Buenos Aires (UPI)—U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer was picked by several Argentine chess experts to win the Candidates Tournament over former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union today one day before the event starts. Final details for the opening match, including drawing of the white pieces, were scheduled to be completed at a ceremony later tonight. The matches will be held in the Martin Coronado Hall of the San Martin Theater which has space for 1,200 spectators. Games will begin at 5 p.m. (20:00 GMT) Twelve matches have been scheduled over a period of 30 days but the tournament could end sooner if either player accumulates six and one-half points. (Points are scored—one for each game won, one-half for draws, no points for games lost). Winner of the tournament will gain the right to meet Russia's current world champion, Boris Spassky, for the title at a date and site to be determined. Miguel Najdorf, Argentina's best-known international grandmaster, picked the 28-year-old Fischer to win the tournament on the strength of his age and his current winning streak. However, Najdorf cautioned that Petrosian, 42, also could win. “Nothing is impossible, Petrosian is an extraordinary defensive player. A wall, that's the hard test Fischer will face and we'll see in what shape he's in to break walls,” Najdorf said.
Read More
The Orlando Sentinel Orlando, Florida Friday, October 01, 1971 - Page 10 — U.S. Star Scores — U.S. Chess Ace Bobby Fischer (hands behind back) scored Thursday over Russian Tigran Petrosian (r), former world champion, in the first game of their 12-game match in Buenos Aires. Winner will meet Boris Spassky for world title. Petrosian tried new move early in Sicilian defense but Fischer countered with exchange of pieces, finally winning on 40th move. Picture shows Petrosian, 42, and Fischer, 28, drawing for colors earlier in day.
Read More
The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, October 02, 1971 - Page 2 — Fischer Refuses Draw, Wins Chess Final Opener — (Reuter) Buenos Aires—Bobby Fischer, 28-year-old U.S. grandmaster, defeated former world champion Tigran Petrosian Thursday night in the first game of a 12-game match to decide who will challenge Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world chess title. Fischer, playing whites, displayed his usual adamant will to win, and at the 28th move refused an offer for a draw by his 42-year-old Armenian opponent, opening the way to victory with a pawn heading for coronation in the king's sector, and finally winning at the 40th move. The game was played to a full house in the 1,200-seat San Martin Theater. Petrosian surprised experts with an aggressive variant of the Sicilian Defense against Fischer's pawn-king-four opening. The variant, called Pelikan, allowed Petrosian to sort out the development of his figures and, sacrificing one pawn, he took the initiative, pressing hard against Fischer's queen pawn. Fischer's position looked increasingly restricted, while Petrosian placed a domineering queen at rook four. Tension at the theater reached climax when, at move 13, a sudden blackout left everything in the dark for 23 minutes. Petrosian then stepped up his pressure on a seemingly hesitant Fischer, by castling long and pressing with a rook at knight one against Fischer's pawns. But Fischer managed to curb the threats one by one and started to even chances, after castling short and consolidating his position. At one crucial stage, between moves 26 and 29, the game was apparently veering to a draw, since Petrosian and Fischer were virtually repeating the same moves, Fischer forced to play with a rook from king one to king two and three to defend a central pawn. Petrosian offered a draw at move 28, which Fischer rejected.
★ ·
★
Read More
The San Francisco Examiner San Francisco, California Saturday, October 02, 1971 - Page 11 — The International Pastime —
With the World Series scheduled to begin a week from today, baseball, the so-called “national pastime” is coming in for its share of attention. Meanwhile, a truly international pastime—chess—is having a “world series” of its own down in Buenos Aires where the American ace, Bobby Fischer, this week began a 12-game match with Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union to determine who meets Boris Spassky of the USSR, the reigning champion, for the world chess title. For the 28 year old Fischer, who won the first match Friday, in a come from behind 40-move effort, it marks the first time since 1935 that a non-Russian has been so close to the world title, and nobody is watching the event with more fervor than the chess aficionados of the Mechanic's Institute chess club here. Examiner photographer Jim Domke has captured some of them above in characteristic moods; left, Dr. Marie Kolisch contemplates a move; center, Randall Felicano (left) and Peter Gray (right) are locked in a match; right, Michael Morgan sits on the edge of his chair.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Saturday, October 02, 1971 - Page 28 — Argentine Fans Focus On Fischer — His Victory Over Petrosian Was Expected by Them by H.J. Maidenberg — Buenos Aires, Oct. 1 — Bobby Fischer, the 28-year-old Brooklyn school dropout who won the United States chess championship eight times in the last 13 years, had decided it was time to take the world title away from Boris Spassky of Moscow. That's what excited the 1,000 chess fans who jammed the San Martin municipal theatre here last night. The fans saw the lanky moody bachelor beat Tigran Petrosian of Moscow in the first game of their elimination match, the final hurdle before facing the world champion. Fischer and Petrosian — who lost the championship to Spassky — are scheduled to play 12 games, but the match could be decided on as few as seven games, because it takes only 6½ points to clinch the victory. Few among those in the theatre or the 1,000 who preferred to watch the moves on large boards outside seemed to have any doubts about the outcome. Rather, the excitement that has gripped the chess world since Fischer decided to face Spassky and subject himself to a year of elimination matches appeared to interest the fans far more than the game. Fischer has considered himself the world's best chess player for more than 10 years, but he refused to bother with the long process of proving it in elimination tournaments. Last night's victory, his 20th consecutive one, was not only a rare—perhaps an unprecedented — feat at that level of professional play, but also served to confirm his mastery. Thus, all the excited talk of chess fans before and after the game seemed to center on his chances with Spassky. Petrosian seemed to be ignored. Inside, the hushed and motionless audience sat as if transfixed watching the two players on the stage beneath a large illuminated chess board, where the moves were recorded electronically. The only sound, a gasp, was heard shortly after the game started at 5:10 p.m., when the lighting failed above the stage; every chess fan knows that Fischer is a fanatic about lighting. One reason he agreed to have the International Chess Federation hold the games here was that he has played at the San Martin Theatre before and found the lighting suitable, along with Argentine audiences. However, the 13-minute blackout did not seem to bother Fischer, who has stalked out of games after hearing a camera shutter click. Perhaps, one chess expert noted after the game, it was because he was on the offensive at the time. Indeed, it was the 42-year-old Petrosian, a normally calm player, who complained to the referee, Lothar Schmidt, a West German chess master, that he had not been given time to study the move made by his opponent after the lights went on again.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Tuesday, October 05, 1971 - Page 38 — Fischer Plays Petrosian In 2d Chess Game Today — Buenos Aires, Oct. 4—The second game of the 12-game final qualifying chess match between Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union will begin here tomorrow. Fischer defeated Petrosian Thursday in the first game. The winner will challenge the world titleholder, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Six and a half points are necessary to win the match, with draws counting half a point for each player.
