ROBERT FISCHER AND DIMITRIJE BJELICA

C HESS MEETS OF
THE CENTURY
(WORLD-SOVIET UNION, BELGRADE 1970
BLITZ TOURNAMENT, HERCEG NOVI, 1970
FISCHER-TAYMANOV 6:0 VANCOUVER, 1971,
FISCHER-LARSEN 6:0 DENVER 1971)

PUBLISHED BY
ZAVOD ZA IZDAVANJE UD ZBENIKA,
SARAJEVO, YUGOSLAVIA, 1971.
 ROBERT FISCHER AND DIMITRIJE BJELICA:

CHESS MEETS OF THE CENTURY

Original Jugoslav title: ,,SAHOVSKI SUSRETI STOLJE CA"

Cover page: SEID HASANEFENDIC

Art edi tor : DIVNA LUBURA

English translation: THE AUTH ORS

Publisher:
ZAVOD ZA IZDAVANJE UDZBENIKA,
SARAJEVO, YUGOSLAVIA 1 9 7 1 .

For the publishers: SLOBODAN STOJNI C

Printed by:
BEOGRADSKI IZDAVACKO-GRAFI CKI ZAVOD, BELGRADE

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or parts thereof
in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a revue.
 CONTENT

Foreward ...............................................................
. 5
Mihail Tai : Belgrade, Herceg Novi 1 970 .......................... . . . . . . . . • . 8
Blitz tournament (First Round) . ........................................... 14
Second Round . ........................................................... 18
Third Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 20
Fourth Round ... ........................................................
. 24
Fifth Round :............................
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Sixth Round . ............................................................. 32
Seventh Round . ........................................................... 38
Eight Round . ............................................................. 42
Nineth Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Tenth Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . � .....................
. 49
Eleventh Round 54
Match of the century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 58
First Round . ............................................................. 61
Second Round ................................................... ........
. 66
Third Round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 71
Forth Round . ............................................................. 77
Press about the Match . ................................................... 84
Sidelights 89
Biographies . ....................................................... 92
With Bobby from Portoroze to Denver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 117
Mallorca, Vancouver, Denver: 1 8 wins i n a row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 29
Fischer - Taymanov 6 : 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Fischer - Larsen 6 : 0 .............................. .. ............ 141
Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
 FOREWARD

Two big chess events took place in March and April 1970. - the Match
of the Century (Soviet Union - World, in Belgrade) and the Blitz tournament
in Herceg Novi. The idea to record the games from the Blitz tournament had
been given by Mihail Tai. It proved to be a very difficult task, but we managed
to take down the most important games of the Rapid tournament.
With 1 1 Grandmasters, with Fischer, Tai, Korchnoi, Petrosian, Reshevsky,
all the famous blitz players, it was most definitely the strongest Rapid tournament
ever played. And at the same time the only blitz tournament with a book about
it! In the same book the reader could see the games from the Century Match,
and Fischer's Victories 6: 0 against Taymanov and Larsen for the Candida­
tes' Matches in 1971. The idea was to give the reader the opportunity to
compare what the same Grandmasters could do when they have 2,5 hours
for 40 moves and when given only five minutes for the whole game.
As Bobby Fischer was the winner with a fantastic result we included all
of his games. He annotated 12 of them for this book and we did not change
one sentence of his comments.
Look at some of these beautiful blitz games. It seems as if it was a
normal tournament with 2,5 hours ...
D.B.
0\
Round by round • • •

Herceg Novi, 1970.

I I I I I I I I I I I I
1. 2. 3. 4. 5• 6. 7. 8. 9.
Round Round Round Round Round Round Round Round Round Round
l l.
lO. Round Points
I Pla1<e

1 Predrag Ostojic 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 12
-- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Wolfgang Uhlman 0,5 1,5 3 3,5 3,5 4 4 5 5,5 6,5 8 8 10

2
-- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --- --

3 Victor Korchnoi 0,5 0,5 2,5 4 5 7 7 9 11 12 14 14 3

-- ---
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
--

Milan Matulovic 1 1,5 3 4 6 6 8 8,5 10 10, 5 10,5 10,5 7

4
-- ---
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Mihail Tai 0 2 3 3 5 6,5 8,5 10 12 14 14,5 14.5 2

5
--- -- --
-- - -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Bora Ivkov 1 1 2 2 2,5 4,5 6,5 6,5 7 7 7 ,5 7,5 11

6
--
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
--

Vasja Smyslov 1 1,5 1,5 1, 5 2,5 3,5 5,5 6,5 6,5 8 9,5 9,5 8
7
-- -- -- --- -- ---
-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Robert Fischer 2 4 6 7,5 9 11 12,5 14,5 16 17 19 19 1

8

I
--
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
--

Vlastimil Hort 1 1 2 4 4,5 6,5 7,5 9 11 12 12 12 6

9
I

Tigran Petrosyan 1,5 3 4 6 7 7 8 9 10 12 13,5 13,5 4

10
-- -- -- ---
-- -- --,-- -- ----
'

11 David Bronstein 1, 5 3,5 4 6 7,5 8,5 9 9,5 10,5 11 13 13 5

-- --
-- -- -- -- -- -- --

7 8,5 8,5 9
I
12 Samuel Reshevsky 1 2,5 3 3,5 4,5 4,5 4,5 5,5 5,5
 HERCEG NOVI 8. IV 1970.
,,Blitz tournament of the Century"

1 I 2
. 4 5 I I 8 10 11 12
I
Players 3 6 7 9 I Pints Points

Rober t Fi sche r
c_u s_A)_1"1 """'1 1 1"-"'-1 1 ·=2==1=!=2=_1,_ 5 ,_1 ._5 =2=--2 -_ 1_,5 _1_,5 =2= 2- 1 19 1 _ 1_
2
_ _ _ _ _ _
Mihail Tai ( USSR) 0 1 111 1 1 1 2 ! 1 0 2 1,5 0,5 2 1,5 , 2 -2 14,5 2
3 Viktor Korchnoi( USSR) 1 =o= _l l l _lll l /_o_,5 =-0--- = 2== 2== 2== 1=- l,5 =2= -2-1 14 1 -3-

0 l, - 2 13,5
cu�fo,s j 2 I 2 I ==l====i-,,, 1---;-!_13_ _j_5_
4 I Tigran Petrosyan (USSR) I 4
I

l-5- Da•id Bmn•tein '

6 . Vlastimil Hort( CHECOS) 0,5 0 0 1 1,5 12

0 I 0,5 0 0,-5 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0,5 1 2 -2-� 1 10,5 I
6
-
7 I Milan Matulovic (Jugos .) -7
_

8 I Vasja Smyslov ( USSR) O _1,5 0 1 1 0 1,5 1 1 1 1 1 1 0,5 1 I 1 2 I 9,5 I 8

-;,;-1 0_ ! _1 1_ �0--,-0-�11 ��
-

1-9 I Sammy Reshev sky( USA) __

1
-- -
8,5 9

;�-1 Wolfgmg Uhlmm (DDR) O,S 1--;,;-1��----�.-0-, - 2-1 8 1-10-

11 Bora Ivkov (Jugosl .) -0- -o--1 0 I 0 - 0,5 1 0,5 } 0,5 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 7,5 1_1_1
......:i
[ 12 Predrag Ostojic (Jugosl.) 0 I 0 I 0 I 0 0 0 I 0
I 0 0 l il l l l l 2 I 12
 Mihail Tai :

BELGRADE, HERCEG NOVI, 1970 . . .

Our team was preparing itself in Podmoskovje. Each of us had a file

his future opponent. We played table tennis watched TV, particularly football
matches, ballet and hockey. When we felt completely ready for the fight
we went to Belgrade. At that moment the chess world was waiting with
anxiety for the match between Spassky and Fischer.
Spassky had prepared for Fischer, and Petrosyan for Larsen , but in
Belgrade we had already been informed that Larsen had refused to play
on the second board. He had won many prizes, while Fischer had not played
for a long period. Everybody thought that Larsen would eventually quieten
down, but it was impossible to persuade him.
Petrosyan started to prepare for a match with the first reserve Olafsson.
Suddenly there came the astonishing announcement which, at first no one
could believe. "Fischer had agreed to play on the second board". On the
next day he regretted it and explained that he had been tired ever since he
had come to Belgrade.

Fischer
Chess people are on the whole peculiar, and there were many who
claimed that Fischer had it all worked out in the U. S.A. In any case Larsen,
during the tournament in Switzerland had already said that he would not
play on the second board and added that Fischer would not insist o n playing
with Spassky : and would be quite satisfied with 4 games with Petrosyan .
There was one more detail, the teams had been announced two months
before and any change would be against the rules. Moreover, in agreement
with the two Captains and the two interested persons Spassky and Petrosyan
a change was made.
It is difficult to speak of creative possibilities judging by the four games
that Fischer played with Petrosyan. Matches for the world Championship
are played in 24 games, and Candidates have from IO to 12 games.
Everybody talks about the Candidates' matches as being a sort of
sprint distance and that they are too short.
Four games is still too little especialy for Petrosyan, for whom the
Match started under very unfavorable conditions.
Fischer played the first two games well, and we on the stage became
aware of a change in him, and Petrosyan's mistakes could be seen even by

8
the audience . An overlook in the first, then passive play in the second game.
Those games could have shaken everybody . . . the press, which was very
well disposed towards the Soviet players, highly loaded the American Grand­
master. There were even headlines reading "Fischer is giving lessons to Petros­
yan". Robert kept listening to the translations of those high sounding and
incomprehensible reports and before the third game allowed himself to declare :
"If Petrosyan makes a draw in any of the following two games , I'll give him
a car. Taymanov heard about it, but feared to convey it to Petrosyan . ( To­
gether with Stein I asked Bobby whether he had infact, said this, and he
replied that he had not. Note by D. B.)

Fischer's conditions
The third game showed that Fischer had a different player at the other
side of the board, and it resulted in two draws . I am convinced that it would
have been completely different if the Match had been drawn out to ten games.
One more fact : All the conditions that Fischer had demanded before the
beginning of the Match were more or less logical, except for one of them :
each player has his own habits. Some of them make a move first then write
it down. Some others do it vice versa (e. g. Petrosyan, Geller, Tai.)
What made Fischer ask his opponents to change their inveterate habits?
Probably if a move is played and then written down, Fischer cannot
help looking at the board . His attention against his will turns in the direction
of the opponents . And when that move is also hidden by a pen . . . But Petros­
yan showed such kindness and assented to fulfil Fischer's caprice. The draws
made by Fischer speak of a great master of defence.
As for the most dramatic moments of the Match I think that the third
round spoiled everything. Spassky's oversight . I have to go a long way back
in the past to find such a one. Korchnoi whose strength when he plays depends
on his form more then with some other distinguished players lost after the
adjournment in a winning position. Keres did not realise the great advantage ,
Taymanov finished up with a draw in a position where Uhlman wanted to
resign, and finaly Botvinnik came to draw.

Victory, but. . .
Since that 25th game in my revenge Match with Botvinnik in 1961.
where Botvinnik set me a trap for a stale-mate. I have been waiting to see some
one take revenge for me. But this one did not give me any pleasure .
The match was considered as a big event in the international chess
life as an outstanding contribution to the propaganda and popularization
of chess and as a means of an exchange of opinions (and not only at the board)
among chess players of different countries.
Speaking openly the Soviet players with their minimal victory did much
more for the development of chess in our country than if they had achieved
a better result. Yes, the victory there, but such a victory must make us wonder
why foreign players had made a quicker progress, why their players are younger
than ours, why our opponents showed greater skill. Take for example Hort.
He kept playing all the time. In autumn he plays Smyslov and Holmov, a
month later Taymanov, one month after that Bronstein and Tai. Such pos-

9
sibilities are not offered to our young chess players . Why is it that only one
real grandmaster tournament has been organized in the Soviet Union, in
recent years, that Moscow jubilee tournament in 1967? It is now the case
that our young talents cannot go foreward because of the broad sholders
of our rnanyfold grandmasters. I am convinced that the Match of the Century
will help us to remote some of our weaknesses in order to win the next match
in one or two years with a larger score.
I know nothing definite about the next Match of the century, but it
would be a pity to spend the whole century waiting for such a match.

Blitz

A few words about Blitz tournament. I cannot tell what were Petros­
yan's, Korchnoy's, Bronstein's and Smyslov's thoughts before the tourna­
ment started, but I saw them as being the most probable competitors for the
first place. Not so long before Fischer had played some rather weak blitz
games . From that time many things have been changed. He also plays blitz
exceleutly. The way he plays blitz games is similar to his tournament games.
Everything is simple, logical, without any outward defects. He makes moves
quickly and almost without any mistakes . It seems that he did not overlook
a single piece during the whole tournament, while the others overlooked whole
sets of pieces.
Fischer's result is very convicing. One could speak of the course of the
struggle, but nobody can make any remarks about his first placing. In the
first round I had a completely winning position, but, I always lose in the
first round.
We also knew before that Fischer was one of the best chess players
in the world. He can beat Petrosyan, Spassky, Korchnoi, Larsen , in the same
way that they can beat him. Inspite of his caprices, Fischer likes chess , he is
fantastically devoted to chess and he is afraid of nobody.
As he agreed to play at the second board, it was not because he was
afraid of Spassky, but he considered that it would be more convenient to
play with Petrosyan at that time under very good conditions. After his successful
play against Petrosyan rumours started about Fischer's match against Spassky .
Not in four games but in six wins, not for the teams, but for the prize of
several cars .

A story from Varna

In the last 1 5 years Fischer has been present at all the talks about chess.
The best chess reporters write about him. When I gave an interview on TV
in Odessa, they a5ked me the following question : Could you tell us about
Fischer's human failings?
Fischer has been fighting for the rights of chess players, because chess
is his life, his speciality, and he wants to have good working conditions, to
live better, and to be really free. But sometimes his fight for that is, peculiar
and unusual. Before the "Peace Tournament" in Yugoslavia he had made
43 conditions and come especially to see the lights in the hall.

10
 Fischer is a child of different way of life than ours, and his behaviour
is the result of the way he was brought up. But he is not a bad boy. He has
a pleasant face, high figure and a good natured smile. When he is in a good
mood, as for instance when he was in Belgrade, he likes to speak. And now
he even wants to give interviews to . . . me.
I'll tell you about an incident that will explain many misunderstandings
in connection with Fischer. During the Ol ympiad in Varna in 1962, I wanted
to make an interview with Fischer for the "Ches<> " from Riga. I had prepared
the questions in advance but Fischer demanded also 50 dollars! But he is
better to his Grandmaster colleagues than newspaper reporters. We were
walking on a beach. I just wanted to speak with him in order to get better
acquainted with him. He was 18 and I was interested in his future plans . . .
- Yes, I have to decide now either to marry or to buy a car, said
Bobby. To have a wife is even better than a car.
- Why, I asked ?
- I would n ot like to marry an American girl . With a foreigner would
be much better. First you get "her" without customs, second , if you dont
like her you can send her back home. A car is more expensive.
He told me all that very seriously. Fischer takes everything l iterrally.
Unfortunately, he has not developed a sense of humor. Journalists sometimes
"hear" from him what they would like to hear, and he did not say anything
of the kind . . .

From Belgrade to Herceg Novi ... Petrosyan, Bronstein ...

(Photos from the Blit� tournament by Stevan Kragujevic)

II
 Herceg Novi, 1970: First row;
Tai, Petr osyan, Korchnoi, Fischer, Bronstein, Reshevsky, lvkov, Ostojic,: Second row: the organizers, Hort (third) Uhlman (fifth},
Smislov, Refree Petronic, Matulovic, Bjelica.
 VUNARSHI
HOMBINAT
BIJELU POLJE

Fischer and Tai: Most important game . . .

 1st RO UND

Ostojic - Reshevsky 1 : 1
Uhlman - Bronstein 0,5 : 1 , 5
Korchnoi - Petrosyan 0 , 5 : 1 , 5
Matulovic - Hort 1 : 1
Tai - Fischer 0 : 2
Ivkov - Smyslov 1 : 1

Fischer 2, Bronstein and Petrosyan 1 , 5 etc.

The day was April gth 1 970. Time : 4 : 00 P. M. Place : Hotel "Plafa"
in Herceg Novi, on the Sea Coast. Eleven Grandmasters and one international
master began the strongest Rapid tournament ever played. In the first
round, there was played the derby - match Tai - Fischer.
As Tai says he always loses the first game, but Fischer was lucky fro m
the very beginning. Fischer was the only player who won both gam es.
He was leading till the end of the Tourn ament.

T AL - FI SCHER

(Sicilian)

1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. Nc3, e5, 4. Bc4, B e7, 5. d3, Nf6, 6. 0-0, Nc6, 7. Nel,
0-0, 8. f4, a6, 9. a4, ef : 10. Bf4, Be6 : 11. Be6 : fe6 : 12. Bg3, Qb6, 13. Qd2,
Ng4, 14. Nf3, Nd4, 15. Rabi, Nf3 : + , 16. gf3 : Ne5, 17. Kg2, Ng6, 18. Ne2,
Nh4 +, 19. Bh4 : Bh4 : 20. b4, Qc7, 2 1 . be : de : 22. a5, Rf6, 23. f4, Raf8, 24.
Rb6, Bg5, 25. e5, Rf5, 26. Re6 : Qf7, 27. Rd6, Bf4 : 28. Rf4 : Rf4 : 29. Nf4 :
Qf4+ 30. Qf4 : Rf4
(Tai was a pawn a head and with an advantage. It would be enough in a normal
game, but this is a blitz . . . )
31. Rd7, Ra4, 32. e6, Kf8, 33. Rf7+ Ke8, 34. Rg7, Ra5 : 35. Rb7 : Ra2,
36. Kf3, Rc2 : 37. Rh7, c4, 38. d4, c3, 39. d5, Rd2, 40. Ke4, c2, 41. Rc7, Kd8,

14
42. Rc4, a5, 43. h4, a4, 44. Ke5, a3, 45. d6, Re2 +, 46. Kf5, Rf2+, 47. Kg4, a2,

(In this position, says Tai, I had not see n the way how to win, but I knew
that I could not lose .)
48. d7??, Ke7, 49. Rc8, Rd2, 50. Res+ Kf6, 51. e7 Rd7 0 :1

FISCHER - TAL
(Game 2)
Kings Indian

1. g3, g6, 2. Bg2, Bg7, 3. Nf3, c5, 4. c3, Nf6, 5. 0-0, 0-0, 6.d4,(a), d6(b)?
7. de, de, 8. Q : d8, Rd8, 9. Be3, Na6, 10. Na3, Nd5, 1 1. Rfdl, Bg4, 12. Bd2,
h6(c), 13. h3, (cc) Be6, 14. Nb5, Ndc7(dd), 15. a4, Bb3, 16. Rdcl, Nb5, 17. ab,
Nc7, 18. Be3! Nb5 : 19. Bc5 : b6??(d) 20. Be7, Re8, 21. Ba3, Rad8,(e) 22. e3(f),
a5, 23. Nd4, Na3, 24. Ra3, Bc4, 25. Bfl, Bd5, 26. Bg2, Bc4, 27. Ra4, Bd3,
28. b4 ! ab : 29. Rb4 : Rd6, 30. Rdl, Bc2, 31. Rd2, Bf5, 32. Rdb2, Rc8(g)
33. R :b6, Rb6 : 34. R :b6, R :c3, 35. Nf5, gf, 36. Bd5(h), Rc7, 37. Rb5, Re7,
38. Bc4, Re5?

(i) 39. Rb7, Kh7, 40. Rf7 : Kg6, 41. Rc7, Bf8, 42. Rc6 + , Kg7, 43. Bd3, Be7,
44. Bc2, Ra5, 45. Kg2 and White won - 1 :0

15
'�
:.:.:�
.
·-
: · ....
-
it
��t'i .
. -
-
..

VUNARSH/
HOMBINAT
BIJELO POlJE

The end...
a) I played this opening in Benko's style.
b) The emuing end�me is clearly better for White b ecause his Bishop on
g2 is more active than Black's on g7 and Black has weaker squares. Neither
is particularly recommendable 6 . . . Qb6!? 7. d5! as in Benko - Fischer,
Curacao 1 962. when Black 's Queen on b6 was misp laced . Correct for Black
was 6 . . . cd, 7. cd, d 5 ! with an equal game as in Smislov - Fischer in this
game B litz tournament.
c) To keep White out of g5. or 12 . . . Nac7 but after 13 . Nc4, b6? (other wise
14. Na 5 with pressure) 14. Nce 5! Be6 ( 1 4 . . . Be5, 1 5. Ne5, Be2, 1 6. Rel ,
Ba6, 1 7. c4, Nf6, 1 8 . Bc3 threatening 19. Nc6 and 1 9. Ba8 should win.)
1 5. e4, Nf6, 16. Nc 6! Re8, 1 7. Bf4, Na6, 1 8 . Bfl , c4, 1 9. Ng5, Black is lost.)
d) It was not necessary to give away a P awn. Correct was 19 . . . e6 still afte r
20. e3 threatening Nd4 W hite keeps an ed�.
e) 2 1 . . . Re2, 22. Bfl! wins the exchange.
f) a pawn up and a powerful square on d4 opens easy winning for White .
g) 32 . . . Rb8 course was s lightly more tenacious but after 33. N: f5, gf,
Blacks pawn structure on the King side is hopeless.
h) 3 6. Rb5 was more precise.
i) Better to give up the Pawn of f5 with 38 . . . f4 or Bf8 it is just a matter
of time i n any case.
cc) 13 . Nb5, or 1 3. Ne l were probably more exact.
dd) 14 .. . Nb6 gave more cou nter play.