Read More
Longview Daily News Longview, Washington Tuesday, October 05, 1971 - Page 14 — Yank, Red Vie For Chess Shot — Buenos Aires (AP) — American chess ace Bobby Fischer and the Soviet Union's Tigran Petrosian, a former world champion, enter the second game of a 12-game tournament today, with Fischer leading in the attempt to gain a match with the current world champion, Boris Spassky. Fischer, a 28-year-old New Yorker, defeated the 42-year-old Russian in 40 moves Thursday night in a game that lasted about 4½ hours. Fischer's opening in the first meeting was countered by a Sicilian defense. At his 11th turn, Petrosian surprised Fischer, and the young American took more than 20 minutes to formulate a response. The game seemed headed for a draw, when Fischer forced one of his opponent's knights into a vulnerable position. After three more sharp moves by Fischer, Petrosian resigned on his 40th move. The matches extend through Oct. 31.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Tuesday, October 05, 1971 - Page 6 — Fischer to Try For 2nd Win In World Chess Tournament — (AP) Buenos Aires — Bobby Fischer of the United States will try to make it two wins in a row today when he meets Tigran Petrosian again in their semifinal tournament in the world's chess championship. Fischer, 28, defeated Petrosian of the Soviet Union last Thursday in the first game of their 12-game match that will determine who will challenge the world's title holder, Boris Spassky, also of the Soviet Union. The victory was the 20th in a row for Fischer, who scored it in 40 moves after forcing the win of a knight. Chess experts here favor the aggressive Fischer to win the match against Petrosian, 42, a former world champion. Fischer, at the pregame drawing, drew the white for the first encounter and thus had the advantage of the first move. Petrosian will have white for the second game in the San Martin Theater. Petrosian used the Sicilian defense in the first game and appeared to have Fischer in trouble. The American ace succeeded in equalizing, however, and the game seemed to be heading for a draw when Fischer maneuvered his way to establish a passed pawn. Petrosian took the pawn and this forced his knight into a vulnerable square. Three moves later Petrosian lost the knight and resigned. The second game will start at 3 p.m. EDT with a closing time of 10 p.m. If the game is not complete it will be resumed at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The series, with games on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, is scheduled to run through Oct. 31.
Read More
Spokane Daily Chronicle Spokane, Washington Tuesday, October 05, 1971 - Page 4 — Turnstiles for Chess? Yes! — One of the few freedoms enjoyed by just about all people everywhere, even under systems which deny individual rights, is the freedom to choose the entertainment they prefer. In England, for instance, it is not mandatory to go to cricket matches. In this country, a person has every right not to be a football fan. In the heart of the jungle, tribal law does not dictate that everybody must enjoy the vine-swinging exhibitions. But what some people enjoy as entertainment, or fail to enjoy, always will astonish a great many other people. This leads into the item that in Buenos Aires these days, the rousing box-office smash is an international chess match. True, the 12-game month-long tournament between United States star Bobby Fischer and Soviet Union ace Tigran Petrosian is taking place in a theatre that seats just 1,100, not a great stadium. But that there are 1,100 persons in the known world who would scramble for seats or standing room at a chess match is a matter of incredibility to an average American. There are ways in which the sellout crowd is shown who moved which way; and the overflow in the lobby at the first game could see on a large demonstration board how 28-year-old Bobby fought his way out of a defensive posture, exchanged a few pieces, forced the win of a knight, and defeated Petrosian in 40 moves. Thus, while American football teams are battling toward the bowl games, Fischer and 42-year-old Tigran Petrosian will be struggling to advance to a title encounter with world champion Boris Spassky. Anyone who doubts that chess is a spectator sport should just try to get tickets for the San Martin Theatre in Buenos Aires these days.