17
 2 nd ROUND

Ostojic - Uhlman 0 : 2
Reshevsky - Smislov 1,5: 0, 5
Fischer - Ivkov 2 : 0
Hort - Tai 0 : 2
Petrosyan - Matulovic 1 ,5 : 0,5
Bronstein - Korchnoi 2 : 0
Fischer 4, Bronstein 3 ,5, Petrosyan 3, Reshevsky 2,5, Tai 2, etc.
Fischer continued with the wins. Tai is already at the 50 percent,
but the biggest surprise is Korchnoi, he is in last place with 0,5 points from
4 game<; . Reshevsky is playing very well, he won the match against Smyslov.
Bronstein put Korchnoi in trouble. It seemed that Bronstein would have been
most dangerous for Fischer . . .
The audience was around Fischer's and Bronsteins tables.
Tai won easily against Hort and after that he came to see what Fischer
was doing. Fischer's games were 2 minutes longer than Tal's.

FISCHER - IVKOV
Pirc defence

1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. c3 Nf6 5. Rd3 0-0 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. Qe2 e5

8. h3 Nh5 9. Bg5 Bf6 10. Be3 Bg7 11. Nbd2 Re8 12. d5 Ne7 13. c4 Nf4
14. Bf4 : ef: 15. Ra bl Nf5 16. b4 a5 17. ba : Ra5 : 18. Nb3 Ra8 19. c5 h6 20.
Bb5 Bd7 21. a4 Bb5 : 22. ab : Nh4 23. cd : cd : 24. Nh4 : Qh4 : 25. Nd2 Bd4
26. Qf3 Ra2 27. Nc4 Qf6 28. Rbdl Bc5 29. e5 ! de : 30. d6 e4 31. d7 Rd8
32. Qe4 : f3 33. Qf3 : Qf3 : 34. gf3 : Rc2 35. Na5 Be7 36. Nb7 : Rc7 37. Nd8 :
Bd8 : 38. Rfel 1 :0

IVKOV - FISCHER
Kings Indian

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. 0-0 0-0 5. c4 d6 6. d4 Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5

8. e4 ed : 9. Nd4 : Nc5 10. h3 a5 11. Rel Re8. 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bf4 Nfd7
14. Qd2 Ne5 15. Bfl Ne6 16. Ne6 : Nf3+ 17. Kg2 Nel : + 18. Rel : Be6 :

18
19. Bh6 : Bh6 : 20. Qh6 : Qf6 21. Qd2 a4 22. f4 Qe7 23. g4 c6 24. Qd4 f6
25. Rdl Rad8 26. Na4 : c5 27. Qd3 Kg7 28. Nc3 Rh8 29. Qd2 Rh4 30. a3
Rdh8 31. Kg3 f5 32. ef :

32 . . . Rh3 :+ 33. Bh3 : Qh4+ 34. Kf3 Qh3 : + 35. Ke2 Bc4 ! + 36. Kf2
Qh2+ - 0 : 1

BRONSTEIN - KORCHNOI
French defense

1. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. e5, c5, 4. de : Bc5 : 5. Bd3, Qb6, 6. Qe2, Nc6, 7. Nf3,
f6, 8. 0-0, fe5 : 9. Ne5 : Ne5 : 10. Qe5 : Nf6, 11. Nc3, 0-0, 12. Na4, Bf2 :+
13. Khl (of course W hite can't take a Bishop : 1 3. Rf 2 : because of 1 3
. . Qf2:+
.

14. Kf2: Ng4+) 13 ... Qa5, 14. Qe2, e5, 15. Rf2 : Bg4, 16.Qe3, Qa4 : 17.Qe5 :
Rae8, 18. b3, Qb4, 19.c3, Qb6, 20. Qd4, Rel + 21. Rfl, Rfl : 22. Bfl: Ne4,
23. Be3, Qd4, 24. Bd4, b6, 25. Kgl, Be6, 26. Bb5, Rc8, 27. Rdl, Kf7, 28. c4,
Nd6, 29. Ba6, Rc6, 30. cd : Bd5 : 31. Bd3, Be6, 32. Bh7, Bf5, 33. Rfl, K e6,
34. Bgs+ Ke7, 35. Bg7 : Rc2, 36. h3, Ra2 : 37. Rf3, Ra3, 38. Kh2 - 1 : 0

19
 3 rd ROUND

Korchnoi - Ostojic 2 : 0
Uhlman - Reshevsky 1,5 : 0,5
Matulovic - Bronstein 1 , 5 : 0,5
Tai - Petrosyan 1 : 1
Ivkov - Hort 1 : 1
Smyslov - Fischer 0 : 2
Fischer 6, Bronstaien and Petrosyan 4, Uhlman, Matulovic, Tai,
Reshevsky 3 etc.
Fischer is already leading with a 2 points lead. He is practically the
winner. Korchnoi "gave" his last place to Ostojic who will stay there till the
end of the tournament. With the exception of Ostojic all the other players
had taken part in the Century Match in Belgrade. Ostojic was the Yugoslav
Champion. He was once very good in 5 minute chess, but this tournament
was too strong for him.
The main surprise was Matulovic's victory against Bronstein . Ac­
cording to the results, at the Rapid tournaments , Matulovic is the best
Yugoslav player at five minute chess .. .
At )he unofficial lists he was among the 10 best players of blitz . . .

SMYSLOV - FISCHER
(Game 1)
Griinfeld defeme

1. c4, g6, 2. g3 , Bg7, 3. Bg2, Nf6, 4. Nf3, 0----0, 5. 0----0, c6, 6. d4, d5, 7. cd,
cd : 8. Nc3 (Theory says that Black equalizes easily against this move. The
harper 8. N e5 is answered satisfactorily by 8 .. Bf5 as in the Botvinik-Smyslov
.

match 1 957. and also in a later game Benko-Fischer.)

8 . . Ne4, 9. Qb3, Nc6 ! 10. Bl3 (of course Black's "d " pawn was taboo.)
.

10 . . . Na5 11 . Qd l? (Allows a very bad pawn formation. Correct was 1 1 . Qb4.)

11 . . . Nc3, 12. be, b6, 13. Ne5, Ba6 (Black has ideal play against Whites
·

backward "C" pawn.)

14. Rel, Rc8, 15. Bd2, e6, 16. e4, Bb7 ! (of course trading White squared
Bishops highlights White weaknesses on the white squares.)

20
17. ed, Bd5: 18. Bd5 : Qd5 : 1 9. Qe2, Rfd8 (19 . . . Nc4! was simpler)
20. Ng4 ! ? Ne4 ? (20 . .. h5! 2 1 . Ne3, Qd 7, with a clear advantage)
2 1 . Bh6! (Suddenly White has counterplay 2 1 . . . Bh6?? is impossible because
of 22. Nf6+)
21 f5, 22. Bg7: Kg7: 23. Ne3, Ne3 : 24. Qe3 : Re6, 25. Rael, R(8)c8,
• • •

26. c4? (Better was 26. Qd2)

26 • • • Re4, 27. Re4: Re4, 28. Qe6, Qe6 : 2 9. Re6: Kf7 ! 30. Re3 ? ?

(30. d 5 gave real chances for a draw, the rest is easy.)

30 .Rd4, 31. Ra3, a5, 32. Rc3, K e6, 33. Kg2, Kd6, 30. h4, Ra4, 35. Re2, b5,
. •

36. Kf3, b4, 37. Ke3, Kd5, 38. f3, Ra3 + , 3 9. Kf4, a4, 40. g4, fg4, 41. fg4, b3,
42 ab: ab: 43 Rc7, Ra4+, 44. Kg5, Rb4, 45. Rel. Kd4, 46. Kh6, Rb7 - 0: 1
Because Black by approaching with his King can win White's Rook for the
"b" Pawn without losing his own "h" Pawn.

FISCHER - SMYSLOV

Bird's Opening

1. f4, dS, 2. Nf3, Nf6, 3. b3, g6, 4. Bb2, Bg7, 5. g3, 0-0, 6. Bg2, e5, 7 . e3,
Nc6, 8. 0-0, d 4, 9. Qe2, Bf5, 10. Ne t, Bc2: 11. Ne2, d3, 12. Qdl, de: 31.
Qc2, Nb4 10. Qc4, Rb8, 15. a4, b6, 16. Rdl, Res, 17. Na3, e6, 18. e4, Qe7,
19 . e5, NfdS, 20. Nb5, Rfd8, 21. a5, ha: 22. Ra5 : Nb6, 23. Qe2, Rd7, 24. Rdal,
a6, 25. Nd6, R 8d8, 26. Bc3, B6d5, 27. Bd5: Nd5, 28. Ra6, g5, 2 9. f5, Nc3 ,
30 . de, ef: 3 1 . Rel, Qe5, 32 . Qe5 : Be5, 33. Re5: Rd6: 34. Rd6: Rd6: 35.
Rf5 : R b6, 36. Rg5 : + Kf8, 37. Re5: Rb3 : 38. Kg2, Rb2 + , 3 9. K b3, Kg7,
40. g4, Kf6, 41. Kg3, Ke6, 42. h4, b6, 43. h5, Re2, 44. Re6+ Ke7, 45. Kf4,
f6, 46. Kf5, Rf2+, 47. Ke4, K f7, 48. e4, Tg2, 4 9. Kf3

21
49 . . . Rgl, 50. Rc7 + Ke6, 51. Rh7, Rfl +, 52. Kg2, Rel, 53. Rc7, Ke5,
54. Kg3, Rc3+ 55. Kh4, Rel, 56. c5, Ke6, 57. Kg3, Rgl +, 58. Kf3, Rfl +,
5 9. Kg2, Rel, 60. Rc8, Rc3, 6 1 . c6, Rc4, 62. Kf3, Rc3 + , 63. Kg2, Rc2 +,
64. Kg3 1 :0

After several moves Smyslov lost on time.

Who will c2.tch Fischer . . . 9

22
 PETROSYAN - TAL
(Queens gambit)
1. d4, Nf6, 2. e4, e6, 3. Nf3, d5, 4. Bg5, h6, 5. Bf6 : Qf6 : 6. Ne3, e6, 7. e3,
Nd7, 8. Bd3, Bd6, 9. 0---,-0 Qe7, 10. Nd2, 0----0, 11. Qe2, Be7, 12. Radl,
de : 13. Ne4 : Rd8, 14. Bbl, Nf8, 15. f4, Bd7, 16. Ne4, Be8, 17. Ne5, b6,
18. Na6, e5, 19. de : Bb5 : 20. Ne7 : Qe7: 21. a4, Ba4 :
Till this moment the Grandmasters played calmly, but then the storm
broke . . . After 50 moves a draw was signed.
TAL: Petrosian had a better position at the beginning. We did not
make any error . . .

B RONSTEIN - MATULOVIC
(Kings gambit)
1 . e4, e5, 2. f4, Nf6, 3. Nf3, d6, 4. Ne3, Ne6, 5. Bb5, ef : 6. d4, a6, 7. Be6 :
be : 8. Bf4, Be7, 9. Qd3, 0-0, 10. 0-0-0, Be6, 11. Rhel, Qb8, 12. Bg5,
Re8, 13. e5, Nd5, 14. Nd5 : Bd5 : 15. Be7 : Re7 : 16. ed : Rel : 17. Rel : ed :
18. Ng5, g6, 19. Qh3, h5, 20. a3, Qb5 ! 21. Qg3, Rb8, 22. b3, Qa5 ! 23. Kb2,
Qd2, 24. Qe3, Rb3 : ! +
25. Qb J : BbJ: 26. Re8+ Kg7, 27. KbJ :
Q 5: - 0 : 1

Matulovic: It was one ot the best po i­

tionr.1 games of t he tourna­
ment, with c. nice combination.

Bronstein: I remember a g2.me Matulc:,­

vic played in Belgrade i n
1 964. He castled on the Que­
ens side, inspite c:,f the c:,pen
"b" fi l e. I d id the same . . . now.

Tal is walking, the others h�ve no time ...

23
 4 th ROUND

Reshevsky - Fischer 0,5: 1 ,5

Hort - Smyslov 2: 0
Petrosyan - Ivkov 2: 0
Bronstein - Tal 2: 0
Ostojic - Matulovic 1 : 1
Uhlman - Korchnoi 0,5 : 1 ,5
Fischer 7,5, Bronstein, Petrosyan 6, Korchnoi, Matulovic, Hort 4 etc.
Mihail Tal, one of the best blitz players i n the world has only 3 points
out of 8 games . It is the biggest surprise of the tournament. He told me after
this rou nd: •'There is still time till the end." Reshevsky took the first half
point from Fischer.
Before the beginning of the tournament Hort was complaini ng th at
it would be too strong a tourname nt for him. But he was not right, he e�n
won agai nst Smyslov . . .

FISCHER - R ESHEVSKY
(game 2)
Sicilian defense

1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, e6, 3. c4 !? Nc6, 4. Nc3, Nf6, 5. g3, g6 (5 . .. d5! equalizes)
6. Bg2, Bg7, 7. 0-0, 0-0, 8. d3 (if 8. d4? cd: 9. Nd4, Ne4:! wins a Pawn)
8• • d6, 9. h3, e5, (weaker is 9. . . b6?)
.

10. d4 (with an advantage for White as i n the game Smyslov - Reshevsky

the Match of the ce ntury, Belgrade, 1 970. Now the position is symmetrical
with White' s two tempo ahead. Still it' s difficult to get a clear advantage for
White.)
10. a3, a5, 11. Rbl, Bd7, 12. Bd2, Ne8, 13. Nd5, Ne7, 14. b4, Nd5 : 15. cd :?? '
( Very anti-positio nal. Correct o f course was 15. ed : . Now Black gets a strong
passed ••a" pawn also White' s •'b" pawn i s isolated .)
15 . cb : 16. ab : a4, 17. b5? ! (other wise 17. Ne8-c7-b5 White sacrifices
. •

a p aw n for complicatio ns. )

17 • Nc7, 18. b6, Nb5, 1 9. Rb4, Qb6, 20. Qal, a3, 21. Rfbl (If 21. Ra4:?·
• •

Nc3! wins the exchange) 21 . Rfc8 ! 22. Bfl, Rc2! 23. d4, a 2, 24. R (bl)b3, ed :.
. •

24
25. Bb5, Bb5? (25 . . . d 3 ! won by force. For example:
a) 26. Bd7, Bal: 26. R:b6, Bb2, or Bd4, etc.
b) 26. e5, Rd2! 26. Nd2, Be5, 28. Bd7, Bal , 29. Rb6: Bd4 etc.)
26. Rb5, Qd8, 27. Rd3, Qe7 ! 28. Nel, Qe4 : 29. Rbb3 Rd2 !

30. Rd2 :, d3, 31. R :a2 !? (A last swindle try) 31 Bal?? (3 1 . . . Ra2! won
• • •

easily 32. Qa2: Qel+, 33. Kg2, d2, But as DR. Tarasch said "You must see
it"). 32. Ra8 :+ Kg7, 33. Ral, d2, 34. Ng2, Qd5, 35. Rbbl, b5, 36. Rdl,
b4, 37. Ne3, Qd4, 38. Nfl, b3, 39. Rabi, Qb3, 40. Rb2, d5, 41. Rd : d2,
Qc3, 42. Ne3, d4, 43. Ndl, Qc4, 44. Rbl, h5, 45. h4, f5, 46. R(2)b2, f4, 47.
Rb3, fg : 48. Rg3, Qc2, 49. Rb7+ Kh6, 50. Nb2, Qe4, 51. Rb6, Qel+, 52.
Kg2, Qe4+, 53. Kfl, Qbl, 54. Ke2, Qc2, 55. Kel, Qe4+ , 56. Kdl, Qf5, 57.
Rb: g6+ Qg6 : 58. Rg6 :+ Kg6 : 59. Ke2, Rf5, 60. Kf3, 1 : 0 after several
more moves.

RESHEVSKY - FISCHER
Kings Indian

1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, 0-0, 5. Be2, d6, 6. Nf3, e5, 7. Be3 !?
(Reshevsky likes this flexible system)
7. . . c6, (7 . . . Qe7 is the sharpest here. A game Gligoric-Fischer, Monaco
1967 continued 8. d5, Ne8, 9. h4, f5, 10. h5, f4, 1 1 . Bd2, g5, 12. h6, Bf6 etc.)
8. 0---0, Ng4, 9 . Bg5, f6 (or 9 . . . Qb6, 10. h3 ! ed? 1 1 . Na4!)
10. Bel, f5, 11. h3, ed : 12. Nd4 : Ne5, 13. ef, gf, 14. f4, Qb6 !? 15. Be3 !
(or 1 5. Khl ! Nf7 equalizes, ( not 1 5 . . . Nc4?? 1 6. Bc4+ or 1 5 . . . Ng4??
16. Nf5, Nf2+ 1 7. Rf2, Qf2, 1 8. Be3)
15 . . . Ng6? (After this move Black is busted. More enterprizing was 1 5 . . . Qb2!)
16. Na4, Qa3, 1 7. Bel , Qg3, 1 8. fe, Be5, 19. Rf3, Qh2+, 20. Kf2, Nd7,
with play)
16. Nf5, Qb2 : 17. Ng7, Qc3 : 18. Bd4, Qa5 19. Bg4 ! (Simple but effective
19. c5! was snappier though.) 19. . . Na6, 20. Bc8 : Rc8 : 21. Qg4 ! (Whites
threats are proliferating chiefly 22. Qe6+ but ohter less brutal moves like
22. Ne6 or Nh5 or 22. f5 were not pretty to conteplate. Also the fact that

25
Reshevsky had a good 3,5 to 4 minutes to polish me off was not too pleasing.
I decided here to opt for the endgame). 21 Rc7, 22. Ne6 (22. f5 ! was
• • •

more agresive keeping the Queens) 22 . . . Qf5 !

23. Nf8 : (of course more a.gresive was 23. Qf5, Rf5; 24. g4) 23 . . . Qg4,
24. hg, Nf8: 25. f5 (25. B2.7! W2.S e2.sier ie 25 . . . b5, 26. Bb6! Rb7, 27. cb:
Rb6, 28. ba: Ra6, 29. a4, Ra5, 30. Rel! c5, 31. Rbl etc. )
25 . . . c5, 26. Bc3, Rd7, 27. Radl, Nc7, 28. 'Rfel, Kf7, 29. Re3, b5 ! 30. Red3
(30. Ba5!) 30 . . . be : 31. Rd6: Rd6: 32. Rd6: Nb5, 33. Rf6 + Ke7, 34. Rc6??
(As Reshevsky pointed out imediately after the game 34. Bal! c3, 35. Rc6! Nd 7,
36. Re6+ Kf7, 37. Rel won . )
34. . . Nc3, 35. Rc5, Na2, 36. Rc4, Nd7, 37. Ra4, Nc3, 38. Ra7, Ne4, 39. Kh2,
Kd6, 40. Kh3, Nd7.f6, 41. Kh4, h6 ! 42. Rg7, Ke5, 43. Rg6, Kf4, 44. g3+
Kf3, 45. Rh6, Ng4, 46. Rg6, Ng3, 47. Rg4 And here Reshevsky proposed
a draw and I accepted Yi : Yi

IVKOV - PETROSYAN
French Defense

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bc3 : 5. be : Ne7 6. Qg4 Ng6 7. e5 Nc6

8. Bd3 Qh4 9. h3 Bd7 10. Nf3 Qg4 : 1 1. hg : Na5 12. Ng5 h6 13. Nh3 Nc4
14. Nf4 Nf4 : 15. Bf4 : Ke7 16. Ke2 Nb2 17. Rabi Nd3 18. cd : b6 19. g5
hg : 20. Bg5+ f6 21. Bf4 f5 22. Kd2 Kf7 23. B g5 Rac8 24. Ke3 Ba4 25. Rbcl
Rhl : 26. R hl : c5 27. de : Rc5 28. Rh8 Be8 29. Rhl Rc3 : 30. Kd4 Ra3 :
31. Rel Bb5 32. Rc3 Ra4+ 0 :1
Pe trosyan : lvkov overlooked a pawn, but it was a good garr..e.

26
 5th ROUND

Korchnoi - Reshevsky 1 : 1
Matulovic - Uhlman 2 : 0
Tai - Ostojic 2 : 0
Ivkov - Bronstein 0,5 : 1,5
Smyslov - Petrosian 1 : 1
Fischer - Hort 1,5 : 0,5
Fischer 9, Bronstein 7,5, Petrosyan 7, T ai, Korchnoi 5 etc.
The big fight for the second place. Fischer plays very fast rnd very
well. He will win the tournament. Bron stein is ?.!so in r. good form. He was
complaining that he could h?ve h2.d more po ints . Tai and Korchnci, the big
c2.ndidates for the first pl2.ce before the tournamnet, h2.ve only 50 percent.
- This w as the biggest surprise.

HORT - FISCHE R
Kings Indian

I. d4, Nf6, 2. Nf3 , g6, 1. Bg5,

h6! (Forcing White to decide <.t
once on which diagonal to plr.ce
his Q ueens bishop)
4. Bh4, Bg7, 5. Nbd2, g5, 6. Bg3,
Nh5, 7. e4, d6, 8. Bd3? (Five mi­
nute chess . . Better was 8. c3)
.