Read More
Journal and Courier Lafayette, Indiana Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 32 — International Chess — American chess ace Bobby Fischer (right) studies board during match with Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. Fischer lost the contest, the second game of his 12-game match with Petrosian. The over-all score in the match now stands at 1-1. The match winner will gain the right to play Russia's Boris Spassky next spring for the world chess championship. (AP Wirephoto)
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 44 — Fischer's Winning Streak Ends With Game 2 Loss to Petrosian — Buenos Aires, Oct. 5 (AP) —Bobby Fischer of the United States resigned on the 32d move of his second match game with Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union today. The defeat was the first for the 28-year-old Fischer after 20 straight victories, including two 6-0 matches against grandmasters in elimination matches for the world chess championship. The winner of the 12-game match between Fischer and Petrosian will meet Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring for the championship. Fischer won the first game last Thursday when Petrosian resigned on the 40th move. The two grandmasters now have 1 point each in the match. A victory counts 1 point, a draw half a point and a loss zero; the first player to reach 6½ points wins in the match. For Fischer the loss ended an incredible winning streak that he started last December with seven straight victories at a tournament in Spain. He continued to run in the present elimination series by taking two matches with six straight games each against Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Bent Larsen of Denmark. The 20th was his victory last week over Petrosian, who lost the world championship to Spassky.
Read More
The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 26 — Fischer's Chess Win Streak Ends — Buenos Aires—The most incredible winning streak in chess history came to an end in the Teatro General San Martin here last night when Tigran Petrosian defeated Bobby Fischer in the second game of their match. Fischer had previously swept two matches against Bent Larsen and Mark Taimanov, both 6-0, and had won his 13th straight match game in the opener against Petrosian here Thursday night. The prize at stake is $7,500 and the chance to meet Boris Spassky, the present world champion, for the title. It was risky play that brought about Fischer's downfall. His 13th move posted his bishop on a square where it quickly became vulnerable to attack by Petrosian's knight. When the knight was exchanged for the bishop, Fischer was saddled with a hopelessly weak doubled pawn. The pawn had to be rescued, but advancing it permitted Petrosian to open lines against the king, which would not be sheltered by safely castling on either wing. The powerful pawn sacrifice on the 20th move left no doubt about the outcome of the game, but Fischer fought back hard, sallying in with his queen, and trying to unsettle his opponent by tactical threats of his king's pawn. But Petrosian came up with a smashing exchange sacrifice on the 24th move, which gave Fischer who was struggling with divided rooks and a homeless king, no further chance to recover.
★ ·
★
Read More
Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 2 — Fischer Beaten at Chess — Buenos Aires (Reuter) — Soviet grandmaster Tigran Petrosian beat Bobby Fischer of the U.S. Tuesday night, evening the score at 1-1 in their 12-game world chess title semi-finals match. The Armenian's serenity helped him to cope with Fischer's constantly dangerous manoevres, and finally forced the 28-year-old American grandmaster to resign at move 32. It was Fischer's first defeat in 21 games against international grandmasters. He won the previous 20 games in a row.
★
Read More
The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 3 — Fischer Beaten, Chess Streak Comes to End — Buenos Aires (AP). — The greatest winning streak in chess tournament history ended Tuesday night when U.S. ace Bobby Fischer resigned after 32 moves in the second game of his 12-game match with former world's champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. The winner of the series, to run through Oct. 31, will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring for the title. Fischer, playing black, chose a sharp variation of the Gruenfeld Defense. He sacrificed two pawns to gain time in development. He regained the pawns but allowed his king side to be weakened and found he could not castle. Petrosian played forcefully. In contrast to the first game, he refused an exchange of queens and played directly for a king-side attack. Petrosian gave up a rook for a bishop to advance his center pawns in a threat to promote to queen. This and a continuing attack against his king left Fischer hopeless.
Read More
Progress Bulletin Pomona, California Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 4 — Russian Chessman Defeats American — Buenos Aires (UPI)—Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union defeated Bobby Fischer of the United States Tuesday night to even their candidate's tournament series at one game each. Petrosian, playing methodical chess, forced the former U.S. champion to concede at the 32nd move by flanking Fischer's king with a queen and a rook. The loss was the first for Fischer in 21 international matches and in 13 candidate's tournament games. Fischer won the opening game Thursday after 42 moves. The third match will be held Thursday. Winner of the 12-match tournament will play world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the title. Petrosian, playing whites, opened the game playing alone with pawn to queen four. Fischer, who sat down opposite the Russian eight minutes late after officials shooed photographers away, countered with a Grunfeld defense, opening with knight to king's bishop three. Fischer, famous for his aggressive and inventive style, began an all-out attack with his queen very early, on the sixth move. After an exchange of knights and pawns, the Russian offered a possible queen exchange at the 10th move but Fischer declined, having virtually wiped out Petrosian's left flank. At the 14th move, Petrosian, still playing defense in the fact of Fischer's attack, evaded a potentially dangerous situation by trading a bishop for a knight. Fischer had combined the knight with a bishop to threaten Petrosian's king and queen. On the 20th move, the 28-year-old Brooklyn-born Fischer offered a queen trade but Petrosian deftly avoided it and checked his opponent's king, preventing Fischer from castling. What appeared to be a turning point in the match came on the 25th move when Fischer captured one of Petrosian's rooks with a pawn, which queened. The Russian, world champion from 1963 to 1969, eliminated the promoted pawn with his other rook, however, and by the 28th move, had Fischer in serious trouble. Petrosian combined his remaining rook with his queen to flank Fischer's king on his king's rook three and Fischer conceded. The match, played in the downtown San Martin Theater before a capacity crowd of 1,200, lasted 4½ hours.