8 . . . g4! (wins a p awn) 9. Nh4,

Bd4: 1 0. c3, Bf6, 1 1 . Nf5, Ng1:
( But not 1 1. e6? 12. Q g4 ! ?.nd
White rega ins his pawn .)
12. fg? (Dubio us since it cedes
control of the "e5" squ2.re to
Black. Apparently White wr.s not
interested in position2J fine po­
i nts at this stage. But in r.ny Flower� for Korchnoi and Petrosyan

27
event after 12. hg - h5 or e 6 ! white would be a paw n down without any
initiative. Now at least White has "f" file to work with.)
12 • e6, 13. Ne3, h5, 14. 0 -0, Nd7, 15. Qe2, Qe7, 16. Rael, Ne5, 17. Ndc4,
• •

Bd7, 18. Na5 !? b6, (But n ot 1 8 . . . 0-0- -0?? 1 9. Ba 6! Bc6, 20. Nc6, Nc6
21. Bb7+! etc .) 19. Nac4 (May be 19. Nb3 gave more tactical chances for
White.)
19 • 0 -0 -0, 20. Ne5 : Be5 : 21. Ba6+ Kb8, 22. Nc4, Bg7, 23. a4 !? (White
. .

offers hi s " a" paw n for the initiative!) 23 . . . h4 !? (Black offers hi s "g" pawn
for the initiath�! All very interesting) 24. a5, hg, 25. hg (Whi te had no time
to open the "a" file: ie : 25. ab : Rh2: 26. be+ (or 26. ba + Ka8! not Ka7,
27. Qe3! + and 28. Q g3 : etc .) Kc7, 27. Q g4, Rg8! 28. Qg3 , Be5! 29. Qg8:
Q h4 and wins)
25 • b5, 26. Ne3, c6, 27. c4?? (Weakens "d4" irretrievably he should take
• •

the "g" pawn)

27 . b4, 28. c5, Bd4 !
• .

29. cd, Qd6, 30. Rf4, Rh5, 31. Rdl?? Be3 + , 32. Qe3, Qdl + 3 3. Rfl,
Qd6, 34. Rel, c5 0 :1

FISCHER - HORT
S lav Defens E.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cd : cd : 5. Bf4 e6 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bb5 Bd6
8. Bd6 : Qd6 : 9. f4 Bd7 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. Ne4 : de : 12. Nd2 Qb4 13. Qb3
Qa5 14. Qa4 Qa4 : 15. Ba4 : Nb4 16. Bd7 : Kd7 : 17. Ke2 f5 18. Nc4 Rhc8
19. Rhcl Nd3 20. Ne5+ Ne5 : 21. de : Rel : 2 2. Rel : Rc8 23. Rc8 Kc8 24.
K d2 Kd7 25. Kc3 Kc6 26. Kc4 b6 27. a4 a6 28. b4 b5+ 29. ab : ab : 30. Kd4
Kb6 31. h3 g6 32. g4 h5 33. gh gh 34. h4 Kc6 35. Kc3 - 1/2: 1/2

SMYSLOV - PETROSYAN
English
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, c5, 3. Nf3, cd : 4. Nd4 : Nc6, 5. Nc3, e6, 6. e3, d5, 7. cd :
ed : 8. Bb5, Bd7, 9. 0 -0, Bd6, 10. Nf3, Be6, 11. b3, 0 -0, 12. Bb2, a6,
13. Be2, Rc8, 14. Rel . Re8, 15. Rel, Qa5, 16. Nd4, Bb4. 17. Rfl, Ne7,

28
18. Qd3, Ng6, 19. a3, Bd6, 20. b4, Qd8, 21. Ne6, fe : 22. f4, Ne7, 23 � Na4,
Rel : 24. Rel : Nf5, 25. Ne5, Bc5 : 26. be : Qa5, 27. Bf6 : gf: 28. h4, Ne7,
29. Qc3 : Qc3 30. Re3 : Re8, 31. Kf2, Re7, 32. Kel, Kf7, 33. Kd2, e5, 34. fe:
fe: 35. g4, Ke6, 36. g5, e4, 37. Rb3, Ke5, 38. Rb6, Ne6, 39. h5, Kf5, 40. g6,
hg, 41. hg, Kg6 : 42. Bdl, Kf5, 43. Ba4, Ne 5, 44. Bb3, N t3+ 45. Kdl, d4,
46. ed: Nd4, 47. Ba4, e3, 47. Rd6, Ke4, 49. Rd8, Re5 : 50. Re8, Kd3 - 0 : l

Pe trosyan : We both played very fast, but there we re no big mistakes.

A point for Petrosyan,

a flower for Smyslov ...

KORCHNOI - RESHEVSK Y

N imzoind ian

1. d4, Nf6, 2. e4, e6, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. e3, 0-0, 5. Bd3, d5, 6. Nf3, b6, 7. a3,
Be7 8. 0-0, Bb7, 9. b4, Ne4, 10. Bb2, Nc3: 1 1 . Be3 : de : 12. Be4 : Nd7,
13. d5, ed, 14. Bd5, Bd5 : 15. Qd5, Nf6, 16. Qe5, Bd6, 17. Qg5, h6, 18. Qf5,
Qd7, 1 9. Qe2, Qe7, 20. Nd4, Qe4, 21. Rael, Rfe8, 22. Nf5, Be5, 23. Qe4 :
Ne4: 24. Be5, Re5 : 25. Nd4, e5, 26. be : Ne5 : 27. Re4, Ne6, 28. Ne6, Re5,
29. Re5, be :a) 30. Rbl, a5, 31. Kfl, Ra6, 32. Ne5, f6, 33. Rb8+ Kh7, 34. Ne4,
a4, 35. Ke2, Ra7, 36. Rb5, Kg6, 37. Ra5, Ra5 : 38. Na5, Kf5, 39. Kd3, Ke5,
40. Ne4+ Kd5, 41. Nb6+ Ke6, 42. Na4 : Ng5, 43. Nc3, Nf7, 44. a4, f5,
45. Ne2, Ne5+, 46. Kc3, Ng4, 47. Ng3, g6, 48. Ne2, Nf2, 49. Nf4, g5, 50. Ng6,
Ne4+, 51. Kd3, Kd5, 52. Ne7 + Ke6, 53. Ng8, h5, 54. a5, Kd5, 55. Ne7,
Ke6, 56. a6, e4+, 57. Ke4, Nd6+ 58. Kb 4, Ke7 : 59. a7 - 1 : 0

29
(If White's King was on a4 instead of b4, says Reshevsky, then 59 . . . Nc8 !
Korchnoi : I am not satisfied with my play.
a) In a tournament game Reshevsky surely should not have p layed this
move, but this is blitl . . . Instead of taking with Knight, Reshevsky made
a mistake . . Both grandma sters had on this moment 1, 5 minutes . . . )

RESHEVSKY - KORCHNOI

Ir regular

1. g3, d5, 2. Bg2, c6, 3. Nf3, g6, 4. 0-0, Bg7, 5. c4, e5, 6. cd : cd : 7. d3,
Nc6, 8. Nc3, Nge7, 9. Bg5, h6, 10. Bd2, 0-0, 11. e4, d4, 12. Na4, b6, 13. b4,
a5, 14. b5, Na7, 15. Nb2, Nb5 : 16. Nc4, Nc6, 17. Rbl, Ba6, 18. a4, Ne3,
19. Bc3 : de : 20. Qc2, Bc4 : 21. de, Nd4, 22. Qd3, Qd7, 23. Khl, Qa4, 24. Q c3,
Rfc8, 25. Nd4, ed : 26. Qf3, Qc4 : 2i. Rb6, a4, 28. e 5, a3, 29. e6, fe :
30. Qg4, Qfl :

31. Bfl:a2 32. Ra6 d3 33. Ra2:d2 34. Rd2 : Ral 35. Kg2 Kh7 36. Bd3 1 :0

Korchnoi: It was not a good game. I had an easy winning position. I sucrificed
the Queen , but my Pawn did not come to the end .

MATULOVIC - UHL.MANN

(French defense)

1. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nd2, c5, 4. ed : ed : 5. Ngf3, Nc6, 6. Bb5, Bd6, 7. de :
Bc5 : 8. 0-0, Ne7, 9. Nb3, Bd6, 10. Nbd4, 0-0, 11. Be3, Bg4, 12. Qd2,
Rc8 (It is be tter Q c7) 13. Rfel, Bb8, 14. Bf4 ! Nd4 : 15. Nd4 : Bf4 : 16. Qf4 :
Bh5? (Matulovic considers that it was better Bd7) 17. Qe5 ! Qb6 ! 18. c3 !

30
Bg6, 19. Qe7 : a6, 20. Bd7 ! Rc7, 21. Q :f8+ !

( Nice. Matulovic had 1,5 minutes, Uhlman only 60 seconds) 21. . . Kf8 :
22. Re8 MATE -
1 :0

Petrosyan at the Airport

31
 6 th ROUND

Reshevsky - Hort 0 : 2
Petrosian - Fischer 0 : 2
Bronstei n - Smyslov 1 : 1
Ostojic - lvkov 0 : 2
Uhlman - Tai 0,5 : 1, 5
Korchnoi - Matulovic 2 : 0
Fischer 1 1, Bronstein 8,5, Korchnoi, Petrosian 7, Tai, Hort 6,5 etc.
Four game s ended with 2 : 0, the game Petrosian - Fischer was at
the centre of interest. Pe trosian did not forget 1 : 3 in the Match of Ce ntury
i n Belgrade, but Fischer was on his best form.
After this round Fischer is 2,5 p oints ahead . Who will be second? Tai
and Korch noi get be tter and better.

PETROSI AN - FISC HER

Kings Indian
1. c4, Nf6, 2. Nc3, g6, 3. d4, d6, 4. e4, Bg7, 5. Bd3, (this is not the best move,
but Petrosian did not like to play at the blit z game accordining to the analises.
He left the analyses for the tournament's games) (May be for their finale
Match in Buenos Aires ed.)
5• c5, 6. d5, 0----0, 7. Nge2, e6, 8. Bg5 (Uhlman used to be fond of this
. •

system many years ago)

8. h6 ! 9. Bd2, Nbd7, 10. b3 (More consistent was 10. Bh4. With 10. b3
. •

White weaknes the diagonal a l -h8.)

(IO. f4, e5 ! 1 1 . f5, gf , 12. ef, c4! with a good play for Black May be also
10. Ng3,) 10 ed, 1 1 . cd, a6, 12. 0----0, b5, 13. f4? (A bad move.) 13
• • • c4 !
• • •

14. be, Nc5, 15. Bc2 ( 1 5. Q c5 is be tter with a compensation for a pawn)
15 . b4, 16. e5 ! de : 17. fe : Ng4, 18. Na4, Na4, 19. Ba4 : Be5 : (White has
• •

no hope)
20. Bf4, Qb6 + (Blac k threatens on both sides)
21. Khl, Bal : (it is better 2 1 . . . Bf4, 22. Rf4 : Nf2 winning easily)
22. Qal, Nf2+? ! (22 . . . g5 is better, on this way White has got a chance)
23. Rf2, Qf2, 24. Bh6 : f6, 25. Bf8, Kf8, 26. Ngl, Bg4? (A bad move because
after h3 Bishop has to move back)

32
27. Qbl (27, h3 was also sharp.)
1:1 Kg7, 28. h3, Bf5, 29. Qb4 : Ra7, 30. Bdl, Qa2 : 31. Bf3, a5 ! 32. Qc5,
• • •

Rb7, 33. d6, Rbl, 34. d7, Bd7 :, 35. Qe7 + Kh6,

36. Qd7 !?? Qf2 (Black could make a draw with Q f8+ or Q f6)
37. Kh2, Qgl : + 38. Kg3, Qel + 39. Kh2, Qe5 + 40. g3, Rb2 +, 41. Bg2,
Qe4, 42. Qd5, Rg2 :+ 0 :1 -

FISC HER - PETROSIAN

French defense
(Game 2)

1. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. e5, c5, 5. a3, Bc3 + , 6. be, Qc7, 7. N f3
(I could have played 7 . Q g4 but was influenced against it because Petroc;ian
as Black had recently beaten Diez Del Corral at Palma de Mallorca in this
li ne.)
7. . . Ne7, 8. a4, Bd7 (An interesting idea Black plays his bishop to c6 the
K nights square and his Knight to d7 - the bishops square.)
9. Bd3, Bc6, 10. 0-0, Nd7, 11. Ba3 (To prevent 1 1 . . . Nb6. But clearly
1 1 . Ng5 ! offered excellent prospects on the Kings flank for White ie : 1 1 . . . h6,
12. Qh5, g6 (or 12 . . . 0-0? 1 3 . Nh7, Re8, 14. Nf6+ ! gf, 1 5. Q h6 : f5,
16. Bg5 ! and wins) 13. Q h3 (or 13. Q h4)
11 . . . h6, 12. Rel, b6, 13. Nd2 !? ( A standard way of indirectly protecting
the "a" pawn)
13 . . . Ba4? (Risky)
14. de : (Possi ble also was 14. Qg4! and if 14. c4? 1 5. Bc4! de, 1 6. Be7 with
advantage to White. But a better chance for Black is 14 . . . 0-0, 1 5. de, b5,
16. c6, Nc6! 17. Bf8, Rf8, with compensation for the exchange dawn.)
14. . . be? (I was afraid of 14 . . . Ne5! 1 5. cb, ab, 16. Bfl (White is not without
some compensation for the pawn ie :
16 . . . Qc3? 17. Rc3 ! Q c7, 1 8 . Bb2 or 1 6 . . . Neg6, 17. c4, but be st for Black
is 16 . . . Bc6 !)

3 Chess meets of the century

33
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Fischer's comments ...

34
15. Qg4 ! Bc6, 16. Qg7 : Rg8, 17. Qh6 : Ne5, 18. Bc5? ( 1 8 . Q f4 was crushing
since after 18 . . . c4 ! (only move) 19. Bfl , Ne7-g6, 1 8. Q g5 Black is practically
in zugzwang and White threatens 1 9. h4, and 20. h5.)
18. . . d4, 19. Be4, de, 20. Bc6+Ne7 : c6?? (of course 20. . . Q c6 ! 2 1 . Ne4,
Nf3+ , 22. Kh l (22. Kfl , Nd2 + , 23. Nd2, cd : wins a piece) Ne!, 23. Re l ,
�� ! a n d Black should win because 24. Be7 i s me t b4, 2 4. . . Q :e4 ! !
and mates in four moves - For 23. Nf6 + , Kd8, 24. Be7 : + Ke7, 25. Ng8+
Rg8, 26. f3 ! N f3, 27. Ra7+ Kd6, 28. Q f4+ Ne5 and Black should win
afte r some more checks. If 26. Ra7 : + at once Ke8'? 27. f3, Qc4 ! mates quickly)
21. Ne4, 0-0---0 (2 1 . . . Nf3 + ? 22. Khl , Ne l : 23. Nf6 :+ and Ng8 : wins.
22. Redl? (Many other moves were more tenacions) 22. . . Ng4? (A pleasant
surprise,) 22 . . . Nf3?+ 23. Khl (23. Kfl , Nh2 : + 24. Ke2, Qe5 etc,
23 . . . Rh8 ! 24. Bd6, Rh6, 25. Bc7, Kc7, 26. gf Rdh8 with good chances
for Black)
23. Qh4 (White plays on Black's weak "d6" square and a safe Ki ng position.
Whi te takes over the initiative.
23. . . Rdl + , 24. Rdl : f5, 25. Nd6+ Kb8, 26. Nb5, Qg7 (or 26 . . . Q a5.
27. Q h7 !)
27. Bd6 + Kb7, 28. Rbl, Kc8, 29. Qg3 (Bg3 ! was crushin g) 29 . . Qb7 ?
(29 . . Nf6 gave more chances for saving the game) 30. Nc3 :
.

(May be Black was playing for traps ie : 30. B f4, Rd8 ! and 3 1 . Nd6 + ? Rd6!
(o r 3 1 . h3? Q b5 ! or 3 1 . Nc3 :? Q b l + etc. 3 1 . Qf3!)
30 • • • Qa6, 31. h3
31. . . Nf6, 32. Qh4 (32. Q f3 was better)
32. . . Nd7, 33. Qh7, Rd8, 34. Qf7, Qc4, 35. Rb3, Qd4?? (35 . . . Nd4!) 36. Q e6
(The rest i s simple e nough)
36 Qf6, 37, Qd5, N7e5, 38. Nb5, Qf7, 39. Qc5, Nf3+ , 40. Rf3: Kd7 �
• • •

41. Rd3 - 1 :0

35
 TAL - UHLMAN
Reti opening
1. g3, d5, 2. Bg2, Nf6, 3. e4, de : 4. Nf3, Nbd7, 5. 0-0, a6, 6. Na3, e5, 7. Ne4,
e6, 8. d4, Rb8? 9. de : Ne5 : 10. Qd8 ; Kd7 : 11. Rfdl+ Nfd7, 12. Nb6, R a7,
13. Rb8 ! Black is losing h is Rook a fte r 90 se conds of the game . Tal spent
30 seconds.
T AL: Uhlman made a big mistake in h is gth move . Afte r that was e asy.

RESHEVSKY - HORT
After a big fight Re shevs ky and Hort came into this position .

They had o ne minute each. Hort playe d 1. . . g2 2. B f2 Nc3 +, 3. Ke t, Bg3 ! !

( Hort found out this move in six seconds. White could not solve the problems
and he resi gne d.) - 0 : 1

HORT - RESHEVSKY
Sicilian defense
l. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, e6, 3. d4, ed : 4. Nd4 : Ne6, 5. Nc3, a6, 6. Be3, Qe7, 7. Bd3,
Nf6, 8. 0- 0, Ne5, 9. h3, b5, 10. f4, Ne4, 1 1. Bc4 : Qc4, 12. Qd3, d5, 13. e5,

36
Nd7, 14. a4, Qd3 : 15. cd : b4, 16. Nce2, Bb7 , 17. Nb3, Rc8, 18. Rael, Be7,
19. Na5, Rb8, 20. Ba7, Bd8, 21. Bb8 : Ba5 : 22. Bd6, Bb6+ 23. Khl , f6,
24. a5, Be3, 25. Rc7, - 1 :0
be cause Black is loosing a piece
Both grandmasters played very fast, so that, we could not write the
m oves. But Mihail Tal having finished both his games was waching this
game. After the game he gave us the moves . . .

('5-
,z. (
rA
It.A{-;
o......�

Tai wrote the moves...

37
 7 th ROUND

Matulovi c - Reshevsky 2 : 0
Tai - Korchnoi 2 : 0
Ivkov -- Uhlman 2 : 0
Smyslov - Ostojic 2 : 0
Fischer - Bronstein 1 , 5 : 0 ,5
Hort - Petrosian 1 : 1
Fischer 1 2, 5 Bronstein 9, Tai 8 , 5, Petrosian, Matulovic 8, Hort 7,5,
Korchnoi 7, Ivkov 6,5, Smyslov 5,5, Reshevsky 4,5 Uhlman 4 , Ostojic 2.
Fischer will be first, Ostojic last. That is all we know for the moment.
Fischer again won against direct opponent. If Bronstein won 2 : 0 Fischer
would be only half point ahead. But Bronstein said: Bobby i s 12 years younger,
and this is a blitz tournament.
Tai had not had much success in the tournament games against Korchnoi.
The moment has come for his revenge. Tai took the opportunity. Look at
his beautiful game when he sacrified, as he had one hour to calculate. It was
Tai we remembered from his ,,golden days", in 1 958-1 960 , when he was
a lways first.

FISC HER - BRONSTEIN

game 1

French defense

1. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. e5, b6, 5. a3, Bf8? ! (For a time Robert
Byrne, the American grandmaster enjoyed considerable success with 5 . . .
Bc3 + , 6. be, Ne7, 7. Qg4, Ng6 but apparently he found a clear refutation
because this sharp defence has disapeared from hi s opening repertory "un­
developing" pieces though as with 5 . Bf8? ! has li ttle to recomend it.)
• .

6. f4, Nc6, (Intending to castle Q ueen side i f 6 . . . c5, 7. Nf3, Nc6, 8. Ne2?!
gives White a clear advantage.
7. Nf3, Nh6, 8. Bd3 ( 8. Bb5 was more preci se) 8 . . . Nf5, 9. Ne2, h5, (9. Nh4!?
Was a good chance t o free Black's game sli ghtly.)

38
10. g3, Bb7, 11. c3, Qd7, 12. Qc2, �. 13. b4, f6, 14. Bd2, Kb8, 15. 0-0,
Nfe7, (Better was 1 5 . . . Be7, and White would answer 1 6. a4.)
16. Rfbl h4 Black takes a last chance for counterplay)
17. Nh4 : g5 ! 18. fg : fe : 19. Rfl ! ed4 20. cd, Bg7, 21. Bc3, e5, 22. Rf7, ed4 :
23. Rg7 : (23. Bb2 !) R :h4 (Correct was 23 . . . de, with good chances for Black)
24. gh : Qg4+ 25. Ng3, de 26. Qc3, d4, 27. Qd2, Ne5, 28. Rfl , Nd5,

29. Bf5? (Q e2 ! with a winning endgame in sight.)

29. . . Nf3+, 30. Rf3 : Qf 3 : 31. Be4, Qa3 : 32. Qd4, Qcl+, 33. Kf2, Rf8+,
34. Nf5, Nc3? (34 . . . Q f4+ and 35 . . . Rf5 wins for Black) 35. PB7: Rf7 +,
36. Bf3, Nd5 (36 . . . Q c2 + , 37. Ke l , Rf3?'! 3 8 . Q d8 + , Kb7, 39. Q c7+
Ka6, 40. Qc4+ Nb5, 41. Qc8 mate)
37. Rg8 + Kb7, 38. Qe4, Qd2 +, 39. Kg3, c6, 40. Qf5?? (40. Rg7 + Ka6,
41. Qc4+ forced mate) 40 . Q el + ! (A very clever trap considering it was
• •

5 m in ute chess) 41. Kg4 or 41. Kh3, Q fl +, 42. Kg3, Q e l and draws But
be in g ahead on time s decided to play for a win) 41 •Ne3+ , 42. Kf4, Nf5
• •

43. Kf5, Qb 4, 4 4. Rg7 + Kc8 (44 . . Ka6 ga ve Black more chances for a win.)
45. Be4, Qf8+ 46. Kg6, Qe8 + , 47. Kf5, Qf8+ - Yz: Yz
.

BRONSTEIN - FISC HER

Sicilian

I. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cd 5. Qd4 e6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Qe4 d6 8. Nbd2

Be7 9. Bd3 de : 10. Ne5 : Ne5 : 11. Qe5 : 0----0 12. Bc2 Bd6 13. Qh5 f5 1 4. Nf3
Nf4 15. Bf4 : Bf4 : 16. 0-0 g6 17. Qh3 Qf6 18. Radl b6 19. Rfel Kh8 20. g3
Bc7 21 . Qh6 Qg7 22. Qg7 : Kg7 : 23. Bb3 Re8 24. Nd4 Kf6 25. f4 a6 26. Nf3
Re7 27 . h4 h6 28. Kf2 Bb7 29. Ne5 Rae8 30. a4 g5 31. hg : hg : 32. fg : +
Kg5 33. Rd4 Rh7 34. Nf3+ Kf6 35. Rh4 Rh4 36. gh5 e5 37. h5 e4 38. Nd4

39
f4 39. Rgl e3+ 40. Ke2 Be4 41. Bc2 f3+

42. Ke3 : Bc2 : + 43. Kf3 : Be4+ 44. Kf2 Bh7 45. h6 Re7 46. Rg4 Bg6 47. Rh4
Rh7 48. Kf3 Kg5 49. Rg4+ Kh6 : 0 : 1 after several moves

TAL - KORCHNOI
(French defense)

l. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nd2, c5, 4. Ngf3, a6, 5. ed : ed : 6. Be6, c4, 7. 0-0,
Bd6, 8. Rel, Nge7, 9. b3, b5, 10. a4 c3, 11. Nfi, b4, 12. Ne5, 0-0, 13. Bf4,
f6? ·(Better was 1 3 . . . Sc6) 14. Nd3, Bf4 : 15. Nf4 : Qd6, 16. Bf3 !

Nbc6, 17. Ne3 ( Tai makes combinations also in blitz. . .) Qf4 :

18. Nd5 : Nd5 : 19. Bd5 :+ Kh8, 20. Bc6 : Ra7, 21. Qe2 (surcifices a pawn)
Qd4 : 22. Radl, Qc5, 23. Re8, Raf7, 24. Rd5, Qb6 (If 24. . . Re8, 25. Re8 : +
Q f8 , 26. Rad8, Kg8, Tai prepared 27. Bd5 ! and Black is i n lost position. It
would be in Tals style . . .
But Korchnoi in time pressure played 24. . Q b6 and allowed 25. Qf7 : 1 : 0
.

Korchnoi : It was a good game. I made a mistake in 1 3th move.

Tai : A nice combination . I think that Korchnoi did not see Ne3.

40
 M ATULOVIC - R E S H E VSKY

Sicilian

1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, e6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4 : a6, 5. Bd3, Qc7, 6. 0-0, Nf6, 7. Qe2,.
d6, 8. c4, Nc6, 9. Be3, Ne5, 10. h3! Be7, 11. Nc3, 0-0, 1 2. Ra4, Bd7, 13. f4,.
Nd3 : 14. Qd3 : Rac8, 15. b3, Rfd8, 16. g4, Bc6, 17. f5 ! e5, 18. Nde2, Nd7,.
19. Ng3, f6, 20. Kh2, Qa5, 21. Bd2, Qc5, 22. h4, b5, 23. Nd5, Bd5 : 24. ed :
Qa3, 25. ch : Rel : 26. Rel : ab : 27. Rc2, Rb8, 28. Rc7, Nc5, 29. Qc2, Bd8,.
30. Rc6, Ra8, 31. Rd6 : Be7, 32. Rc6, Qa2 : 33. Qdl , Nb3 : 34. Rc2, Qa4,.
35. Be3, Nd4, 36. Bd4 : ed : 37. Ne4, Qb3?? (A big mi stake, R eshevsky overlo­
oked in time preasure a si mple move a n d lost the Queen . )

38. Rc8 + ! Rc8 : 39. Qb3 : - 1 : 0

Matulovic : A very sharp
game. Reshevsky played well till
38th move . . .

Reshevsky : A terrible mis­

take. We had half a minute
each . . .

Fischer and Bronstein with the bo oks

" P rofile of the Grandmasters " and
"Chess Reader".

41
 Sth ROUND

Re she vsky - Petrosian I : I

Bronste in - Hort 0,5 : 1 , 5
Ostojic - Fische r 0 : 2
Uhlman - Smyslov I : 1
Korchnoi - lvkov 2 : 0
Matulovic - Tai 0,5 : 1 , 5
Fischer 14,5, Tai 10, Bronste in 9,5, Korchnoi, Pe trosian Hort 9 . . .
Bronste in is no longe r in the se cond position. Tai finally came to
the se cond place . Re she vsky starte d to play at his be st, but it se e ms too late .
Tai was complaining that it was short time to the e nd of the Tourna­
me nt, only thre e rounds. If the re had be e n se ve ral rounds more , pe rhaps
Tai would have made the fight for the first place more intere sting. With 4,5
points ahead Fische r is already winne r. But he plays each game as if it were
de cisive for the first place.

FISCHER - OSTOJIC

(Game 2)

Sicilian

1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4, cd: 4. Nd4, Nf6, 5. Nc3, g6?! (A risky conti­
nuation) 6. Nc6 ! be: (on 6. . . d6, 7. Q b8, Kd 8, 8. Bc4 White 's adve ntage
is clear.)
7. e5 ! Ng8, 8. Bc4, Bg7, 9. Bf4, Qa5, 10. 0-0, Be5, 11. Be5 (Other possibili­
tie s for the initiative are 1 1 . Re l !? Bf4, 1 2. Q d4, f6 (posible is 12 . . . d 5 ! ?)
1 3. Q f4, d5) 1 4. Q d6 (or 1 1 . b4! ? Q c7, 12. Nd 5, cd : 1 3. Q b5, Nf6, 14. Q f7+
Kd8, 1 5. Rfe l , d6, 16. Be 5, de , 17. Rad l + Bd7, 18. Be 6, Rb8, and the
game e nde d in a draw e ve ntually after an i nte re sti ng struggl e , Kurajica -
Ostojic, Skopje , 1 970
1 1 . . . Qe5, 12. Rel, Qc7?? (Be tte r was 12 . . . Q g7, 1 3. Ne 4, d5, 14. Bb5, cd,
15. Qd5, Rb8, 1 6. Rad l with an unclear position according to Kurajica.
Also 12 . . . Q f4! is a tough de fence)

42
13. Qd4, £6, 14. Bg8 : Rg8 : 15. Qf6 : ! ( 1 5. Nb5 ! cd, 1 6. Q b5 : forking the
rooks was anothe r road to victory.

15 d5 (Slightly better was 15 . . . d6 but aft e r 16. Re 3, 16. Rad I Black's

. • •

position was hople ss, Or if 1 5 . . . e 6, 16. Ne4)

16. Re2? (16. Re 7+ Q e 7, 1 7. Q c6 + Kf7, 1 8 . Q a8, (won e asily) 16
• •Ba6?
• •

More te ne cions was 16 . . . e 6 1 7. Rae l Q f7!) 17. Nd5 cd : 18. Qa6 Rf8 19.
Rael Rf7 20. Qe6 (20. Q a4+ ! and 2 1 . Q d4 won e asily. Now White must
be satisfie d with grinding out a long win with a pawn ahead e ndgame .)
20 Rd8, 21. c3, Kf8, 22. g3, d4, 23. cd : Rd4 : 24. Qe5 : Qe5, 25. Re5,
. . •

Rd2, 26. Rle2, Re2 : 27. Re2 : Rf6, 28. Kfl, Rc6, 29. Kel, e6, 30. Kd2, Ke7,
31. Re4, Rb6, 32. b3, Ra6, 33. a4, Kd6, 34. Rh4, h5, 35. Rd4+Ke7 (More
active was 35 . . . Ke 5)
36. Kc3, Rc6+, 37. Rc4, Ra6, 38. Rc7+ Kf6, 39. Kb4 (threatening 40. a5!
and 41. Kb5)
39 Rb6+, 40. Kc4, a6, 41. a5, Rd6, 42. b4, Rd2, 43. Kc5, Rf2 : 44. Kb6,
. . •

e5, 45. Ka6 : e4, 46. b5, e3, 47. Rel, Ke5, 48. b6, Rg2, 49. b7, Rb2, 50. Ka7,
g5, 51. b8Q + Rb8, 52. Kb8 : - 0 :1

OSTOJIC - FISCHER
( l •t game )
Sicilian

1.e4, c5, 2. Ne2, d6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4, Nf6, 5. Nc3, a6, 6. a4, Qc7, 7. Bd3,
g6, 8. f4, Bg7, 9. Nf3, 0----0, 10. 0-0, Nbd7, 1 1 . Khl, b6, 12. Qel, Bb7,
13. Qh4, Rac8, 14. Bd2, e5, 15. Rael, ef : 16. Bf4, Ne5, 17. Bh6, Bh6 : 18.
Qh6 : N6g4, 19. Qh4, Nf3 : 20. Rf3 : f5, 21. Rf4, d5, 22. Rg4 : fg : 23. Qg4 :
Rf4, 24. Qg3, de : 25. Be4 : Be4 : 26. Ne4 : Re4 : - 0 : 1

43
 White lost on time.

MATULOVIC - TA L
Sicilian defence
t. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4, Nc6, 5. c4, Nf6, 6. Nc3, g6, 7. Be2,
Nd4 : 8. Qd4 : Bg7, 9. Be3, 0-0, 10. Qd2, Be6, 11. f3, Qa5, 12. N3b5, Qd2 :
13. Kd2 : Nd7, 14. Nc7, Rac8, 15. Ne6, fe : 16. Rahl, a5, 17. b3, Ra8, 18. h4,
Rfc8, 19. h5, Ne5, 20. hg, hg : 21. f4, Nc6, 22. Bg4, Kf7, 23. Rh7, Rh8,
24. Rbhl, Rh7, 25. Rh7, a4, 26. Be6 +, Ke6, 27. Rg7, Kf6, 28. Rh7, ab : 29. ab :
Ra2+, 30. Kc3, Rg2, 31. Rh3, Rg4, 32. b4, e5, 33. b5, Nd8, 34. fe : Ke5 :
35. Bd4+ Ke4 : 36. Re3 + , Kf5, 37. Re7, Ne6, 38. Bb6, d5, 39. cd : Bf4,
40. Kd4, Ne6, 41. Kc3, Nf4, 42. Kd4, Ne6. - 1/2 : 1/2
Tai : We playe d we ll and fast.
Matulovic : I agre e with Tal .

TA L - MATULOVI C
Dutch defence
1 . Nf3 g6 2. d4 d6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. 0-0 Nf6 6. c4 0-0 7. Nc3 Nc6
8. d5 Na5 9. Qa4 b6 10. Nd2 Ng4 1 1 . Qc2 Ne5 12. b3 f4 13. Bb2 c5 14. de :
ep, Nac6 15. Nd5 Bf5 16. Qcl g5 17. gf:
gf: 18. Nf3 : Nf3, 19. Bf3 : e5 20. Khl e4
21. Rgl Ne5 22. Bg2 Ng4 23. Qf4 :
Bb2 : 24. Be4 : Be4 : 25. Qe4 : Bal 26.
Qg4+ Kh8 27. Ral : Qe8 28. Rgl: Rg8
29. Qd4+ Qe5 30. Qe5 : de : 3 1 . Rg3,
Rg3 : 32. hg : Kg7 33. Kg2 Kf7 34. Kf3
Rd8 35. Ke4 Ke6 36. g4 a6 37. f3 b5 38.
Nc7+ Kf6 39. Na6 : Rd4+ 40. Ke3. 1 : 0

Tai : Matulovic did not e xpe ct 23. Q f4,

but if was possible. I think it was an inte­
re sting game . Matulovic playe d very well.

44
 'th ROUND
Tai - Re she vsky 2 : 0
lvkov - Matulovic 0,5 : l,5
Smyslov - Korchnoi 0 : 2
Fischer - Uhlman I , 5 : 0,5
Hort - Ostojic 2 : 0
Pe trosian - Bronste in I : 1
Fischer 1 6, Tai 1 2, Korchnoi, Hort 1 1 , Bronste in 10,5, Matulovic and
Petrosian IO e tc.
Tai is one point ahead of his rivals for the se cond place . Fische r is
four points ahead and he can lose all his ga me s till the e nd. As for the last
player it is obvious that Ostojic was not for this company. The tourname nt
was too strong for him.
Re she vsky told me that it was important for him to catch the plane
for New York the same day. So the Tourname nt be gan one hour e arlier.

Time preasure everywhere.

45
 FISCHER - UHLMAN
French defense

1. e4, e6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. a3 ( I chose d Ale khine de fe nse inspite
of the fa ct that 4. e 5 was safe r move )
4 . Bc3 +, 5. be, de : 6. Qg4, Nf6 ( Ale khine re come nde d 6. . . Kf8 but
• •

after 7. Q e 4 : White has a big advantage )

7. Qg7 : Rg8, 8 . Qh6, Rg6 ( Usually i t i s be tte r t o play this move late r 8 . . . Nbd7
playe d Kovacevic again st me at "Turnir mira" in Zagre b. I playe d 9. Ne 2, b6,
IO. Bg5, Q e 7, threate ning Ng4, 1 1 . Q h4, Bb7 with a dificult play)
9. Qe3, Nc6, 10. Bb2, b6 ( At "Turnir mira" Zagre b, 1 970, Uhlman playe d
10 . . . . Q d6 but after 1 1 . 0-0-0, Bd7, 12. f3 White had a big advantage )
1 1 . 0-0-0, Bb7, 12. h3, h5? ( We ak move be cause a pawn at that place is
we ak and it is lost of time but Black wonte d to pre vent g4)
13. c4, Qd6, 14. Ne2, 0-0--0, 15. Nf4, Rg8 ( If 1 5 . . . e 5, 1 6. Ng6, e d :
(White has many inte re sting possibilities the most sure is 17. Nf4, de, 1 8. Rd6 :
Rd6 : 19. fe 3, h4, 20. Be 2 with winning position in e ndgame with two strong
B ishops.)
16. Be2, Qc7 (if 16 . . . Na5 which is more active 17. g3)
17. d5, ed : 18. cd, Ne5 ( if 18 . . . Na5, 1 9. c4, Ba6, 20. Q c3, with good play)
19. c4 Ba6 20. Qc3 Nfd7 ( If 20 . . . R8e 8 2 1 . Kb l , and White is safe because
on 2 1 . . . Q c5 White has many move s. B lack Knight on f6 is under attack.
May be also 22. Rd4)
21. d6 ! cd?

( Black overlooke d a pie ce . Black has to play 21 . . . Q g5, 22. g3, possible
better for White )
22. c5 ! ! Be2?? ( Uhlman was suprise d by this move and he made a mista ke
taking White 's Bishop on e 2. . . . He had to play 22 . . . Nc5 trying with his
compe nsation on Q ue e ns side ) 23. cd : + Nc5, ( If 22. . . Nc5 23. Ba6+ Kb8
24. Bb5) a) 24. . . Wcd 3+, 25. Nd3 : Rc8, 26. Ne 5 : with winning position
b) 24. . . a6, 25. Be 2, Rc8 , 26. Kb l , Ncd 3, 27. Q d4, Sf4, 28. B ?.6, Rc5, 29. Q e 4
with probabbly winning position. Possible i s also 27. Nd 5)
24. de7 : Rdl : + , 25. Rdl ; Bdl : 26. Qe5 : Ba4, 27. Kbl, Bc6, 28. Nd5, Bd5 :
29. Qd5 - 1 : 0

46
 UHLMAN - FI SCHER
Kings Indian
I . d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 0-0 5. Be2 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Be3 cS
S. d5 e6 9. Qd2 ed : 10. ed : Kh7 11. h3 ReS 12. Bd3 Nbd7 13. Nf3 Ne5
14. Ne5 : Re5 : 15. 0-0 Bf5 16. Bf4 Bd3 : 17. Qd3 : Re7 lS. Rfel a6 19. g4
Qd7 20. Qg3 ; Raes 21. Re7 : Re7 : 22. Bd6 : Ne4 23. Ne4 : Re4 : 24. Bc5.
Re4 25. Qd6 Qd6 : 26. Bd6 Rd4 - Yz : Yz

RESHEVSKY - TAL
Kings Indian
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 ed : 5. cd : d6 6. e4 g6 7. Bb5+ Nbd7
S. f4 Bg7 9. Nf3 0----0 10. �O a6 11. Bd3 ReS 12. a4 c4 13. Bc2 Nc5 14. e5
Ng4 15. h3 Nh6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. g4? ! de : 1S. fe : Ne5 : 19. Ne5 Re5 : 20. Bd4-
Rg5 21. Bg7 :

· --*-� ··­
- · - m .1. m .1.
... -. - - · �
- - u - ��
�u m.W'.t.'/�m m u n
• ¥/J/. • • • •u
D�B m. m
�m •
,, ,,Y,•°i?� � fl m
,., ,:;:::
21. . . Ng4 : 22. hg : Bg4 : 23. Qd4 Bh3+ 24. Kf2 Rg2+ 25. Kf3 Qg5 26. Qf4:
Qh5+ 27. Ke3 ReS + 2S. Kd4 Rg4 29. Bf6 Bfl : 30. Rfl : Rf4 : 31. Rf4 :.
Qh2 32 Re4 Qf2+ 33. Kc4 Res+ 34. Kb3 Qf6 : -O :1
Tai : A lively game . The position was too sharp and complicated .

TAL - RESHEVSKY
Sicilian
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, e6, 3. Nc3, a6, 4. g3, Nc6, 5. Bg2, b5, 6. d4, cd : 7. Nd4,_
Bb7, S. �O, Nf6, 9. e5, NgS, 10. Rel, Qc7, 1 1 . Bf4, Nd4, 12. Bb7 : Qb7 :
13. Qd4 : Ne7, 14. Ne4, Nf5, 15. Qd3, h5, 16. Bg5, Qd5, 17. Rd5 : ed : lS. Nd6,
Bd6 : 19. ed : + Kf8, 20. Re5, Nd4, 21. Be7+ KgS, 22. Qd5 : Nc2 : 23. Rael,.
Nb4, 24. Rdc5, Nd3, 25. RcS+ Kh7, 26. RhS : + KhS : 27. Rc7, Nb2 : 2S. Rd7 :
Nc4, 29. Rc7, Ne5, 30. d7, Nd7 : 31. Rd7 : RcS, 32. RdS+ RdS : 33. BdS :
Kh7, 34. Kg2, Kg6, 35. Kf3 - 1 : 0
Tai : Re she vsky did not play well in the ope ning. Our se cond game
was much better.
Re shevsky : The ope ning de cide d.

4T
 PETROSIAN - BRONSTEIN
Dutch defense
1. d4, £5, 2. Bg5, c6, 3. Nd2, d5, 4. e3, Qb6, 5. Rbl, Nf6, 6. Nf3, Nbd7,
7. c4, e6, 8. a3, Be7, 9. Be2, 0-0, 10. 0-0, a5, 11. Qc2, a4, 12. ed : cd :
13. Rbcl, Bd6, 14. Nbl, Ne4, 15. Bf4, Bf4 : 16. ef : Nb8, 17. Nc3, Bd7, 18.
Rfdl, Rc8, 19. Ne5, Qd6, 20. Qd3, Nc6, 21. £3, Nf6, 22. Rc2, Na5, 23. Qe3,
Nb3, 24. g4, Be8, 25. g5, Nh5, 26. Bd3 (Pe trosyan was th inking here 20 se ­
.conds)
26 • Rab8, 27. Ne2, b5, 28. Rc8 : Rc8 : 29. Bbl, b4, 30. ab : Qb4 : 31. Nd3
. •

Qd6, 32. Ne5, g6, 33. Ba2, Qb6, 34. Nc3 We could not write the other move s
be cause of a big time pre asure . Black's a pawn de cide d. 0 :1

Petrosyan, Korchnoi and Smyslov are playing, their wifes waiting . . .

48
 toth ROUND

Reshe vsky - Bronstein 1, 5 : 0,5

Ostojic - Petrosian 0 : 2
Uhlman - Hort 1 : 1
Korchnoi - Fischer 1 : 1
Matulovic - Smyslov 0,5 : 1, 5
Tai - lvkov 2 : 0
Before tie last round Fischer had 1 7, Tai 1 4, Korchnoi, Pe trosian and
Hort 12, Bronste in 1 1 , Matulovic 10,5 e tc.
Fischer lost his only game one round before the end of the Tourname nt !
It happe ne d at the mome nt when he was sure of his victory. Fische r won
the first game against Korchnoi and he was proclaime d the winner.
Korchnoi was the only playe r who dre w his match against Fische r.
Also, after this round e ve rybody had at le ast one lost game .
With his victory against Ivkov - Tai , practically assure d se cond place .
The que stion arose who would be third?