Read More
Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 56 — In World Chess Semifinal: A Defeat for Fischer — (AP) Buenos Aires—THE GREATEST winning streak in chess tournament history ended last night when United States ace Bobby Fischer resigned after 32 moves in the second game of his 12-game match with former world's champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union. The winner of the series, scheduled to run thru Oct. 31 at the San Martin Theatre, will meet the reigning world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Un ion, next spring for the title. For Fischer the loss ended an incredible winning streak that he started last December with seven straight victories at a tournament in Spain. He continued the run in the present elimination series by taking two matches with six straight games each against Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Bent Larsen of Denmark. The 20th was his victory over Petrosian last week. Yesterday's game began when the clock in the theatre struck 5 p.m. Petrosian, with the white, started with the Queen's pawn game which is his most usual opening. Fischer, who arrived five minutes later but had 20 minutes in which to make his move, replied with the Gruenfeld defense. This is marked by his third move, P-QR. Fischer chose the most active variation when he played five, P-B4. This starts a maneuver involving the sacrifice of two pawns. The game went along well-analyzed lines and after 10 moves Fischer was one pawn behind.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 306 — U.S. Chess Wiz Trips On Crucial 13th Move by Robert Byrne, Special Correspondent of THE NEWS — Buenos Aires, Oct. 5—The most incredible winning streak in chess history came to an end in the Teatro General San Martin tonight when Tigran Petrosian defeated Bobby Fischer in the second game of their match. Fischer, riding the crest of seven final wins in the championship tourney, had swept two matches against Bent Larsen and Mark Taimanov, both by 6-0, and had won his 20th straight game in the opener against the Soviet Union's Petrosian, an Armenian, here last Thursday night. The prize at stake is $7,500 and the chance to meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title. Consolation money to the loser here is $4,500. To win the match, a player needs 6½ points, with each victory counting for a point and a draw for a half-point. It was risky play that brought about Fischer's downfall. His 13th move posted his bishop on a square where it quickly became vulnerable to attack by Petrosian's knight. When the knight was exchanged for the bishop, Fischer was saddled with a hopelessly weak double pawn. Correct would have been the prudent 13—QxP (B4). The pawn had to be rescued, but advancing it permitted Petrosian to open lines against the king, which could not be sheltered by safely castling on either wing. The powerful pawn sacrifice on the 20th move left no doubt about the outcome of the game, but Fischer fought back hard, sallying in with his queen, and trying to unsettle his opponent by tactical threats of his king's pawn. But white's attack was not to be parried. Petrosian came up with a smashing exchange sacrifice on the 24th move, which gave black, who was struggling with divided rooks, and a homeless king, no further chance to recover.
Read More
The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, October 06, 1971 - Page 40 — Petrosian Wins Against Fischer — Buenos Aires (Reuter) — Soviet grandmaster Tigran Petrosian beat Bobby Fischer of the U.S. Tuesday night, evening the score at 1-1 in their 12-game world chess match. Petrosian, the former world champion, playing white, displayed his best tactical abilities in a queen's pawn opening, to which Fischer put up a Gruenfeld defense. The Armenian's serenity helped him to cope with Fischer's constantly dangerous maneuvers, and finally forced the 28-year-old grandmaster to resign at move 32. It was Fischer's first defeat in 21 games against grandmasters. He won the previous 20 games in a row. Soviet grandmaster Yuri Averbach said: “Petrosian really shone tonight as when he was world champion in the '60s. He stuck to his plan, overcoming Fischer's complicated and shrewd steps.” Petrosian managed to consolidate a firm center of pawns, and after castling short seemed to have a superior position. Fischer, who won the first game against Petrosian Thursday, tried to create weaknesses at the queen's flank. But he had to forgo castling, after Petrosian checked with queen at queen's rook four and continued to press with his pawns at the center. Fischer placed his queen at king seven at a crucial stage of the game, offering to change queens and threatening the 42-year-old Petrosian's king sector. But Petrosian elegantly surrendered a rook against a bishop, and continued to exert irresistible pressure against Fischer's wandering king. A combined succession of checks by his queen and rook finally led Fischer to an unsustainable situation, and Fischer congratulated his rival at the San Martin Theatre, where more than 2,000 people packed corridors and aisles to watch the game. Third game of the match will be played Thursday. First player to score 6½ points in the match qualifies to meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the title next spring.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 44 — Chess: Ample Drama Is Provided In Petrosian-Fischer Play by Al Horowitz — The 12-game qualifying match between Bobby Fischer of New York and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, a former world champion, for the right to challenge the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, for the title had plenty of drama in the first two games, which resulted in one victory a piece. Game number one took on the deployment of the Sicilian Defense, a pattern that has been the subject of acclaim since its introduction by Polerio in 1594. Rich in complications, the Sicilian gives rise to involved positions without much chance for early simplifications. Hence, it is popular with an adventurous group. Quickly, Black steered the line to where White was forced to play 11. N-R3. The setting was similar to one that could have occurred in one of the games between Fischer and Mark Taimanov in an earlier match.
Read More
The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 6 — The Best Chess: Slowly, Slowly — We have mixed feelings about the setback—hopefully only temporary—suffered by Bobby Fischer in international chess tournament play at Buenos Aires. We're rooting for him to win the world championship for the United States but would like to see him start playing not quite so fast and a little less frantically. Fischer, the acknowledged ace of American chess, was stopped in 32 moves by Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, which subsidizes chess players no less fervently than pole-vaulters and other comrades in all manner of competition that supposedly demonstrates Communist superiority over decadent capitalists. But losing one battle does not end the war in tournament chess. Fischer, who has been winning tourneys in this country since he was knee high to a chess table, is still very much alive in Buenos Aires play. The upset may slow him down some—which, in turn, could make him an even more formidable opponent. Bobby Fischer often has demolished opponents in a dozen games simultaneously without working up a sweat in his thought processes. He has popularized the slam-bang style that offends traditionalists who believe chess should be savored, not devoured—preferably under a shade tree or in front of the fire, depending upon the season.