KORCHNOI - FISCHER
Kings Indian
(game I)

1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6, 5. Be2, 0----0, 6. Nf3, e5, 7. 0-0,
Nc6, 8. d5, Ne7, 9. Nd2 (This move appare ntly is conside re d best by the
Russians. In the "Turnir mira" 1970. Pe trosian playe d 9. b4, Nh5, 10. Nd2 ! '!
Nf4, 1 1 . a4, but without great succe ss against Gligoric.)
9 . . c5, (I think this is a logical move . Black take s a te mpo from his King
side to play slow down White 's Q ue e n side initiative , White usually come s
quite quickly with b4, c5, e tc.)
10. a3, Ne8, 11. b4, b6, 12. Rbl, f5 ! (Having made all the ne ce ssary pre cau­
tions on the Q ue e n side Black is now ready to attack on the King's flank.)
13. f3 (May be be tter is 13. Bd2 as in the game Gligoric - Tringov, Belgrade ,
1969.)
13. • • £4, 14. a4, g5, 15. a5, Rf6 ! 16. be?
(This is, as Korchnoi pointe d out afte rwards a "te rrible mistake " be cause
now it is impossible for White to ge t any initiative on the Q ue e n's side).

4 Chess meets of the ceniury

49
16 . be, 17. Nb3, Rg6, 18. Bd2, Nf6 (or 1 8 . . . h5 !) 19. Khl, g4 (May be
• .

more e xact was 19 . . . h5) 20. fg : (force d be cause of the threat of 20. . . g3
and the n White cannot play 2 1 . h3 be cause of 2 1 . . . Bh3 e tc.)
20 • Ng4, 21. Rf3? (2 1 . Bf3 ! was be tte r with a more te nacious defe nce).
. •

21 . . . Rh6, 22. h3, Ng6, 23. Kgl, Nf6, 24. Bel, Nh8 ! ! (This attacking mane­
uvre is de cisive ).
25. Rd3, Nf7, 26. Bf3 (26. h4! ? held out a little longer) 26 . . Ng5, 27. Qe2,

24 . . . Nh8 : ! 28 . . . Nh3:!
Rg6, 28. Kf l (or 28. Kh2, Q d7, thre aten s 2 9. . . Nh3 e tc.) 2 8. . . Nh3, 29. gh ;
Bh3 :+ 30. Kf2 (At this mome nt my hand hove re d over White 's pawn on
e 4-but at the last se cond, I re alise d that 30 . . . . N: e 4?? is answe re d by 3 1 . Q e 4!
and White wins)
30 . •Ng4+ 31. Bg4 : Bg4, (And
•

here Korchnoi thought about a

minute and a half and not se e ing
a de fe nce to the double thre at
of 31 . . . B: e 2 and 32 . . .
Q h4+ 0 : 1
-

It is intere sting to note howe ve r

that Korchnoi playe d 9. Nd2,
again against U dovcic in the
"Turnir mira" so appare ntly he
has an improve me nt in mind.

Milk after his first defeat:

Bobby Fischer,

50
 FI SCHER - KORCHNOI
French defense
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Ne3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne7 5. a3 Bc3 : 6. bc3 : c5 7. a4 Qa5
8. Bd2 Nbc6 9. Qg4 0-0 10. Nf3 f6 11. Bd3 f5 12. Qg3 c4 13. Be2
b5 14. 0---0 ha : 15. Ng5 Nd4 : 16. cd : Qd2 : 17. Qh4 h6 18. Nf3 Ng6 1 9. Nd2 :
Nh4 : 20. Ra4 Ng6 21. Rfal a6 22. Nbl Ne7 23. Ra5 Nc6 24. R5a4 Nd4 :
25. Bdl f4 26. Nc3 Nc6 27. Ne2 Ne5 : 28. Nd4 Rb8 29. h4 Rb6 30. h5 Nc6
31 . Ne2 e5 32. Nc3 Rd8 33. Bf3 e4 34. Be2 Nd4 35. Bfl Bb7 36. Rdl Nb5

. �� ••• . � /_, , , , �

m.t.m m -
... �� .-
.W/////""'�
. .
- �------'

'm JA B .t. B - �
n B .t. B .t. - B
-
- � -� · - ·
�,,,,,,,

-�- D�B
.,
� ;;% - n •��
• - �
37. Ne4 : Rc8 38. Nd2 Nc3 39. Rdal Na4 : 40. Ra4 : Bc6 4 1 . Ra5 Bb5 42. Nf3
c3 43. Nd4 Bfl : 44. Kfl : Rb4 45. Rd5 : a5 46. Ke2 a4 47. Kd3 Ra8 48. Kc3 :
Rbl 49. Rb5 Rb5 : 50. Nb5 : a3 51. Na3 : Ra3 : + 52. Kd4 Ra2 53. Kd3 Kf7
54. g3 fg : 55. fg : - 0 : 1

TAL - IVKOV
(Pirc defense)
1. e4, g6, 2. d4, Bg7, 3. Nc3, d6, 4. Bg5, h6, 5. Be3, b6, 6. Nf3, Bb7, 7. Bd3,
Nd7, 8. Qd2, c5, 9. 0-0-0, Nf6, 10. b3 (Tai was thinking ten se conds for
this move .) 10
• .c4 ! ! 11. Bc4 : Ne4 : 12. Ne4 : Be4 : 13. Rhel, Bf3 : 14. gf:
•

e6, 15. Bf4, Nf6,

.. . 51
Qd8 : 21. Rgl, Qd7, 22. Qd3, Qf5, 23. Qe4+ Qe6, 24. Qe7+ Qe7, 25. Qe4+
Qe6 (In tourname nt's game s this re pe tition me ans that the oppone nts are
playing like this, be cause of time pressure . In blitz games they ask for the
best plan.) 26. Qd3, Qf5, 27. Qa6, Qd7, 28. h4, h5, 29. Qd3, Qf5, 30. Qe4,
Qe6, 31. Qe6 : Ke6 : 32. Tg6 : The y played so fast that we could not write
the move s. lvkov gave a piece for a pawn, and Ta l won - 1 : 0
Tai : My sacrifice was half corue ct. May be e nough for a draw, but lvkov
was in time trouble s. Our se cond game was be tter.
lvkov: I had a good position, but the time on my clock. . .

IVKOV - TAL

Kings Indian

1. d4 Nf6 2. e4 g6 3. Ne3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. d5 a5 8. Bg5

Na6 9. Nd2 Ne5 10. 0-0 h6 11. Bh4 Bd7 12. b3 e6 13. a3 ed : 14. ed : Re8
15. a4 Qb6 16. Rbl Qb4 17. Na2 Qd4 18. Bf6 : Bf6 : 19. Bf3 b5 20. ab :
Bb5 : 21. Be2 Nd3

22. Ne4 Nf4 23. Bg4 Be4 : 24. be : Qe4 : 25. f3 Qe3+ 26. Khl Re4 : 0 :1
Tai : I think that it was a good and chee rful game .

B RONSTEIN - RESH EVSKY

(King's gambit)

1. e4, e5, 2. f4, ef : 3. Nf3, d5, 4. ed : Nf6, 5. e4, e6, 6. d4, ed : 7. Ne3, de :
8. Be4 : Bd6, 9. Qe2+ Qe7, 10. Qe7 : Ke7 : 11. Nb5, Bb4+, 12. Bd2, Ne6,
13. d5, Bd2 : + , 14. Kd2 : Na5, 15. d6+ Kd8, 16. Bf7 : Bd7, 17. Ne7, Re8,
18. Rhel, Rf8, 19. Ng5, h6, 20. Nge6+ Be6 : 21. Ne6+ Kd7, 22. Nf8+

52
Rf8; 23. Be6+ Kd6 : 24. Radl, Kc7, 25. Kc3, Nc6, 26. b4, b5, 27. a4, a6,
28. Bd5, Nd5+, 29. Rd5 : f3, 30. ab : fg : 31. Rgl, Rf3 +, 32. Kd2, Nb4 :

33. Rd4, Rf2+, 34. Ke3, Rb2, 35. Rc4+ Kb6, 36. ha : Ka6 : 37. Rg4, Nd5+ ,
38. Kf3, Rb3+, 39. Kf2, Rb2 +, 40. Kg3, Nf6, - 0 : 1
It was a real time preasure that we could not find out the other moves.
Reshevsky won the game. This game was very exciting.
Bronstein : I will always remember this game as the most cheerful moment
of the Century Match. This blitz tournament took place immediately after
the Match. My old friend Reshevsky was not cautious enongh. He played
I. . e5, and feu into a trap. Probably he did not know that I have just
.

published a book of the open games. In the King's gambit I am like a fish
in the water. But what happened in this game?. I played 22. Nf8 + and Re­
shevsky with that my knight took his King on d7. I asked him : what are you
doing, and he answered : Ah, my God. We started to laugh together . .

RESHEVSKY - BRONSTEIN
Dutch defense

1. d4, f5, 2. g3, Nf6, 3. Bg2, d6, 4. c4, c6, 5. Nc3, e5, 6. de : de : 7. Qd8 :+
Kd8 : 8. Nf3, Nbd7, 9 . e4, fe : 10. Ng5, Ke8, 11. Ne6, Kf7, 12. Ng5+ Ke8,
13. Nge4 : Nc5, 14. 0-0, Bf5, 15. Rel, Nd3, 16. Re3, Ncl : 17. Rel : Kf7,
18. Ng5+ Kg8, 19. Re5, g6, 20. h3, Rd8, 21. Ne6, Be6 : 22. Re6 : Kf7 :
23. Re2, Bc5, 24. a3, Rhe8, 25. Re8 : Re8 : 26. Rdl, a5, 27. Kfl, Re7, 28. g4,
g5, 29. Rel, Bd4, 30. Re7 : + Ke7 : 31. Ke2, Bc3 : 32. bc3 : Kd6, 33. Ke3,
Ke5, 34. Bfl, h6, 35. Bd3, Nd7, 36. h4, Nc5, 37. Bc2, Ne6, 38. hg : hg :
39. Bf5, Nc5, 40. Bc2, Ne6, 41. Bf5, Nc5, 42. Bc8, a4, 43. f3, b6, 44. Bf5,
Nb3, 45. Bd3, Na5, 46. Be2, c5, 47. Bd3, Nc6, 48. Be4, Na5, 49. Bd3,
Nb3, 50. Bc2, Na5. -
Yi : Yi
·
Reshevsky : We had the same time on the clock, the position was even .
Bronstein : What a difference between this one and our first game . . .

53
 Uth ROUND

lvkov - Reshevsky 0,5 : 1 ,5

Smyslov - Tai 1 , 5 : 0,5
Fischer - Matulovic 2 : 0
Hort - Korchnoi 0 : 2
Petrosian - Uhlman 1 , 5 : 0,5
Bronstein - Ostojic 2 : 0
The final score : Fischer 19, Tai 14,5, Korchnoi 14, Petrosian 13,5 Bron­
stein 13, Hort 12, Matulovic 10,5, Smyslov 9,5, Reshevsky 8,5, Uhlman 8,
Ivkov 7,5, Ostojic 2.
Tai drew his first game against Smyslov, and he is second. Smyslov
won the second game very nicely. Korchnoi played wonderfully his last games,
and it means : 1 . Fischer, 2. Tai, 3. Korchnoi. Petrosian came in the big four.
Bronstein and Hort are also in the group of: winners with more than 50p.c.
Fischer's victory was not in question, He played, almost without mistake.
After this tournament lvkov sayd: Now I see that Spassky is the only
player who could be even with Fischer.

FISCHER - MATULOVIC

Ruy lopez

1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, f5, (This is Matulovic's speciality the same
as his gambit in Sicilian defencc. In blitz games there is no problems for
White because of the Black King's weaknesses. I know this variation very
well and because of that I was surprised at Matulovic's choice) .
4. Nc3, fe : 5. Ne4 : d5, 6. Ne5, de : 7. Nc6 : Qg5, (7 . . . Qd5 gives probably
more problems for White.)
8. Qe2, Nf6, 9. f4, Qf4 : 10. d4, Qh4 +, 11. g3, Qh3, (the same was in the
game Gheorghiu - Marie, Skopje 1 968. Gheorghiu played 1 2. Na7 : + but
he did not get any advantage, in this position. I analised lt:hi!s position all
night with Robatch and Gheorghiu in Vinkovci. Gheorghiu showed

54
me that game against Marie and it was very interesting for me. Our idea was
12. Bg5) 12. Bg5, a6, 13. Ba4, Bd7, 14. Bf6 : gf, 15. Qe4 :+ Kf7,

16. Ne5+ fe, 17. Rfl + Ke7 (Black has many problems. If 1 7. . . Kg8, 1 8.
Rf6! Re8 (if 18 . . . Ba4, 19. Qd5 + with Qf7 mate). 1 9. Bb3 + Kg7, 20. Rf7+
Kh6, 2 1 . de : with a winning attack. If 1 7. . . Qfl, Ba4, 19. Qf5 + wins).
18. Bd7 : Kd7 : (if 18 . . . Qd7, 1 9. 0----0-----0 and Black's King and Queen are
attacked .)
19. Rf7+, Ke8?? (19 . . . Be7 ! ! gave good chances for a successful defence)
20. Rc7 : Bd6, 21. Rb7 : Rc8, 22. 0---0----0, Qh2 : 23. de : Be7, 24. Re7+ l

(After this move Black has no hope. Maybe I had an easier way to win,
but I had not enough time. As a matter of fact I had three minutes.)
24 Ke7 : 25. Qb7+ Ke6, 26. Qd7 + , Ke5 : 27. Qd5+, Kf6, 28. Rfl+
• • •

Kg6, 29. Qf5+, Kh6, 30. Qe6+ Kh5, 31. Rf5+ Kg4, 32. Rf4+ Kg3 :
33. Qg4 Mate. - 1 : 0

55
 MATULOVIC - FISCHER

Sicilian defense

1. c4, c5, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4 : Nf6, 5. Nc3, a6, 6. Bg5, e6,
7. £4, Qb6, 8. Qd2, Qb2 : 9. Nb3, Qa3, 10. Bf6 : gf6 : 11. Bd3, Nc6,
12. 0-0, Bg7, 13. Rf3, £5, 14. Rg3, Bf6, 15. ef : Qb4, 16. Bfl, d5, 17. Rel,
Ne7, 18. fe : Be6, 19. £5, Nf5, 20. Nd5, Qd2, 21. Nf6 :+ Ke7, 22. Nd2 : Ng3 :
23. Nd5+ , Kf8, 24. Nc7, Nfl : 25. Rfl : Ke7, 26. Na8 : Ra8 : 27. c4, Rd8,
28. Rf2, Rd4, 29. Re2, Kd6, 30. Ne4+, Kc6, 31. c5, Bc4, 32. Re3, Ba2 :
33. Nd6, b5, 34. Ra3, Ra4, 35. Rh3, Kc5 : 36. Nb7+ Kc6, 37. Nd8+, Kc7,
38. Rd3, Bc4, 39. Rd4, Ra2, 40. h4, a5, 41. h5, a4, 42. h6, a3, 43. g4, Rb2,
44. g5, a2, - 0 :1

A special prize for the win­

ner: Slobodan Stojnic and
Dimitrije Bjelica (left) con­
gretulate to Fischer

TAL - SMYSLOV

Ruy Lopez

1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0---,-0 Be7, 6. Rel, b5,
7. Bb3, d6, 8.c3, �O, 9. h3, Na5, 10. Bc2, c5, 11. d4, Qc7, 12. Nbd2, Nc6,
13. de : de : 14. Nfl, Be6, 15. Ne3, Rad8, 16. Qe2, c4, 17. Nf5, Rfe8, 18. Bg5,
Nd7, 19. Be7 : Ne7 : 20. Ng5, Ng6, 21. Ne6 :? fe : 22. Ne3, Nf4, 23. Qg4,
Nf6, 24. Qf3, Nd3, 25. Bd3 : Rd3 : 26. a4, Qb7, 27. ab : ab : 28. Qg3, Qe4 ;

56
29. Ra7, Nh5, 39 Qg5, Qg6, 31. Qe5 : Rf8, 32. Ng4, Nf4, 33. Real,

33 Nh3 ! (Smyslov finds a right move in time preasure. Jf 33 . . . h5, 34.

. . •

Ra8!) 34. gh : Rh3, 35. Qd4, Rd3 ! 36. Qg4+ Kfl, 37. Rh3, 38. Qc6, Rhf3,
39. Qc5, Qh4 0 :1

Tai was second . . .

Tai : Smyslov made a nice combination in 33rd move. I t was his nice
victory. This was the last game of the Tournament. I made a draw in our
first game, and it was enough for the second place.

57
 --
4'....
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. ....
_. _
.... .

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.,_ •
•
-- •
•

..,_ ii:
-- .
•
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., _
�- �
•

.- - �
-- �
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 9

11 jf�t t2
13

16
•

21

24

Singatures: 1. Smyslov, 2. Uhlman, 3. Olafsson, 4. Petrosian, 5. Geller, 6. Larsen

7. Tai, 8 . Ivkov, 9. Darga, 10 Korchnoi , 1 1. Taymanov, 12. Fischer, 1 3 . Polugayevsky,
14. Najdorf, 1 5. Stein, 1 6. Bronstein , 1 7. Hort, 1 8. Spassky, 19. Gligoric, 20. Keres
2 1 . Portisch, 22. Reshevsky, 23. Matulovic, 24. Botvinik.

59
 FIRST ROUND

SOV I E T U N I ON WORLD

I. SPASSKY 0,5 L A R SEN 0,5

2. PETROS I A N 0 F I SC H E R 1
3. KO RC HNOI 0,5 PORTISCH 0,5
4. POLUGA Y E V SKY 0 HORT I
5. G E LL E R GLI G O R I C 0
6. SMYSLOV 0,5 R E S H EV S KY 0,5
7. TA J M A NOV I U H LMAN 0
8. BOT V I N I K M A TULO V I C 0
9. TAL 0,5 NAJ DO R F 0,5
1 0. K E R E S 0,5 IVKOY 0,5
5,5 4, 5

I . SPA S SKY - - L A R S EN

Nimzo-lndian defense

I. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. BgS, cS, S. dS, Bc3 + 6. bc3, eS, 7. Nf3,
d6, 8. Nd2, h6, 9. Bh4, Nbd7, 1 0. e3, Nf8, 1 1 . Bd3� Ng6, 12. Bg3, 0-0,
13. 0-0, Ne7, 14. f4, ef4, I S. Rf4, Ng6, 16. R :f6, Q :f6, 17. Ne4, Qd8,
18. N :d6, QgS, 19. Qd2, b6, 20. Ne4, Qd8, 2 1 . Rfl , rs, 22. Nd6, f4, 23. ef4,
Q :d6, 24. rs, Qd8, 2S. fg6, R:fl + 26. K :fl, Qf6+ 27. Qf4, Bd7, 28. Ke2,
Rf8, 29. Q :f6, gf6, 30. Kf3, Re8, 3 1 . Bf2, hS, 32. h3, Kg7, 33. g4, hg4+
34. hg4, Th8, 3S. d6, Thl, 36. BfS, Bc6+ 37. Ke2, Rh3, 38. d7, Rh8, 39.
Bg3, Rd8, 40. Bc7, R :d7 Yz : Yz

2. KO RCHNOI - P O R T I S C H

Ruy Jopez

1. e4, eS, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. BbS, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, S. 0-0, Be7, 6. Rel, bS,
7. Bb3, d6, 8. c3, 0-0, 9. h3, Nb8, 10. d4, Nbd7, 1 1 . Nbd2, Bb7, 12. Bc2,
Re8, 13. b3, Bf8, 14. Bb2, g6, lS. a4, Bg7, 16. Bd3, c6, 17. Qc2, Rc8, 18.
deS, dcS, 19. b4, Bf8, 20. Red l, Qb6, 21. Qb3, cS, 22. abS, abS, 23. bcS,

61
B :cS 24. Q :bS, B :f2, + 2S. Kfl, Re7, 26. Q :b6, B :b6, 27. Ba6, B :a6, 28.
R :a6, Be3, 29. Ke2, BcS, 30. g4, Rb8, 31. Ra2, Nf8, 32. c4, N6d7, 33. Kfl,
f6, 34. Nbl, Nb6, 3S. Nfd2, Rd7, 36. Rel, Ne6, 37. Ba3, Rd3, 38. Rc3,
Rbd8, 39. B :cS, N :cS, 40. R :d3, R :d3 (adjourned)
41. RaS, Nbd7, 42. Ra3, Rd4, 43. Re3, Nb6, 44. Ke2, N :c4, 4S. N :c4, R :c4
46. Nc3, Kg7, 47. Kf3, Ne6, 48. h4, Nd4, 49. Kf2, Rb4, SO. Ndl, Ra4, SI. Kg3,
hS, S2. Nf2, Ra2, S3. gS, fgS, S4. hgS, h4+ SS. Kg2, Ne6, S6. Kf3, NgS+ ,
S7. Kg4, Nf7, S8. Rf3, gS, S9. KhS, Ra8, 60. Rb3, Rh8+ , 61. Kg4, Kh6,
62. Nh3 ! Rf6, 63. Rb8, Rd6, 64. KhS, Rh6+, 6S. Kg4, Rd6, 66. KhS, Kf6,
67. Tb2, Kg7, 68. Tb8 Y2 : Y2

57 . . . Nf7?

BOBBY'S BEST GAME

Robert Bobby Fischer got a special prize for the best game of the first round
for his victory against Petrosian . Here is the game with Bobby's comments :

3. FISCHER - PETROSIAN
(Caro-Kann)

1. e4, c6, 2. d4, d5, 3. ed : cd : 4. Bd3 (More often is 4. c4. I played an old
variation in order to avoid well known variations) 4 • •Nc6, S.c3, Nf6, 6. Bf4
•

(If 6. h3, e5, or 6. Bg5, Ne4, 7. Be4, de : 8. d5, Ne5, 9. Qa4+ Qd7, 10. Qe4:
Qf5 and White would have advantage. Black has to give a pawn back . 6. . .
Bg4 (The second possibility would be g6)
7. Qb3, NaS (Hort's move 7 . . . Qc8 is better, with Bishop's maneuvre Bh5-g6.)
8. Qa4+ Bd7, 9. Qc2, e6 (After the game Petrosian recomended 9 . . a6)
10. Nf3, Qb6, 11. a4 : (Defending 1 1 . . Bb5, with which Black would solve
.

the problem of his Bishop. With this move White gets clear advantage, and
he overturned all Black's trategy).
11. . Rc8 (If 1 1. . . Nb3, 12. Ra2, Rc8, 1 3. 0-0, Be7, White would have
•

difficulties to push Black's position but also black bishops would be inmobile.
If 1 1 . . . Qb3, 12. Qe2, Ba4 : ? 1 3 . Ra4 : Qa4: 14. Bb5+)

62
 1 2. Nbd2, Ne6, 13. Qbl, Nh5 (Losing time, it was better 1 3 . . . g6) 14. Be3,
h6 (If 14 . . . f5, 1 5. g4 : fg : 1 6. Ng5, Bd6, 1 7. Bh7 : etc) 15. Ne5, Nf6 (On
1 5 . Ne5 : 16. de : Bc5, 17. a5, Qc7, 1 8 . Nf3 and White has advantage.)
. .

16. h3 (defending Ng4 and preparing g2-g4 if Black castles)

16 . . . Bd6, 17. 0-0, Kf8? (better is 17. 0-0) 18. f4, Be8 (If 1 8 . . . Ne5 :
1 9 . fe, Be5 : 20. a5 and winning.) 19. Bf2 : Qe7 (If 1 9 . . . g6, 20. f5, gf: 21 .
Bf5, ef: 22. Qf5 : Qd8, 23. Bh4 with winning position.)

20. Bh4, Ng8 (Black has a passive position, he hoped that he could mobilise
his pieces to the King's side) 21. f5, Ne5 : 22. de : Be5 : 23. fe : Bf6, 24. ef :
Bf7 : 25. Nf3 : Bh4 : (If 22 . . . g5, 23. Bf2, Kg7, 24. Bd4, etc.)
26. Nh4 : Nf6, 27. Ng6+ Bg6 : 28. Bg6 : Ke7 ! (In this position where I expe­
cted that Petrosian would resign he finds an ingenius defence, he tried to
escape with the King to the Queen's side)
29. Qf5, Kd8, 30. Rael, Qe5+ , 31. Khl, Rf8 (It was better 3 1 . . . Rc6)
32. Qe5 : ! (Black is in a difficult position.) 32. . . Rc7 (If 32. . . Qc7, 33. Rf6 :
or 33. Qd 5 :)
33. b4 : Qe6, 34. e4 : de : 35. Bf5, Rff7, 36. Rdl + Rfd7 (If 36 . . . . Qd7, 37-
R fe l , 37. Bd7 : Rd7 : 38. Qb8+ Ke7 (38 . . . Qc8, 39. Rd7 : Nd7, 40. Qd6 wins.)

39. Rdel + Black resigns because of 39. . . Kf8, 40. Qe8 mate 1 : 0

PRIZE FOR- BRILLIANT PLAY

Efim Geller won the first game for the Soviet team at the Belgrade match.
When he beat Gligorich in the first round, he did not expect this game would
win a special brilliancy prize at the final ceremony. This game, as well as
Lar�en's victory against Stein , were awarded as the most beautiful games of
the match.

4. GELLER - GLIGORIC
(Ruy Lopez)

1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Ne6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0---0, Be7, 6. Rel, b5,
7. Bb3, d6, 8. e3, 0---0, 9. h3, h6, 10. d4, Re8, 11. Nbd2, Bf8, 12. Nfl, Bb7,
13. Ng3, Na5, 14. Be2, Be4, 15. b3, Nb6, 16. Bb2 (The same opponents
played the same variation in Sochi five years ago in the match USSR-Yugo­
slavia)
16 . . . Nbd7, 17. Qd2, e5, 17. Radl, Qa5 (Better was Qc7)
19. de : de : 20. e4, b4, 21. a4 (With the blocade at Queen's side. White has
a possibility for attack at the King's side.)
21. . . Qe7, 22. Nf5, Nb8, 23. Ne5 : Re5 : 24. Be5, Qe5 : 25. f4, Qe6, 26. e5,
Ne8, (If 26. . . Ne4, 27. Be4: Be4 : 28. Re4 : Qf5 : 29. Qd5 with big advantage
for White.)
27. Qd3, g6, 28. Ng3, Ne6, 29. f5, gf : 30. Nf5 : Qg6, 31. Qe2, Qg5, 32. h4,
Qf4, 33. g3, Qe5 : 34. Qg4, Qg7, 35. Ng7 : Nf6, 36. Qf4, Bg7 : 37. Qe7,
Rb8, 38. Rd6, Ng4, 39. Re6 : Bd4 + , 40. Kfl 1 :0

63
5. HORT - POLUG A YEVSKY
Sicilian defense
1. e4, cs, 2. c3, Nr6, 3. eS, NdS, 4. d4, cd4, S. Qd4, e6, 6. Nf3, Nc6, 7. Qe4,
d6, 8. Nbd2, deS, 9. NeS, Nr6, 10. Qa4, QdS, 11. Ndr3, Bd6, 12. Bf4, Qe4+
13. Q : e4, N :e4, 14. Bd3, N :es, IS. B :es, B :es, 16. N :e5, NcS, 17. Bc2, f6,
18. Nc4, Ke7, 19. 0-0-0, Bd7, 20. b4, Na6, 21. Nd6, b6, 22. Rhel, g6,
23. Bb3, Rad8, 24. r4, Nc7, 2s. rs, grs, 26. s :rs + , Kr7, 27. Rd3, Bc8, 28.
Rg3, Ne8, 29. Nd4, Nc7, 30. NrS, Ne8, 31. Nd4, Nc7, 32. Re4, Rdg8, 33.
R :g8, R :g8, 34. NrS, Rd8, 3S. Rg4, Ne8, 36. Rh4, hS, 37. R :hS, Kg6, 38. Ng3,
Ng7, 39. Th4, Bb7, 40. Rg4 + , Kf7, 41. Ne2. . . (adjourned)
41. . . rs, 42. Rc4, Ne8, 43. Rd4, Rd6, 44. Nr4, Bc8, 4S. Ba4, R :d4, 46.
B :e8 + , K :e8, 47. cd4, Ke7, 48. Kd2, Kf6, 49. Nd3, KgS, SO. Ke3, Ba6,
SI. Nr4, Bc4, S2. a3, aS, S3. g3, Kg4, S4. Kf2, KgS, SS. h4+ , Kf6, S6. Ke3,
ab4, S7. ab4, eS, SS. Nd3, ed4 + , S9. K :d4, bS, 60. Nr4, Bfl, 61. KdS, Bc4 + ,
62. Kd6, Bb3, 63. NdS + , Kg6, 64. KeS, Bc2, 6S. Ne7 + , KhS, 66. N :fS 1 : 0

6. R ESHEVSKY - SM YSLOV
Reti
1. g3, dS, 2. Nr3, c6, 3. Bg3, BrS, 4. 0-0 e6, S. d3, Be7, 6. Nbd2, Nr6,
7. Qel, h6, 8. e4, de4, 9. de4, Bh7, 10. Qe2, Nbd7, 11. eS, NdS, 12. Ne4, NcS,
13. NcS : Bes : 14. Nd2, Qc7, IS. a3, 0-0, 16. Nb3, Be7, 17. Be4, Be4 :
18. Qe4 : Rrd8, 19. Bd2, Br8, 20. Rrdt, Nb6, 21. a4, RdS, 22. aS, Nd7, 23.
Bc3, Rad8, 24. RdS : cdS : 2S. Qe3, a6, 26. Bd4, Rc8, 27. c3, Qc6, 28. Ncl,
NcS, 29. b4, Na4, 30. Nd3, QbS Yz : Y2

7. T A JM ANOV - UHLMAN

Griinreld
1 . d4, Nr6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, dS, 4. BgS, Ne4, S. Bh4, cS, 6. cdS, N :c3, 7. bc3,
Q :dS, 8. e3, cd4, 9. Q :d4, Q :d4, 10. cd4, Nc6, 11. BbS, Bd7, 12. Nf3, Bg7,
13. 0-0, e6, 14. Rabi , 0-0, IS. Nd2, rs, 16. Nb3, b6, 17. Rrcl, Rac8, 18.
Ba6, Rce8, 19. Bb7, Nd8, 20. Rc7, Rr7, 21. Ba6, Ba4, 22. Rbcl, Bf8, 23.
Rlc4, R :c7, 24. R :c7, Nc6, 2S. Bc4, Bg7, 26. Rc8, R :c8, 27. B :e6, Kr8,
28. B :c8, Nb4, 29. Ncl, Kr7, 30. Bg3, Br8, 31. Bb7, Ke6, 32. Bb8,
Kd7, 33. Br3, BbS, 34. Bdl, aS, 3S. a4, Bc4, 36. g4, bS, 37. grS, grS, 38. BeS,
Nc6, 39. Bh8, La3, 40. abs, B :cl, 41. bc6, K :c6, 42. Ba4, KdS, 43. Bc2,
Ke8, 44. Kg2, La3, 4S. LeS, Br8, 46. Bc7, BdS + (adjourned)
47. f3, Bb4, 48. Kg3, Kr6, 49. Bes + , Kg6, SO. Kr4, Be6, SI. Ba4, Br8, S2. e4,
Bh6 + , S3. Kg3, re4, S4. re4, Bd2, SS. dS, Bel + , S6. Kr3, Bh3, S7. Be8 + ,
Kh6, SS. Br6 1 :0

8. MATULOVI C - BOT V I N I K
Pirc Defense
1. e4, g6, 2. d4, Bg7, 3. Nr3, d6, 4. Bc4, Nr6, S. Qe2, c6, 6. Bb3, 0-0,
7. BgS, h6, 8. Bh4, eS, 9. deS, deS, 10. Nbd2, Qc7, 11. Nc4, NhS, 12. Bg3,

64
Nf4, 13. B :f4, ef4, 14. 0-0---0, Bg4, 15. e5, Nd7, 16. Qe4, Rad8, 17. Q :f4,
B :f3, 18. Q :13, b5, 19. Ne3, Ne5, 20.Qg3, a5, 21. a3, Kh7, 22. Ng4, h5,
23. N :e5, B :e5, 24. Qf3, Kg7� 25. Rhel, Bf6, 26. c3, c5, 27. R :d8, R :d8,
28. g3, c4, 29. Bc2, b4, 30. ab4, ab4, 31. cb4, Qb6, 32. Rdl, Q :b4, 33. R :d8,
Q :b2, 34. Kdl, B :d8, 35. Qd5, Qf6, 36. Ke2, Bb6, 37. f4, Qc3, 38. Qe4,
Bd4, 39. f5, gf5, 40. Q :f5, Qe3 + , 41. Kfl (adjourned)
41. . . Qgl + , 42. Ke2, Q :h2+, 43. Kdl, Qgl+, 44. Ke2 Qe3+, 45. Kfl,
Q:g3, 46. Qh7 +, Kf8 0 :1

9. TAL - NAJDORF
Sicilian defense

1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4, cd4, 4. Nd4 : e6, 5. Nc3, Qc7, 6. Be3, a6, 7. Bd3,
Nf6, 8. 0 . . 0, Ne5, 9. h3, Bc5, 10. Khl, d6, 11. f4, Ned7, 12. Qf3, b5, 13.
Nb3, Bb7, 10. a4, b4, 15. Ne2, B :e3, 16. Q :e3, Nc5, 17. Ng3, Rac8, 18. Qe2,
0-0, 19. Nc5 : Q :c5, 20. Radl, a5, 21. e5, de5, 22. fe5, Nd5, 23. Ne4,
Qe3, 24. Qh5, Qh6, 25. Qh6: gh6: 26. Rf3, Rc7, 27. Rdfl, Ne7, 28. Rg3,
Kh8, 29. Nd6, Nc6, 30. Re3, Kg7, 31. Rf4, Ne7, 32. Bb5, Ng6, 33. Rd4,
Bd5, 34. c4, bc3, 35. bc3, Rc5, 36. Ne8 + , Kh8, 37. Nf6, Rfc8, 38. c4, Bc4 :
39. Ne4, B :b5, 40. N :c5, R :c5, 41. ab5 Yz : Yz

10. IVKOV - KERES

Ruy Lopez

1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, d6, 5. 0-0, Bd7, 6. c3, Nge7,
7. d4, Ng6, 8. Nbd2, Be7, 9. Rel, 0-0, 10. Nfl, ed4, l l.cd4, Bf6, 12. Ne3,
Re8, 13. Bc2, Nh4, 14. N :h4, B :h4, 15. Nd5, Ne7, 16. Nc3, Ng6, 17. g3,
Bf6, 18. Be3, c5, 19. f4, cd4, 20. B :d4, Bc6, 21. Bb3, Nf8, 22. B :f6, Q :f6,
23. Nd5, Qd8, 24. Qh5, Nd7, 25. Radl, Nc5, 26. Bc2, g6, 27. Qg5, Q :g5,
28. fg5, B :d5, 29. Rd5 : Re6, 30. b4, Nd7, 31. Bb3, Ne5, 32. Rel, Nc6, 33.
b5, ab5, 34. R :b5, Re7, 35. Rdl, Ra5, 36. R:a5, N :a5, 37. Bd5, Rc7, 38. Rbl,
Kf8, 39. Rb5, Nc6, 40. Rb6, Ke7, Yz : Yz

5 Chess meets of tho c' n tury

65
 SECOND ROUND

SOVIET UNION WORLD

1 . SPASKY I LARSEN 0
2. PETROSIAN 0 FISCHER I
3. KORCHNOI 0,5 PORTISCH 0,5
4. PO LUGAYEVSKY 0,5 HORT 0,5
5. GELLER 0,5 GLIGORIC 0,5
6. SMYSLOV I RESHEVSKY 0
7. TAJMANOV I UHLMAN 0
8. BOTVINIK 0,5 MATULOVIC 0,5
9. TAL 0 NAJDORF I
10. KERES I IVKOV 0
6 4

1 1 . LARSEN - SP ASSKY

Irregular opening

1. b3(0) e5(0) 2. Bb2(0) Nc6(0) 3. c4(0) Nf6(6) 4. Nf3 (0) e4(1) 5. Nd4(1)
Bc5(4) 6. Nc6(0) dc(I) 7. e3( 1) Bf5(4) 8. Qc2(3) Qe7(1) 9. Be2(5) 0---0---0(4)
(Black has finished with the mobilization of his pieces, He is preparing now
for the attack at King's side.) 10. f4(2) (This is a mistake after which it is
dificult to save the position. How to explain this? I think that Larsen played
this move because of the idea l l .Bf6 Qf6 12. Nc3)
10 ... Ng4(4) 11. g3(1 5) h5( 1 8) 12. h3(6) h4(6) (Sacrificing a piece Black is
attacking at the White's King)
13. hg(53) (Larsen was thinking for this move almost one hour. But there
was no right move. If 1 3. Bg4 Bg4 14. hg : hg : 15. Rgl Rhl 1 6. Rhl : g2
17. Rgl Qh4 1 8 . Ke2 Qg4 19. Kel Qg3 20. Ke2 Qf3 2 1 . Kel Be7 with mate.)
13 • • • hg3 :(1) 14. Rgl(O) Rhl(4) 15. Rhl :(17) g2(3) 16. Rf1(4) Qh4(1)

66
17. Kdl{l) gfQ(O) 0 : 1 Comments by B. Spassky (In the brackets is a number
of minutes for every move)

12. PETROSIAN - FISCHER

English

1. c4, g6, 2. Nc3, c5, 3. g3, Bg7, 4. Bg2, Nc6, 5. Nf3, e6, 6. 0-0, Nge7,
7.d3, 0-0, 8. Bd2, d5, 9. a3, b6, 10. Rbl, Bb7, 11. b4, cb4, 12. ab4, dc4,
13. dc4, Rc8, 14. c5, bc5: 15. bc5, Na5 ! 16. Na4, Nc6, 17. Qe2, Nb7, 18.
Rfcl, Qd7, 19. Nel, Nd5, 20. Nb2, Bb5, 21.. Ned3, Bd4, 22. Qb3, Nc5 :
23. Nc5 : Rc5 : 24. Rc5 : Bc5 : 25. Nd3, Bd3, 26. Qd3, Rd8, 27. Bf3, Qc7,
28. Bg5, Be7, 29. Be7 : Qe7 : 30. Qd4, e5, 31. Qc4, Nb6, 32. Qc2, Rc8,
33. Qd3, Rc4, 34. Bg2, Qc7, 35. Qa3, Rc3, 36. Qa5, Rc5, 37. Qa3, a5,
38. h4, Nc4, 39. Qd3, Nd6, 40. Kh2, Kg7, (adjourned)
41. Rdl, Ne8, 42. Qd7, Qd7 : 43. Rd7 : Nf6, 44. Ra7, Ng4+, 45. Kgl, Rel +
46. Bfl, Ral, 47. e4, a4, 48. Kg2, Ra2, 49. Rf7 : + , Kf7 : 40. Bc4 + , Ke7,
51. Ba2 : a3, 52. Kf3, Nf6, 53. Ke3, Kd6, 54. f4, Nd7, 55. Bbl, Nc5, 56. f5,
Na6, 57. g4, Nb4, 58. fg6, hg6 : 59. h5, gh5 : 50. gh5 : Ke6, 61. Kd2,
Kf6, 62. Kc3, a2, 63. Ba2 : Na2+ : 64. Kb2, Nb4, 65. Kc3, Nc6, 66. Kc4, Nd4,
0 :1

1 3. PORTISCH - KORCHNOI

(Nimzo-Indian)

1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. e3, 0-0, 5. Bd3, d5, 6. Nf3, c5, 7.0-0,
dc4, 8. Bc4 : Nbd7, 9. Qb3, a6, 10. a4, Ba5, 11. Rdl, cd4, 12. ed4, Qb6,
13. Qc2, Qc7, 14. Bd3, h6, 15. Bd2, Bb4, 16. Qb3, Bd6, 17. Rael, Qd8,
18. Bbl, b6, 19. Ne5, Bb7, 20. Bf4, Qe7, 21. Rel, Rfe8, 22. Qc2, Rac8,
23. Nd7 : Qd7 : 24. Be5, Qd8, 25. Bf6, Qf8 : 26. Qh7+ , Kf8, 27. d5, Ke6:
28. Rcdl, Rh8, 29. Qd3, Rhd8, 30. Qe2, Bc5, 31. Ba2, Kf8, Yz : Yz
5•
67
14. POLUGAYEVSKY - HORT
English

1. e4, e5, 2. Ne3, Ne6, 3. Nf3, Nf6, 4. e3, d6, 5. d4, Bg4, 6. d5, Nb8, 7. e4,
Be7, 8. h3, Bh5, 9. Be3, a5, 10. Bd3, Na6, 11. g4, Bg6, 12. Qe2, Nd7, 13. h4,
h5, 14. g5, Nde5, 15. Be2, e6, 16. a3, 0-0, 17. Nd2, ed5, 18. ed5, Re8,
19. Rbl, f6, 20. Rgl, Kh7, 21. Rg3, Qe8, 22. Ne4, b5, 23. gf6, be4, 24. fe7,
Qe7 : 25. Rg5, Nd3 + , 26. Bd3 :, ed3, 27. Qd3 : Ne5, 28. Be5 : Re5 : 29. Ke2,
Q� Yz : Yz

. . �� � �----� .

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rf."�-ff""��%-
•
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-�-!�
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m m lj m n
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Draw agreed here!