Read More
The Journal Herald Dayton, Ohio Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 42 — Fischer Moves Faulted in Chess Match Loss — Belgrade (AP) — Mikhail Botvinnik, the former world chess champion, said yesterday Bobby Fischer could have played several moves with better skill than he did before he lost the second game against Tigran Petrosyan in Buenos Aires Tuesday night. Paying an early morning call to the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug to learn about the result of the second game of the Soviet and American contenders to the world title, Botvinnik was “very excited and overjoyed” upon learning his countryman had won, Tanjug said. Botvinnik is visiting in Yugoslavia in connection with the forthcoming 20th world chess Olympics to be held there.
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 359 — Chess Tourney Evened-Up — Buenos Aires (UPI)—Soviet grandmaster and former world champion Tigran Petrosian defeated Bobby Fischer of the United States here Tuesday night in the second match of their final candidates chess elimination tournament. Fischer conceded the match at the 32nd move when his king was flanked by Petrosian's queen and rook. Petrosian's victory evened the series at one match each. Fischer won the first game played last Thursday. The victory by Petrosian broke Fischer's 21 game international match winning streak and a 13 game winnings streak amassed in two candidates elimination tournaments held earlier this year. Petrosian, normally a defensive player, threatened mate at the 28th move and did not let up the pressure, finally forcing Fischer's king on its king rook three with his queen and a rook. Piecewise, Fischer at the end had a slight advantage, with his queen, two rooks and three pawns still on the board. Petrosian, playing whites, had his queen, a rook, a bishop and four pawns. However, the Russian had superior position, as both of Fischer's rooks were still in their original position. At that point, Fischer conceded and some of Petrosian's fans tried to carry him out on their shoulders, but were stopped by officials.
Read More
The Guardian London, Greater London, England Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 7 — Fischer's Victory Run Ends by Leonard Barden —Bobby Fischer's record series of victories in international chess ended on Tuesday night when he lost the second game of his world title final eliminator against Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union in 32 moves. Before this game, Fischer had won 13 games in succession in the world candidates matches and 21 in a row against international opponents. Petrosian beat his American opponent by world champion Spassky's recommended formula of aiming for obscure complications unsuited to Fischer's classical style. The Russian gambitted a queen's side pawn in a sharply played Grunfeld Defense, but in return secured a powerful center which left Fischer's king stranded in mid-board and his rooks disunited.
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, October 07, 1971 - Page 4 — A Game for All — RECENT CORRESPONDENCE on the subject of chess has urged that Canadians be taught the game at an early age. There is a lot of merit in the suggestion. While the highest levels of chess demand great intelligence, a photographic memory, infinite patience and a natural aptitude, there are many other levels at which it can be enjoyed. Once having mastered the relatively simple moves of the chessmen, every beginner can play at his own level — and improve with each encounter. Russians and some eastern Europeans have long been known for their proficiency at the game and have dominated international competition. But other nations produce occasional champions who can show the European masters a few things. Bobby Fischer, the grandmaster from New York, is now in Buenos Aires in a one-all tie with Russia's Tigran Petrosian in the semi-finals for the world championship. As many as 2,000 enthusiasts crowd to watch the matches and when Petrosian won last Tuesday his supporters tried to carry him away on their shoulders. Thousands gather for championship events in the Soviet Union, and even stand in the freezing street to hear relayed reports of each move. Many Victoria parents enjoy games with their children — until the children become proficient enough to win with regularity — and there are numerous chess clubs in high schools and other institutions. So beneficial and stimulating a game deserves support. Official school leagues might give it still wider popularity among youth in this community.
Read More
Kingsport Times Kingsport, Tennessee Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 2 — World's Chess Masters Tied At 1½ Games Each —Buenos Aires (UPI)—Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union accepted a draw with America's Bobby Fischer Thursday to keep their candidates tournament series even after three matches. Each now has one victory and the draw, giving them one and one-half points. Fischer won the first match last week and Petrosian the second three days ago. Their next match is Tuesday. Winner of the tournament, scheduled for 12 games, will challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the the title. The 42-year-old Russian, world champion from 1963 to 1969, and Fischer drew after 33 moves because of a three-time repetition of moves. Petrosian was dangerously close to running out of time—he had only three minutes left to make seven moves—and made quick defensive moves in an effort to reach the 40 required in the two and one-half hours. Both had the same number of pieces remaining, a queen, a rook and five pawns. By that time, Fischer's offensive had practically vanished and Petrosian had achieved a slight positional advantage with a better pawn formation on queen side promising favorable possibilities for the ending. Fischer, playing white, opened the game with the king's pawn and employed a Rubinstein attack. Petrosian countered with a French defense. The first crucial decision came at the 13th move, when Petrosian retreated a bishop, preferring to control diagonally rather than trade for one of Fischer's rooks. With the 14th move Fischer went on the offense, with Petrosian building a wall around his castled king. The clearing point came on the 23rd move when Petrosian opted for a rook exchange, which Fischer accepted. In the next four moves, Fischer captured the Russian's rook, a pawn, a knight and a bishop. Petrosian took Fischer's rook, a bishop and a knight. After the 29th move, both began jockeying for position with only a rook, five pawns, and their queens left on the board. At that point, Petrosian and Fischer reached a draw and a repetition of moves and they shook hands while a capacity crowd of 1,200 gave them a standing ovation.
Read More
New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 41 — Fischer Draws With Petrosian; Score in Match Now 1½ Each — Buenos Aires, Oct. 7— Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union drew the third game of their match in 34 moves tonight at the Teatro San Martin here. The draw came when the same position occurred three times after a repetition of moves, and was claimed by Fischer. The score now stands at 1½-1½. Fischer started with his usual 1. P-K4, and Petrosian used the French Defense. The variation played by Fischer is not considered enterprising, as it generally leads to exchanges and a balanced formation. With his 10th and 11th moves Fischer showed that he was ready for an exciting battle. He gave up a pawn and also offered to sacrifice a rook for a bishop.
Petrosian's Option — Had Petrosian accepted, Fischer's queen would have commanded the long diagonal and started threats against the black king. The white knights would also have come into play very quickly. After long consideration, Petrosian decided that his kingside defense was most important. He castled on that side and brought his bishop back. Petrosian had retained the extra pawn, though it was doubled and weak. With no better target, Fischer lined up his forces to regain the material. Fischer recaptured the pawn on his 25th move, but with the wrong piece; 25. NxP would have led to approximate equality. Taking with the bishop allowed a pin, and Petrosian took immediate advantage. In the resulting ending, each side had a queen, rook and five pawns. Fischer's pawns were separated and weak on both sides of the board. With the exchange of major pieces, the game would have been lost for Fischer. Fischer's one advantage was time. After 30 moves, he had about a half hour left for the 10 remaining moves on the time control, while Petrosian had about three minutes. Petrosian started to move rapidly, trying to reach the essential 40 moves without any basic change in the favorable formation. He could then adjourn , with ample time to analyze and find the best winning method.
Read More
Austin American-Statesman Austin, Texas Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 7 — Chess Contest Score at a Tie by Lewis H. Diuguid, Washington Post — Buenos Aires — Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union played to a tie Thursday night in the third contest of the 12-game set that will determine who will challenge the current world chess champion. Boris Spassky is the latest Russian to hold the world title, which Fischer has vowed to bring to the United States after its stay of over 20 years in the Soviet Union. With the tie, each player gains half a point. As Fischer won the first game last Thursday and Petrosian won on Tuesday, each now has 1½ points. The first to win 6½ points is the grand winner and challenger of Spassky. The will play again Tuesday. It was the first tie in 22 games for Fischer, who is known for his unorthodox and aggressive chess. After a tie a year ago in Majorca, he went on to win 20 consecutive games. Larry Evans, co-holder of the U.S. Open Title and Fischer's alter ego here, compared the 20-game streak to hitting 20 consecutive home-runs in World Series baseball. The absence of ties in Fischer's chess is almost as remarkable. In masters' chess, about 55 per cent of the games end in ties. In the case of the 28-year-old Fischer, the percentage is closer to 20. On the other hand, Petrosian, 43, plays a cautious game and is content with ties most of the time. It has served him well. He is a former world champion. In their third match, Fischer had the slight edge of opening the play. Petrosian countered with a French defense and rejected Fischer's efforts to take the initiative. This is how international master Evans analyzed the play: Fischer surrendered a pawn to mount the pressure of play, but Petrosian returned the pawn to diminish it. Fischer made a weak move on the 25th play and Petrosian took the initiative. The Armenia was pressed by the clock. Each player must compete 40 moves within 2½ hours. With 10 plays to go, Petrosian had only 4 minutes. At the end, Petrosian had a slightly stronger position, as Fischer's pawns were splintered, but Petrosian followed Fischer's thrice repetition of moves. By the rules, that forms a draw. Fischer formally claimed the standoff.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 44 — Draw Ends 3rd Fischer Chess Meet — Buenos Aires (AP)—The third game between chess grand master Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union ended in a draw Thursday night. The draw, on the 34th move, was by a repetition of moves, after Fischer repeated his position three times and Petrosian allowed it. Petrosian, 42, had a better final position but evidently decided to play it safe. Earlier, the 28-year-old Fischer seemed to have an attack but Petrosian defended well. A mismove by Fischer gave him an inferior game. Fischer won the first game and Petrosian the second in their 12-game series to determine who will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring. A win counts one point and a draw a half point. Six an a half points are needed to claim the tournament.
Read More
Chicago Tribune Chicago, Illinois Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 53 — Third Game a Draw in Chess Semifinal — Buenos Aires, Oct. 7 (AP) — The third game between chess grand champions Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union ended in a draw last night. The draw, on the 34th move, was declared because of a repetition of moves, after Fischer repeated his position three times and Petrosian allowed it. Petrosian, 42, had a better final position but evidently decided to play it safe. Earlier, the 28-year-old Fischer seemed to have an attack but Petrosian defended very well and a mismove by Fischer gave him an inferior game. He undoubtedly was satisfied with the draw.
Won First Game — Fischer won the first game and Petrosian the second in their 12-game series to determine who will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring. A win counts one point and a draw a half point. Six and a half points are needed to claim the tournament. This game was considered vital to Fischer for psychological reasons. He had won an incredible 20 straight games in tournament chess leading up to this challenge series when Petrosian broke the streak last Tuesday. Petrosian won that game in 32 moves; Fischer was the victor last Thursday in 40 moves.
No Comment — Fischer refused to comment on his losing game when he was approached by newsmen as he was entering the posh San Martin Theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. Police guarded the entrance to keep enthusiastic chess fans from Fischer and Petrosian. The theatre was jammed again and more than 500 persons who arrived too late to buy tickets milled around the lobby, following the play on big demonstration boards. The first moves were an exchange variation of the French defense, with the black's intention to simplify, leading to a draw.