1 5. GLIGORIC - GELLER

Kings Indian

1. d4, Sf6, 2. e4, g6, 3. Ne3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6, 5. Nf3, 0-0, 6. Be2, e5, 7. d5, a5,
8. Be3, Ng4, 9. Bg5, f6, 10. Bh4, Na6, 11. Nd2, Nh6, 12. f3, Bd7, 13. 0-0,
Nf7, 14. Nb3, b6, 15. Ncl, Ne5, 16. Nd3, Qe8, 17. b3, f5, 18. a3, Bh6, 19.
Bf2, Qe7, 20. Qe2, fe4, 21. fe4, Ng5, 22. Ne5 : de5, 23. a4, Nf7, 24. Qd3,
Nd6, 25. Bf3, Rf7, 26. Be3, Bg5, 27. g3, Raf8, 28. Bg2, Kg7, 29. Rf7 : +
Rf7 : 30. Qd2, Be3 + , 31. Qe3 : h5, 32. Ndl Yz : Yz

1 6. SMYSLOV - RESHEVSKY

English

1 . e4, Nf6, 2. Ne3, e6, 3. Nf3, b6, 4. e4, Bb7, 5. d3, d6, 6. g3, Be7, 7. Bg2,
0-0, 8. 0-0, e5, 9. h3, Ne6, 10. d4, ed4, 1 1 . Nd4 : Re8, 12. Ne6 : Be6 :
13. Bf4, Qe7, 14. Qe2, a6, 15. Rael, Rfd8, 16. Rfdl, Qa7, 17. a4, e5, 18. Bg5,
a5, 19. Nb5, Qb8, 20. h4, h6, 21. Bf6, Bf6 : 22. Ne3, Be7, 23. Bh3, Re7,
24. Rd3, Bb7, 25. b3, Be6, 26. Redl, Bf8, 27. Qe3, Qb7, 28. Kh2, Kh8, 29. h5,
Kg8, 30. Bf5, Qb8, 31. Qf3, Re7, 32. Qg4, Qe7, 33. Rf3, R7e8, 34. Rel,
Re7, 35. Nd5, Bd5, 36. ed5, e4, 37. Be4 : Re5, 38. Bd3, Rde8, 39. Kg2, Qe7,
40. Rf5, Rel? 41. Rel : QdlQ+ adjourned. 42. Rf3, Qe7, 43. Qf5, g6, 44. hg6,
f6, 45. Qf6 : Bg7, 46. Qf7+ Kh8, 47. Qe7 : Re7 : 48. Rf4, Kg8, 49. Rh4,

68
Re5, 50. Kf3, h5, 51. Rf4, Re8, 52. Bf5, Bf6, 53. Bd7, Rf8, 54. Rf5, h4,
55. gh4 : Bh4 : 56. Be6+ Kg7, 57. Bf7, Rh8, 58. Kg4, Bf6, 59. Rf3, Rhl,
60. Kf5, Rel, 61. Re3, Rfl, 62. Ke6, Bd4, 63. Kd6 : 1 :0

17. UHLMAN - TAJMANOV

Queen's Indian
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nf3, b6, 4. g3, Bb7, 5. Bg2, Be7, 6. 0-0, 0-0,
7. d5, ed5, 8. Nd4, Nc6, 9. cd5, Nd4 : 10. Qd4, c5, 11. Qd3, d6, 12. Nc3, a6,
13. Bf4, b5, 14. a4, b4, 15. Ndl, a5, 16. b3, Ba6, 17. Qc2, Nd7, 18. Be4, g6,
19. Bd3, Nb6, 20. Bh6, Re8, 21. Ne3, Bf6, 22. Radl, Qc8, 23. Kg2, Bd3 :
24. Rd3 : Ra7, 25. Nc4, Nc4 : 26. Qc4 : Rae7, 27. Rf3, Re4, 28. Qb5, Qd8,
29. Be3, Bd4, 30. Bd4 : Rd4 : 31. Rd3, Rde4, 32. e3, h5, 33. h4, Kg7, 34. Rel,
g5, 35. hg5, h4, 36. Rc4, Qg5 37. Re4 : Re4 : 38. Qd7, Qg6, 39. Rdl, hg3,
40. Rgl, Rh4 0 :1

1 8 . BOTVINIK - MATULOVI C
English
1. c4, c5, 2. Nf3, g6, 3. e4, Nc6, 4. d4, cd4, 5. Nd4 : Nf6, 6. Nc3, d6, 7. Be2,
Nd4 : 8. Qd4 : Bg7, 9. Be3, 0-0, 10. Qd2, Be6, 11. f3, Qa5, 12. Nb5,
Qd2 : + 13. Kd2 : Nd7, 14. Rabi, Ne5, 15. Rhcl, Rfcl, 16. b3, Nc6,
17. f4, f5, 18. Bf3, fe4, 19. Be4 : Bf5, 20. Bf5 : gf5, 21. Ke2, Kf7, 22. Rcdl,
a6, 23. Nd4, Nd4 : + 24. Bd4 : b5, 25. Bg7 : Kg7 : 26. Rdcl Yz : Y2
19. NAJDORF - TA L
Nimzoindian
1. Nf3, Nf6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nc3, d5, 4. d4, c5, 5. cd5, Nd5 : 6. e3, Nc6, 7. Bc4,
cd4, 8. ed4, Be7, 9. 0-0, 0-0, 10. Rel, Nc3 : 11. bc3, b6, 12. Bd3, Bb7,
13. Qc2, g6, 14. Bh6, Re8, 15. Qd2, Rc8, 16. h4, Na5, 17. Ng5, Bf8, 18. Bf8 :
Rf8 : 19. h5, Nc4, 20. Bc4 : Rc4 : 21. hg6, hg6, 22. Qf4, Qd5, 23. f3, Kg7,
24. Ne4, Qf5, 25. Qg3, Be4 : 26. fe4, Qa5, 27. Re3, Rfc8, 28. Rfl, Rc3 :
29. Ref3, R8c7, 30. Qf4, Kg8, 31. Qd6, Rf3 : 32. Qd8+, Kg7. 33. Rf3, Qel +,
34. Kh2, Rc3, 35. Qf6+, Kh6, 36. Qf4+, Kh7, 37. Qf7 :+ Kh6, 38. Qf4+
Kh7, 39. Qf7+ Kh6, 40. Df8 + Kh5 (adjourned)

- - - -
-�a%-.Mmil1. mm
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f��,B
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."/:

- ��- -
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Wh ite to play and win 3 8 . Qf4 +

69
41. Qh8+ Kg5, 42. Qe5+ Kh6, 43. Qf4 + Kh7, 44. Rfl, Qe2, 45. Qf7+
Kh6, 46. Qf8+ Kh5, 47. Rf4, Qel, 48. Qh8+ Kg5, 49. Qe5+ Kh6, 50. Rg4
1 :0

20. KERES - IVKOV

Ruy Lopez

1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0-0, Be7, 6. Rel, d6,
7. Bc6 : + bc6, 8. d4, Nd7, 9. Nbd2, 0-0, 10. Nc4, Bf6, 11. Be3, Qe8, 12.
Qd2, Qe6, 13. Qc3, Rb8, 14. b3, Re8, 15. Na5, ed4, 16. Bd4 : c5, 17. Bf6 :
18. Qf6 : gf6, 19. Nd2, Ne5, 20. f4, Ng6, 21. g3, Bd7, 22. Nac4, Bc6, 23. Ne3,
Kf8, 24. Kf2, Be4 : 25. f5, Bc6, 26. fg6, fg6, 27. Nec4, Kg7, 28. a3, Rel :
29. Rel : g5, 30. Ne3, h5, 31. Nf5, Re8, 32. Re8 : Be8 : 33. h4, d5, 34. b4,
Bd7, 35. Ne3, cb4, 36. ab4, gh4, 37. gh4, Ke6, 38. Nf3, Kd6, 39. c3, c5,
40. Ke2, Kc6, 41. Kd3, 41� . . Be8, 42. bc5 : Kc5 : 43. Nd4, Bg6+, 44. Kd2,
a5, 45. Ng2, Kd6, 46. Nf4, Be8, 47. Nd3, Bg6, 48. Nb5+ , Kc6, 49. Nf4,
Be8, 50. Na3, Kd6, 51. Kf3, Ke5, 52 Nc2, a4, 53. Nd4, a3, 54. Nd3+ Kd6,
55. Nc2, a2, 56. Nb4, Bg6, 57. Nal, Kc5, 58. Nb3 + , Kc4, 59. Nd2+, Kc3 : 60.
Na2 : + Kb2, 61. Nb4, Bf7, 62. Kd4, Kcl, 63. Nf3, Kdl, 64. Ke3, Bg8, 65.
Nd3, Kc2, 66. Nf4, Bf7, 67. Kd4, Kdl, 68. Kd3, Kcl, 69. Ne2+ , Kb2,
70. Nc3, Bg8, 71. Kd4, Kc2, 72. Nd5 : Bd5 : 73. Kd5 : Kd3, 74. Nd4, Ke3,
75. Nf5, Kf4, 76. Ke6 1 :0

70
 TlllRD ROUND

SOVIET UNION WORLD

I. SPASSKY 0 LARSEN I
2. PETROSIAN 0,5 FISCHER 0,5
3. KORCHNOI 0 PORTISCH 1
4. POLUGAYEVSKY 0,5 HORT 0,5
5. GELLER 0,5 GLIGORIC 0,5
6. SMYSLOV 0 RESHEVSKY I
7. TAJMANOV 0,5 UHLMAN 0,5
8. BOTVINIK 0, 5 MATULOVIC 0,5
9. TAL I NAJDORF 0
10. KERES
-- 0,5 IVKOV
-- 0,5
4 6

2 1 . SPASSKY - LARSEN
Queens Indian
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nf3, b6, 4. Nc3, Bb7, 5. Bg5, Be7, 6. e3, 0---0, 7. Bd3,
c5, 8. 0---0, Nc6, 9. d5, Nb4, 10. d6, Bd6 : 1 1 . Bh7+ Kh7+, 12. Qd6+ Bf3 :

- - - -
- m m ,,m ...
-
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%"',f;, -·�-
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ono/.fj-.:;£���'Wt
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.�--,,--�. i•�"""�� ... � �J
� � - //�
3 7 . Kfl ?? (37. Nb6 draws easly)

13. gf3 : Ne8, 14. Qe7, Qe7 : 15. Be7 : Rg8, 16. Rfdl, Nc6, 17. Rd7 : Ne5,
18. Rb7, Nc4 :, 19. Ne4, Na5, 20. Rd7, Nc6, 21. f4, Rc8, 22. Rel, a5, 23. a3,

71
Kg6, 24. Kg2, Rh8, 25. Kf3, Rh2, 26. Ng5, e5, 27. Rgl, ef4, 28. Bd6, Nd6 :
29. Rd6 : + f6, 30. Ne6+ Kf5, 31. Nf4 : Ne5 + , 32. Ke2, Re8, 33. Rb6 : Nc4,
34. Rb3, g5, 35. Nd5, Re5, 36. Rdl, g4, 37. Kfl, Rhl + 38. Ke2, Tdl : 0 :1

22. FISCHER - PETROSYAN

Caro Kann
1. e4, c6, 2. d4, d5, 3. Nc3, g6, 4. e5, Bg7, 5. f4, h5, 6. Nf3, Bg4, 7. h3, Bf3 :
8. Qf 3 : e6, 9. g3, Qb6, 10. Qf2, Ne7, 1 1 . Bd3, Nd7, 12. Ne2, 0-0---0, 13. c3,
f6, 14. b3, Nf5, 15. Rgl, c5, 16. Bf5 : gf5, 17. Be3, Qa6, 18. Kfl, cd4 : 19.
cd4 : Nb8, 20. Kg2, Nc6, 2 1 . Ncl, Rd7, 22. Qd2, Qa5, 23. Qa5 : Na5 :
24. Nd3, Nc6, 25. Rael, Rc7, 26. Rc3, b6, 27. Rgcl, Kb7, 28. Nb4, Rhc8,
29. Rc6 : Rc6 : 30. Rc6 : Rc6 : 31. Nc6 : Kc6 : 32. Kf3 Yz : Yz

23. KORCHNOI - PORTISCH

Ruy Lopez
1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0---0, Be7, 6. Rel, b5,
7. Bb3, d6, 8. h3, Na5, 9. Nc3, 0-0, 10. d3, Re8, 1 1 . Bg5, c6, 12. Ne2, h6,
13. Bd2, Nb3 : 14. ab3, c5, 15. Ng3, Bf8, 16. c4, b4, 17. Nh2, Nh7, 18. Ng4,
Ra7, 19. f4, ef4, 20. Bf4 : Nf6, 21. Nh2, Nd7, 22. Qd2, Ne5, 23. Rfl, Kh7,
24. Rf2, g6, 25, Rafi, Bg7, 26. Khl, R8e7, 27. Be3, Qh8, 28. Rf4, Kg8,
29. Rh4, h5, 30. Bg5, Reb7, 31. Rhf4, Nc6, 32. Bf6, Qh6, 33. Bg7 : Kg7 :
34. Nf3, Kh8, 35. h4, Bg4, 36. Ng5, Qg7, 37. Rf6, Rd7, 38. Qf2, Kg8, 39.
Qf4, Ne5, 40. Qd2, Nc6 (adjourned) 41. Rlf2, Rac7, 42. Kgl, a5, 43. Nfl,
Bf5, 44. R6f5 : gf5, 45. ef5, Ne5, 46. Ne3, Rc8, 47. f6, Qh6, 48. Nf5, Qg6,
49. Ne7+ Re7, 50. fe7, Re8, 51. Ne4, Ng4, 52. Rf3, Re7 : 53. Qf4, Re6,
54. Rfl, Nc5, 55. Nd6 : Nd3 : 56. Nf7 : Qf7 : 57. Nf7 : Nb2, 58. Nd8, Rb6,
59. Rf5, Nd3, 60. Rd5, Ncl, 61. Rc5 : Nb3, 62. Rb5, Rb5 : 63. cb5, Nc5 0 :1

Sammy in his best

Sammy Rechevsky received a prize for his victory against Smyslov in the third
round . It was one of the four best games of the match. Reshevsky had an even
score against Smislov in Belgrade 1 , 5 : 1 ,5, but he did not play the fourth
game. Because of the religious reasons he could not start his fourth game
before 7,30 P.M. and instead of him Olafsson played.
Here is Reshevsky's victory against ex-world champion Vasilij Smislov with
Reshevsky's comments :

24. RESHEVSKY - SMYSLOV

(Ruy Lopez)
1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0---0, Be7, 6. Rel, b5,
7. Bb3, d6, 8. c3, 0-0, 9. h3, Na5 (I expected that Smislov would play his
move 9 . . . h6 which has gained great popularity in recent years.)

72
10. Be2, e5, 1 1 . d4, Ne6 (More often 1 1 . . . Qc7) 12. Nbd2, Qe7, 13. de : de :
(We came to the well known Chigorin variation but with exchange order
of the moves)
14. Nfl, Be6, 15. Ne3, Rad8, 16. Qe2, e4, 17. Nf5 (Fischer played against
Holmov, Havana 1 966. 1 7. Ng5, h6, 1 8 . Ne6 : fe :)
17. . . Rfe8, 18. Bg5, Nd7, 19. Be7 : (I wanted to test my new idea. Till now
it has been pla yed 19. Ne7 in order to save two bishops, but without advan­
tage for White.) 19 . Ne7 : 20. Ng5 (This is a point of the previous move)
. •

20. . . Ng6? (Nf8 was better)

21. g3, h6, 22. Ne6, fe : (If 22 . . . Re6 : 23. Red 1 with 24. a4 or Nf5-e3-d5)
23. Ne3, Ne5, 24. Radl, Rdl : 25. Rdl : Rd8, 26. b4, eb : 27. Rd8 : Rd8 :
28. ab3 : Qb6, 29. b4, Nd7, 30. Bb3, Nf6, 31. Ng4, Ng4 : (Smislov thin ks
that it was better 3 1 . . . Kf7 but White would have a positional ad, antage
with 32. h4)
32. Qg4 : Nf8, 33. Qf5 ! Qe7 (If 33 . . . Qd6, 34. Kg2, Kh8, 35. Qf7, Kh7,
36. h4 . . . )
34. Be6 : + Ne6 : 35. Qe6 : + Kf8, 36. Qa6 : Qe3, 37. Qb5, Qel, 38. Kg2,
Qe4 :+, 39. Kh2, Ke7, 40. Qe5+ Ke6, 41. Qe8+ Kf7, 42. Qd7 + Kg8,
43. b5, Qe2, 44. Qd5+ Kh7, 45. Kg2, e4, 46. Qd4, Kg8, 47. b6, Qb3, 48. Qe5,
Qb2, 49. Qe6, Kf7, 50. h4, g6, 51. Qe7, Ke6, 52. Qh7, Qf6, 53. Qh6 : Qf3+,
54 . Kgl 1 :0

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3 3 . Qf5 !
25. HORT - POLUGAYEVSKY
Queens pawn game
1. d4, Nf6, 2. Nf3, e6, 3. Bg5, h6, 4. Bh4, b6, 5. Nbd2, Bb7, 6. e3, Be7,
7. h3, Ne4, 8. Be7 : Qe7 : 9. Ne4 : Be4 : 10. e3, 0-0, 11. Bd3, Bd3 : Yi : Yi

26. GELLER - GLIGORI C

Ruy Lopez
1. e4, e5, 2. Nf3, Ne6, 3. Bb5, a6, 4. Ba4, Nf6, 5. 0-0, Be7, 6. Rel, b5,
7. Bb3, d6, 8. c3, 0--0, 9. h3, h6, 10. d4, Re8, 11. Nbd2, Bf8, 12. NfJ , Bb7,

73
13. Ng3, Na5, 14. Bc2, Nc4, 15. b3, Nb6, 16. Bb2, c5, 17. de5 : de5 : 18. c4,
Nbd7, 19. Qe2, b4, 20. Radl, Qa5, 21. Bbl, Re6, 22. Nf5, Rae8, 23. Ne3,
Nb8, 24. Nd5, Nc6, 25. Rd2 Yz : Yz

27. T AJMANOV - UHLMAN

Griinfeld

1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, d5, 4. Bg5, Ne4, 5. Bh4, c5, 6. cd5 : Nc3, 7. bc3,
Qd5 : 8. e3, Bg7, 9. Qf3, Qd8, 10. Bb5, + Nd7, 1 1 . Ne2, 0-0, 12. 0-0, a6,
13. Bd3, Rb8, 14. a4, b6, 15. Rfdl, Qe8, 16. Be4, e5, 17. Bc6, Qe6, 18.
Bg3, Rd8, 19. Qe5, Be5 : 20. Bd5, Qe7, 21. Qf7 :+ Qf7 : 22. Bf7 : Kf7,
23. Be5 : Rb7, 24. Bf4, Re8, 25. f3, c4, 26. Rd4, Ne5, 27. Rc4, Be6, 28. Rb4,
a5, 29. Rb2, Bd7, 30. Rba2, Nb3, 31. Rdl, Nc5, 32. Rd4, Ne6, 33. Rc4, g5,
34. Bd6, Nc5, 35. Nd4, Na4 : 36. Rca4 : Ba4 : 37. Ra4 : Re3 : 38. Nb5, Rel + ,
39. Kf2, Rbl, 40. c4, Rd7, 41. Be5, Rd2+ , 42. Ke3, Rg2, 43. Ke4, Rb4,
44. Rb4 : ab4 : 45. Nd4, Ke7, 46. Bc7, Kd7, 47. Bb6 : b3, 48. Nb3 : Rb2,
49. Be3, Rb3, 50. Bg5, Rc3, 51. Bf6, Rc4 52. Kf5, Rc2, 53. h4, Rf2, 54. f4,
Ke8, 55. Kg5, Rg2+ 56. Kh5, Rg6, 57. Bg5, Kf7, 58. f5, Rc6, 59. f6, Ke6
(adjourned) 60. Kh6 Rc7 61. Be3 Yz : Yz

28. MATULOVIC - BOTVINIK

Pirc defense

1. e4, g6, 2. d4, Bg7, 3. Nf3, d6, 4 . Nc3, Nf6, 5. Be2, 0-0, 6. 0-0, Bg4,
7. Bg5, Nc6, 8. h3, 9. Bf3 : Nfd7, 10. Ne2, h6, 11. Be3, e5, 12. c3, Nb6,
13. b3, d5, 14. ed5 : Nd5 : 15. Bd5, Qd5 : 16. de5, Qe5, 17. Nd4, Qd5, 18. Qcl,
Kh7, 19. Rdl, Rad8, 20. Qc2, Rfe8, 21. Rd2, Nd4 : 22. Bd4 : Bd4 : 23. Rd4 :
Qe5, 24. Radl, Rd4 : 25. cd4 : Qe2, 26. Rd2, Qel + 27. Kh2, c6, 28. Qc4,
Re7, 29. Rd3, Kg7, 30. Rf3, Rd7, 31. Qc5, a6, 32. Rf4, Rd5, 33. Qc2, Qe6,
34. g3, g5, 35. Re4, Qf6, 36. h4, Rd4 : 37. hg5, hg5, 38. Rd4 : Qd4 : 39. Qf5,
Qd5, 40. Qc8, c5, 41. a4, (ajdourned) 41. . . Kf6, 42. a5, Qf5, 4l. Qb7 :
Qf2 : 44. Kh3, Qfl +, 45. Kh2, Qe2, 46. Kh3, Qe6+ 47. Kh2, Qe2+, 48.
Kh3, Kg6, 49. Qb6, Kh5, 50. Qc5 : Qe6+ 51. Kg2, Qb3, 52. Qf5, Qa2+,
53. Kf3, Qa3+ 54. Kg2, Qa2+ 55. Kf3, Qb3+ 56. Kg2, Qb7 + , 57. Kh2,
Qb2 +, 58. Kh3, Qg7, 59. Qc5, Qf6, 60. g4+ , Kh6, 61. Qb6, Kg7, 62. Kg2,
Qe6, 63. Qd4+ f6, 64. Qb4, Qd5, 65. Kf2, Kf7, 66. Qb6, Qc4 67. Kg3,
Ke7, 68. Kh3, Qel +, 69. Kg3, Qd3+ 70. Kg2, Qe4 +, 71. Kg3, Qf4+,
72. Kh3, Q fl, 73. Kg3, Qel + 74. Kg2, Qd2+ , 75. Kh3, Qd5 +, 76. Kg2,
Qd5+, 77. Kh3, Qhl + , 78. Kg3, Qh4 + , 79. Kf3, Qh3+, 80. Kf2, Qh2+,
81. Kfl, Qf4 + , 82. Kel, Qg3 +, 83. Kfl, Qf4 +, 84. Kel, Qd6, 85. Qb7+
Ke6, 86. Qb3+, Ke5, 87. Qe3+, Kd5, 88. Qd3+ Kc::, 89. Qa3+ , Kc6,
90. Qa4 : Kd5, 91. Qb3+ Ke4, 92. Qc4+ Kf3, 93. Qd3+ Yz : Yz