An Unexpected Move — On the 11th move, Fischer was expected to play PxP. Instead, he gave up a pawn and planned to sacrifice a rook for a bishop. Had Petrosian accepted, Fischer would have had a very dangerous attack, but Petrosian castled to play a safer line and the game entered the interesting stage. For several moves Petrosian had the opportunity to take Fischer's rook for his bishop. This would have given Fischer attacking chances and Petrosian was playing defensively. Petrosian avoided Fischer's attacking threat. The Soviet grand master was a pawn ahead but it was weak and the game was about even. Later Fischer regained the pawn and materially was exactly even.
★
Read More
The Spokesman-Review Spokane, Washington Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 24 — Fischer, Petrosian Draw in Argentina —Buenos Aires, Argentina (NYT) — Bobby Fischer of the United States and former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union drew the third game of their match in 34 moves Thursday night at the Teatro San Martin. The draw came when the same position occurred three times after a repetition of moves, and was claimed by Fischer. Fischer started with his usual P-K4 (Pawn to King row four) and Petrosian used the French Defense, thus varying from the Sicilian defense he had used in the first match game. The variation played by Fischer is not considered enterprising, as it generally leads to exchanges and a balanced formation. With his 10th and 11th moves, Fischer showed that he was ready for an exciting battle. He game up a pawn and also offered to sacrifice a rook for a bishop. Accepting the gift would have put Fischer's queen on the long diagonal and started threats against the black king. The white knights would also have come into play very quickly.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
Dayton Daily News Dayton, Ohio Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 45 — Fischer, Petrosian Draw, Tie Chess Series —Buenos Aires —(UPI)—Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union accepted a draw with America's Bobby Fischer Thursday to keep their Candidates' tournament series even after three matches. Each now has one victory and the draw, giving them one and one-half points. Fischer won the first match last week and Petrosian the second three days ago. Their next match is Tuesday. Winner of the 12-game tournament will challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the title. PETROSIAN, 42, world champion from 1963 to 1969, and Fischer drew after 33 moves because of a three-time repetition of moves. Petrosian was dangerously close to running out of time—he had only three minutes left to make seven moves—and made quick defensive moves in an effort to reach the 40 required in the two and one-half hours. Both had the same number of pieces remaining, a queen, a rook and five pawns. By that time, Fischer's offensive had practically vanished and Petrosian had achieved a slight positional advantage with a better pawn formation on queen side promising favorable possibilities for the ending. Fischer, playing white, opened the game with the king's pawn and employed a Rubinstein attack. Petrosian countered with a French defense.
★ ·
★
Read More
The Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 78 — 3rd Game Tied in Chess Bout — Buenos Aires (AP) —The third game between chess grand masters Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union ended in a draw last night. The draw on the 34th move was by a repetition of moves after Fischer repeated his position three times and Petrosian allowed it. Petrosian, 42, had a better final position but evidently decided to play it safe. Earlier, the 28-year-old Fischer seemed to have an attack but Petrosian defended well and a mismove by Fischer gave him an inferior game. He undoubtedly was satisfied with the draw. Fischer won the first game and Petrosian the second in their 12-game series to determine who will meet world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next spring. A win counts one point and draw a half-point. Six-and-a-half points are needed to claim the tournament. Fischer, with white, had the first move and the mathematical advantage. Averages give the man with the first move 60-40 odds. The game was considered vital to Fischer for psychological reasons. He had won in 20 straight games in tournament chess leading up to this challenge series when Petrosian broke the streak Tuesday. Petrosian won that game in 32 moves; Fischer was the victor in the first game in 40 moves. The fourth game will start Tuesday at 3 p.m. EST after that, games are scheduled on Thursday, Sundays and Tuesdays with the final one Oct. 31. Yesterday's opening was the exchange variation of the French defense, considered very even and likely to lead to a draw. Fischer put new life into the game by giving up a pawn and offering to sacrifice a rook for a bishop. Had Petrosian accepted, he would have been exposed to a dangerous attack on his king. Petrosian played carefully, castled on his first opportunity and brought his pieces to the king side for defense. Fischer played to regain his pawn and succeeded, but at the expense of weakening his own pawn formation. Petrosian had better prospects in the resulting ending with a queen and one rook on each side. He had very little time left, however, and had to rush his last few moves. He allowed the same position to occur for the third time and Fischer claimed the draw at that point. Each player is allowed two and a half hours for 40 plays. At the final position, Fischer had about a half hour left and Petrosian only two minutes with seven moves still to go. If Petrosian had allowed the clock to go past the time, it would have been a forfeit for him.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
Nanaimo Daily News Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 5 — No Decision In Chess Play — Buenos Aires (Reuter) — Soviet grandmaster Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, N.Y., drew the third game of their 12-game semi-final world chess championship series Thursday night when Petrosian, a former world champion, was poised to win. Petrosian and Fischer now have 1½ points each in the match to determine who will challenge reigning world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the world title. Petrosian, playing blacks, was all set for a win, chess experts said, when he inadvertently repeated moves when hard-pressed by time. Referee Lothar Schmidt of West Germany declared the game a draw at the 33rd move after Fischer objected. The fourth game of their match will be played Tuesday.
★ ·
★ ·
★
Read More
Daily News New York, New York Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 18 — Fischer & Foe Play to Draw In Third Game by Robert Byrne — Buenos Aires, Oct. 7 — Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian fought the third game of their 12-game match to a draw before a capacity crowd in the Teatro General San Martin tonight. The winner will challenge Boris Spassky for the world chess championship. Fischer's unusual 7th move virtually committed him to the speculative pawn's sacrifice, beginning at the 10th move. This in turn led to the even riskier exchange sacrifice of the 12th move, which was declined, however, by the former world champion even though he might have been able to defend successfully after 13.— BxR; 14. QxB P-B3; 15. KN-B4 N-K4; 16. N-R5 P-B3; 17. QNxPch RxN; 18. QxN R-B2.
Couldn't Make Headway Fischer was not able to make real headway with his king-side attack, but still managed to tie his opponent's pieces down to the defense of the weak king's bishop pawn, thus gaining time to control the queen's file. By giving up one of his two bishops at the 22nd move, Petrosian deflected one of the rooks and established one of his own on the queen's file. Instead of the rook exchange at the 24th move, Fischer probably should have kept up the pressure by R-QN 1. But it was his faulty capture at the 25th move that got him into trouble. 25. NxP would have given him a slight advantage and avoided the difficulties he had to face from Petrosian's strong rook pawn. Although his more solid pawn formation gave him a clear advantage, Petrosian could find no way to avoid the draw by repetition which Fischer claimed at move 34.
Read More
The Record Hackensack, New Jersey Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 9 — When Boy Plays War, Kings and Castles Fall — …Strickling says the club is not rated by the U.S. Chess Foundation but several members are. Kenny Regan is rated as a “B” player, moved up from the lowest (“E”) but still four steps from the senior master title, which Bobby Fischer holds. Fischer is the American chess champion who is representing the U.S. in international play. “Do you know what the 1,000 points difference means?” Kenny asks. “It means that if Bobby Fischer takes his king rook off the board, he still beats me in 30 moves.”
Read More
Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Saturday, October 09, 1971 - Page 6 — Chess 'Little World Series' Divided by Harry Mather — Nearly 2,000 spectators witnessed opening ceremonies of the “little world series” of chess in Buenos Aires last weekend between U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer and Tigran Petrosian of the U.S.S.R. Fischer won the opening game playing the white pieces in 40 moves. However, the Russian came back to win the second encounter in 32 moves to break the American's 20-game winning streak and even the 12 game series with a 1-1 score. Winner of this match will meet world champion Boris Spassky for world title next March. These are the moves in the first game: Fischer (white), Petrosian (black): Sicilian Defense: 14.Q-Q2 O-O-O; Petrosian seems to have the edge so far in this somewhat explosive situation. It would appear that both players have problems—the pin on white's queen's and the double attack on two of black's pieces. The game continued: 18. QxB N-Q5 (this allows white to castle and perhaps expert analysts will comment on black's last move). 40. K-K5 and black resigned as his knight is trapped. The considerable interest generated during the past year has undoubtedly been due, in part, to Fischer's strong bid for the world title.
Read More
The Guardian London, Greater London, England Saturday, October 09, 1971 - Page 5 — Fischer Draws on Repetition — The third game of the world chess championship final eliminator in Buenos Aires was drawn in 33 moves when Petrosian inadvertently repeated moves in a favorable position. Petrosian had only three minutes left to reach the control at move 40, and was trying to gain time on the clock when he allowed the same position to occur for a third time. Fischer then announced to the referee, Lothar Schmid, of West Germany, that he would play 34. Q-K2 to prove the repetition, and Petrosian conceded the draw. The match score in the 12-game series is now Fischer 1½, Petrosian 1½, with the fourth game scheduled for Tuesday. Fischer's play in the third game, given below, looks spotty and unconvincing after his drastic defeat in the second game. Russian commentators, who claimed that Petrosian's strategy would be to contain Fischer's initial burst, and then play on the American's suspect nerves as the match built up to a climax, will so far be well satisfied.
Read More
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Saturday, October 09, 1971 - Page 39 — World Series Match — The final match in the Challengers Knock-out tourney between Bobby Fischer, USA, and former world champion, Tigran Petrosian, USSR, is even after the first two games. Fischer won the first in 40 moves with the white pieces, and Petrosian, the second, in 32. The site, San Martin Theatre, Buenos Aires, holds 1,200 and was completely sold out. Play is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. If the best of 12 games match goes the full route it will end on Oct. 31. The winner receives $7,500.00 and the loser $4,500. World champion Boris Spassky, USSR, will defend his title against the winner next spring.
Read More
Times Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, October 09, 1971 - Page 18 — Comment on Semi-Finals — The Grand Old Man of Danish Chess, S. Jensen of Vojens, writes; “It has been a silent and sad 1971 for us chess fans in Denmark. Our hope, our pride, our best card, our Bent Larsen, was knocked out! Of course, Bobby Fischer is a better man, but beating Bent six times running … it's unbearable. We are in national mourning here.”
Read More
The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, October 09, 1971 - Page 31 — Fog Lifted At Buenos Aires — A considerable contention arose at the annual business meeting of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at Vancouver, regarding selection of the site for the Fischer, U.S.A., vs. Petrosian, USSR,
match in the world Series Challengers event. Offers to stage it had come from Yugoslavia, Greece and Argentina. Fischer opted for Yugoslavia, and Petrosian for Greece. It was first decided that Congress as a whole would decide, and not the President alone. One day before the deciding vote, Dorazil of Austria, as main speaker, pressed for a decision by lot to prevent a further deepening of the rift in the FIDE, which had already become apparent at the Siegen meeting last year. It turned out that Buenos Aires was the winner. The Argentine Federation had already offered more than anyone else, financially, $7,500 for the winner and $4,500 for the loser plus $1,500 added to the FIDE treasury. Petrosian will be accompanied by his seconds, grandmasters Yuri Auerbakh and Alexandre Suetin.
Read More
A
Concentration Deafening in Chess 05 Jul 1971, Mon Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Newspapers.com
Miguel Najdorf Simultaneous 19 Sep 1971, Sun Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Newspapers.com