74
29. TAL - NAJDORF
Sicilian
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4, cd4 : 4. Nd4 : e6, 5. Nc3, Qc3, 6. g3, a6, 7. Bg2,
Nf6, 8. 0-0, d6, 9. Rel, Bd7, 10. Nc6 : bc6 : 1 1 . Na4, e5, 12. c4, Be7, 13. c5,
0-0, 14. cd6 : Bd6 : 15. Bg5, Be7, 16. Qc2, h6, 17. Be3, Rab8, 18. Rael,
Rfd8, 19. h3, Nh7, 20. Bc5, Be8, 21. Redl, Rdl : 22. Rdl : Ng5, 23. Be7 :
Qe7 : 24. Nc5, Ne6, 25. Ne6, Qe6 : 26. b3, Qe7, 27. Qc3, Rb4, 28. h4, f6,
29. Rd3, Kh7, 30. Bh3, Bg6, 31. Rd7, Qf8, 32. Qc6 : Re4 : 33. Qa6 : Rel +
34. Kh2, f5, 35. Rd6, Lh5, 36. Qd3, e4, 37. Qd5, Bg4, 38. Qf6, Rd8, 39.
Qg8+ Kg6, 40. Qe8+ Kh7, 41. Bg4 : fg4 : 42. Qg8+ Kg6, 43. Tf8 (adjolil'ned)
43 . . . Qe7 1 :0

30. IVKOV - KERES

Queen's gambit
1. Sf3, d5, 2. c4, e6, 3. d4, c5, 4. cd5 : ed5 : 5. g3, Nc6, 6. Bg2, Nf6, 7. 0---0,
Be7, 8. Nc3, 0-0, 9. dc5 : Bc5 : 10. Bg5, d4, 11. Bf6 : Qf6 : 12. Ne4, Qe7,
13. Nc5 : Qc5 : 14. Qd2, Bg4, 15. Rael, Qb6, 16. Ng5, Rad8, 17. Qf4, Bh5,
18. Qh4, Bg6, 19. Be4, Ne5, 20. Nh7 : Rfe8, 21. Ng5, d3, 22. ed3 : f5,
23. Bg2, Rd4, 24. Qh3, Nd3 : 25. Nf3, Ncl, 26. Nd4 : Qd4 : 27. Rel :
Re2, 28. Rfl, Rb2 : 29. Bf3, Ra2, 30. Bbl : a5, 31. Qg2, Bf7, 32. Qf3, g6,
33. h4, Ral, 34. Ral : Qal :+ 35. Kh2, Qc5, 36. Bc6, Kg7, 37. Qa3, f4,
38. Qa4, fg3 + 39. fg3, Qb2+ 40. Bg2, Qc3, 41. Qb5 (adjourned)
41. . . Qc7, 42. h5, gh5 : 43. Qg5, + Kf8, 44. Qh6+ Ke8, 45. Bc6+ Ke7,
46. Qg5+ Kd6, 47. Bg2, Kd7, 48. Qf6 Yz : 1/2

Ivkov, Gligo ric, Spassky, Keres, Najdo r f

75
 THE FOURTH ROUND

SOVIET UNION WORLD

I. STEIN 0 LARSEN I
2. PETROSIAN 0,5 FISCHER 0,5
3. KORCHNOI 0,5 POR fISCH 0,5
4. POLUGAYEVSKY 0,5 HORT 0,5
5. GELLER 0,5 GLIGORI C 0,5
6. SMISLOV I OLAFFSON 0
7. TAJMANOV 0 UHLMAN I
8. BOTVINIK 0,5 MATULOVI C 0,5
9. TAL 0,5 NAJDORF 0,5
10. KERES I IVKOV 0
5 5

LARY EVANS : THE LAST ROUND

Eight-time U. S. champion Bobby Fischer (27) adjourned in a slightly inferior

endgame with virtuoso Tigran Petrosian (40). Unlike other masters Bobby
works alone on all his unfinished games, checking with his second only to
discover if there is a glaring flaw in his analysis. A knock came at four in
the morning and he showed me the position. I again pronounced it a dead
draw and advised him to try and get some sleep. Bobby told me he landed
in the room next door to Petrosian (his third room change to thwart some
infernal noises) and could hear the phone ringing every few minutes a'l new
winning ideas were discussed with a team of analysts in separate rooms.
At lunch the next day Bobby barely glanced away from a familiar companion,
his frayed chess wallet. He had precisely the kind of position he hates most,
a passive one where there is l ittle to do but sit back and writ. He showed
up tired and unshaven upon resumption of play, and I feared for the worst.
But he held the precious draw and emerged undefeated, settling an old score
and giving the world its best individual result, 3 points out of 4.
Hungary's Lajos Portisch (33) forgot that it was his birthday and extended
costly gift by allowing Viktor Korchnoi (38) a draw by repetition on move 25.
Since Portisch had a technically won position and more time on his clock,
his teammates were understandbly biter. "I'm really mad! It's di�graceful,"

77
said Fischer subsequently. "Korchnoi's position was hopeless." B. H. Wood
was of the opinion that the Hungarian "suffered from a rush of blood to
his boots." This incident is likely to increase the hue and cry against
grandmaster draws at the next meeting of F. I. D. E. It may even give fresh
impetus to proposals for variable value draws instead of an automatic Yz as
is now the case. This would radically change the scoring system and force
players to try harder with the White pieces. However, Korchnoi had n o
complaint, although he dropped t h e s e t 2 , 5 : 1 , 5. The entire match would
have been tied had he lost this game as well.
Yugoslavia's veteran Svetozar Gligoric (47) failed to press a big advantage
a'l stocky Yefim Geller (45) escaped with a draw to take the set 2,5 : 1 ,5.
This was the only one of the top five where the Russians were uns carred by
defeat.
Icelandic lawyer Fridrik Olaffson (35) proved to be no match for amateur
opera singer Vassily Smyslov (49), who piled up 2,5. Ever-youthful Sammy
Reshev'lky, was replaced because, as an orthodox Jew, he was unable to start
this game early enough on Saturday. But he turned in a respectable 1 , 5 : 1 ,5,
in addition to fashioning a positional game in the third round.
East Germany's Wolfgang Uhlman (35) tasted revenge against concert pianist
Mark Taimanov (44), but it was too late to overcome a disastrous start as
Russia again scored 2,5 : 1 , 5. I have a particular fondness for Taimanov
since he was my victim in New York, 1 954, at the USA- USSR meet.

LARSEN'S BEST GAME

Bent Larsen received two special prizes for his victory against Leonid Stein, in
the fourth round. Before the third game Larsen had played three games againt
World Champion Boris Spassky ( 1 ,5 : 1 ,5). They shared the prize : each got
one thousand dollars. But for the following game Larsen got the prize for
the best game of the fourth round as well as the one of two most beautiful
games of the Match. The other is Celler's victory in the first round aga inst
Gligoric. Here is that ber..utiful Larsen's victory with his commentc; :

3 1 . LARSEN - STEIN
(Kings's Indian Defence)

1. Nf3, Nf6, 2. g3, g6 (I prepared to play against Spassky and because of

that I was suprised when I heard that I would play against Stein)
3. Bg2, Bg7, 4 . c4, 0-0, 5. 0---0, d6, 6. d4 Nbd7, 7. Nc3, e5, 8. e4, ed :
9. Nd4: Re8, 10. Rel (I played against Tai 1 0.h3 which I consider better,
but I am older now)
10 • • • Ng4, 1 1 . f3 It is normal h3 but I feared the Russian analyses)
,

11 . . . Nge5, 12. b3, Nc5, 13. Be3, c5, 14. Bd2 (Of course not 1 4. ef: Ned3,
12. Re2, Re3 :
14 . . . fe : 15. Bg5 (Stein played this move quickly, I feared possibility 1 5 . . .
Bf6, 1 6. Bf6 : Qf6, 1 7. Nd5 (if 1 7. Ne4 :? Ned : 1 8. Re4 : c5. It is not good

78
 1 5 . . . Nc4: 1 6. be : Bd4+) ( 1 7. Qd4 : Qg5, 1 8 . Nd5 with a big advantage
for White.)
16. Ne4 : Ne4 : 17. Re4 : Nc6, 18. Nc6 : (If Re8 + , 18 . . . Qe8 : 19. Be3, Qe3 +,
and wins a piece. The other possibility : 1 8. Be3, Re4 : + , fe : with Black's
advantage.
18 • • Re4 : ( 1 8 . . . Ba l : 19. Ne7 + Kh8, 20. Qe l with double attack on
•

al and Ng6+)
19. fe : Qc6 (After this move White gets a constant advantage. It was better
for Black 1 9 . . . be with a solid position. If 1 9 . . . Ba l ? 20. Ne7+ Kf8, 2 1 .
Qf2+ Ke8, 22. e5, de : 23. Nd5, Bd4, 24. Be3 with a winning position.
If 20. . . Kg7, 2 1 . Qf4, Qe8, 22. Nd5, Qf7, 23. Nc7 : with advantage for
White. After 20. . . Kh8, 2 1 . Qf4, Bg7, 22. Qf7 and wins.)
20. e5, Qc5+, 21. Khl, Be6 : (The best defence. It is bad 2 1 . . . Be5 : because
of 22. Bd 5 + Kg7, 23. Rfl (If 22. . . Kh8, 23. Rel with Re5 :)
22. Bb7 : Rf8, 23. Be3, Qe5: 24. Rel (White has a constant advantage. In this
position Stein was thinking about 33 minutes according to Bronstein's cal­
culations and Stein came into the ending which he usually does not like.)
24 • Qc3, 25. Kg2, Qd2 :+, 26. Bd2 : Bd4, 27. Bf4, Kf7, 28. Bh6, Rb8,
• •

29. Bc6, Bf6, 30. Be3, a6, 31. Bd2, Rb6, 32. Bf3, Rb8, 33. Ba5, Bd8 (Stein
did not drop into the small trap 33. . . Rc8? 34. Re6 : (Stein was in time prea­
sure) 34. Rfl, Kg8, 35. Bc6, Bf7, 36. g4, Be7, 37. Kg3, Rd8, 38. Rdl, Bf6,
39. h4, Be5+, 40. Kg2, Rc8, 41. g5, Kg7 (The game was adjourned here
but I was sure that I would win because in every variation White wins a pawn.)
42. Bd7, Rd8, 43. Bg4, d5, 44. Bf3, h6 (If 44. . . d4, 45. Rel , Re8, 46. Bb4
wits 46. Bc6, if 46 . . . Bd6, 47. Re8 :)
45. gh+ Kh6 : 46. Bd2+ Kg7, 47. Bg5, Rd6, 48. Bd5 : (Also winning 48. de :
but I was sure that with the Bishop I would win more easily If 48. c5, Rc6,
49. b4, a5, 50. a3, Bc3 : and Black is save.)
48 . . . Bd5+, 19. Rd5 : Rd5 : 50. cd : Kf7, 51. Kf3, Ne8, 52. Bf4, Bf6, 53. Bc7 :
� � � � � � - � � � � � � � � � �
Kf4, Bf6, 60. Ke4, Bc3, 61. b5, ab : 62. a6, Kc8, 63. d6, Kb8, 64. Kd5, Bf6,
65. Kc6, g5, 66. Kb5 : g4, 67. Kc4, Ka8, 68. Kd3, Be5, 69. d7, Bc7, 70. Ke4,
gl, 71. Kf3, Bd8, 72. Kg3 : Ba5, 73. Kg4, Bd8, 74. Kf5, Ba5, 75. Ke6, Bc7,
76. Kf7, Ba5, 77. Ke8, Bc7, 78. Be7, Ba5, 79. Bd8, Bd2, 80. Bb6, Bg5, 81. Bc5
1 :0

32. PETROSYAN - FISCHER

Griinfeld
1. c4, g6, 2. d4, Nf6, 3. Nc3, d5, 4. Nf3, Bg7, 5. cd5 : Nd5 : 6. Bd2, c5, 7. Rel,
Nc3 : 8. Bc3 : cd4 : 9. Nd4 : 0-0, 10. e3, Qd5, 11. Nb5, Qdl : + 12. Rdl :
Nc6, 13. Bg7 : Kg7 : 14. Be2, Bf5, 15. g4, a6, 16. Nc3, Be6, 17. f4, Rf8,
18. Kf2, Nb4, 19. a3, Nd5, 20. Ne4, Nf6, 21. Nf6 : ef6 : 22. Bf3, Rac8, 23.
Rd8 : Rd8 : 24. Rdl, Rc8, 25. Rd2, Rc7, 26. h4, h6, 27. Kg3, b5, 28. Rd6,
Rc2, 29. b4, Rc3, 30. Ra6 : Bc4, 31. f5, g5, 32. hg5 : hg5 :, 33. Kf2, Rc2 +
34. Kgl, Rel + , 35. Kg2, Rc2+ 36. Kg3, Rc3, 37. Kf2, Rc2+ 38. Kel, Rg3,
39. Ra5, Re3 : + 40. Kf2, Rd3, (adjourned)

79
41. Bc6, Kf8, 42. Bb5, Bb5 : 43. Rb5 : Ra3 : 44. Rd5, Rb3, 45. Rd4, Ke7,
46. Ke2, Ra3, 47. Kd2, Rb3, 48. Kc2, Re3, 49. Kb2, Ke8, 50. Kcl, Re2,
51. Kdl, Ta2, 52. Kel, Tb2, Yi : Yi

33. PORTISCH - KORCHNOI

English

1. Nf3, c5, 2. c4, Nf6, 3. Nc3, Nc6, 4. d4, cd4: 5. Nd4: e6, 6. g3, Qb6, 7. Nb3,
Ne5, 8. e4, Bb4, 9. Qc2, 0-0, 10. f4, Nc6, 11. e5, Ne8, 12. Bd2, f6, 13. c5,
Qd8, 14. a3, Bc3 : 15. Bc3 : fe5, 16. Be5 : b6, 17. Bg2, Ne5, 18. Ba8 : Nf7,
19. Bg2, bc5 : 20. Nc5 : Qb6, 21. Qf2, Qb5, 22. Qfl, Qc6, 23. Bg2, Qb5,
24. Bfl, Qc6, 25. Bg2 Yi : Yi

34. POLUGAYEVSKY - HORT

Queens gambit

1. c4, Nf6, 2. Nc3, e6, 3. d4, d5, 4. Bg5, Be7, 5. e3, h6, 6. Bh4, b6, 7. cd5 :
Nd5 : 8. Be7 : Qe7 : 9. Nd5 : cd5 : 10. Rel : Bb7, 11. Ne2, Qb4+ 1 2. Qd2,
Qd2 : + 13. Kd2 : Kd7, 14. h4, Nc6, 15. Nf4, Kd6, 16. h5, Ne7, 17. Be2,
c5, 18. dc5 : bc5 : 19. Bf3, Rab8, 20. Rhdl, Rhd8, 21. Kel, Bc6, 22. b3, a5,
23. Nd3, Rb5, 24. Nb2, Kc4, 25. Na4, c4, 26. bc4 : dc4 : 27. Rc4 : Rdl :+
28. Bdl : Kd6, 29. g3, Nd5, 30. Nc3, Nc3 : 31. Rc3, Bd5, 32. a3, Rb2, 33. Rd3,
Kc5, 34. Rc3+ Kd6, 35. Rd3, Kc5, 36. Rc3+ Yi : Yi

35. GLIGORI C - GELLER

Kings Indian

1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6, 5. Nf3, 0-0, 6. Be2, e5, 7. d5,
a5, 8. hg5, h6, 9. Bh4, Na6, 10. 0-0, Bd7, 11. Nel, Nc5, 12. Nd3, b6, 13. f3,
Qe8, 14. Nc5 : bc5 : 15. a4, Nh5, 16. Nb5, Qb8, 17. Bd3, Nf4, 18. Bc2, fS,

80
19. Ra3, Rr7, 20. Khl, Qc8, 21. Bel, NhS, 22. erS : BrS : 23. BrS : grS : 24. g3,
Nr6, 2S. Re3, Qd7, 26. Bc3, Kh8, 27. Rel, Ra6, 28. Qd2, c6, 29. dc6 : Qc6 :
30. Rdl, Ne8, 31. Qg2, Qc8, 32. RdS, Qe6, 33. b3, Nr6, 34. Rdl , dS, 3S. cdS :
NdS : 36. Qd2, Nc3 : 37. Qc3 : Rd7, 38. Qc2, Rc6, 39. Rd7 : Qd7 : 40. Rdl,
Qe6, 41. g4 (adjourned)
41. . . c4, 42. Bc4 Yz : �

36. SMYSLOV - OLAFSSON

Catalan
1. c4, e6, 2. g3, dS, 3. Bg2, Nr6, 4. Nr3, Be7, S. 0-0, 0-0, 6. d4, dc4 :
7. Qc2, a6, 8. Qc4 : bS, 9. Qc2, Bb7, 10. Br4, Nc6, 11. Rdl, Nb4, 12. Qcl,
Qc8, 13. BgS, NbdS, 14. Nbd2, h6, lS. Br6 : Nr6 : 16. Nb3, Bd6, 17. N cS, BdS,
18. NeS, Bg2 : 19. Kg2, aS, 20. Qe3, BcS, 21. dcS : Qa6, 22. Qd3, NdS, 23. e4,
Nr6, 24. r3, c6, 2S. Qe3, Rad8, 26. Rd6, Rd6 : 27. cd, cS, 28. QcS : b4, 29.
Rel, Rd8, 30. Nc6, Ra8, 31. Ne7 + Kh7, 32. eS, Nd7, 33. Qc2+ g6, 34. r4,
Nb6, 3S. Qe2, Qb7, 36. Qr3, Qa6, 37. Rel, Nc4, 38. Qe2, Qb7, 39. Kgl,
Nd6, 40. ed : Qb6+ 41. Qr2, Qd6 : 42. Ne8, Qd3, 43. Nb6, Rd8, 44. b3,
Qrs, 4S. Ne4, Rd3, 46. NeS, Rc3, 47. Qd2, Rel : 48. Qcl : gS, 49. Qd2, Kg7,
SO. Qd3, Qr6, Sl. Qd4, Qrs, S2. Nd3, Qr6, S3. Qe4, Qd8, S4. Nf3, Qdl +
SS. Nd3, Qr6, S6. Qe3, Qbl, S7. Qe2, g4, S8. NeS, hS, S9. Kg2, r6, 60. Nd3,
Kr7, 61. Nr2, Ke7, 62. h3, rs, 63. hg4, rg4, 64. Nd3, Kr7, 6S. Kh2, Qal,
66. NeS+ Kr8, 67. Qd2 1 :0

37. UHLMAN - T AIMANOV

Nimzoindian
1. Nr3, Nr6, 2. c4, e6, 3. Nc3, Bb4, 4. g3, 0-0, S. Bg2, dS, 6. a3, Be7, 7. d4,
c6, 8. 0-0, Nbd7, 9. Qd3, aS, 10. Br4, b6, 11. cdS : Ba6, 12. Qbl, cdS :
13. Rel, Rc8, 14. Rel, bS, lS. b4, Qb6, 16. Bfl, a4, 17. Qd3, Rc6, 18. NeS,
NeS : 19. deS : Ng4, 20. Qr3, rs, 21. h3, gS, 22. hg4 : gr4 : 23. Qr4 : d4,
24. Ndl, rg4, 2S. Rc6 : Qc6 : 26. Rel, Qr7, 27. Qg4, Kh8, 28. Bg2, Bc8,
29. Nb2, Rg8, 30. Qh3, BgS, 31. Rc2, Qr7, 32. Nd3, Bd7, 33. Rc7, Rc8,
34. Rc8, Rc8 : 3S. Qg4, Bh6, 36. Qd4, Bd7, 37. NcS, Be8, 38. Qd8, Br8,
39. Qc8, BcS, 40. QcS : Kg7, 41. Bc6, Bc6 : 42. Qc6 : Qrs, 43. QbS, Qbl +
44. Kh2, Qrs, 4S. Qd7+ Kh6, 46. Qd4, Kg7, (adjourned) 47. Kg2 1 :0

38. BOTVINIK - MATULOVI C

King's indian
1. Nr3, g6, 2. c4, Bg7, 3. d4, rs, 4. g3, Nr6, S. Bg2, 0-0, 6. 0-0, d6, 7. Nc3,
Nc6, 8. dS, NaS, 9. Nd2, cS, 10. a3, Bd7, 11. Qc2, Qc7, 12. b3, a6, 13. Bb2,
bS, 14. Ndl, bc4 : lS. bc4 : Rab8, 16. Bc3, Ng4, 17. Bg7 : Kg7 : 18. Qc3+
Kg8, 19. Nb2, Rb7, 20. Nd3, Rrb8, 21. Rahl : Rbl : 22. Rbl : Rbl : 23. Nbl :
Qb6, 24. Nd2, Nr6, 2S. h3, Kr7, 26. Kh2, Nb7, 27. e4, re4, 28. Ne4 : Nd8,
29. NgS, Ke8, 30. Nr4, Nr7, 31. Nre6, NgS : 32. NgS : Qbl, 33. Be4, Qa2,

6 Chess meets of the century

81
34. Kg2, BfS : 3S. BfS : gfS, 36. Qd3, h6, 37. Ne6, Ne4, 3S. Qf3, Qc4 : 39. QhS,
Kd7, 40. QfS, Nd6, (adjourned) 41. NcS : + KeS, 42. Qg6 + , KdS, 43. Ne6+
Kd7, 44. Nf4, NdS, 4S. Qh6 : Qe4 +, 46. Kh2, Qel, 47. Nd3, Qc3, 4S. Qg6,
Qa3 : 49. h4, Qc3, SO. hS, Qf6, Sl. Qg4+ e6, S2. Qd4+ Ke7, S3. Qa6 :
Qf3, S4. Qa7+ KdS, SS. Qh7, Nf6, S6. QhS+ Kd7, S7. Qg7+ KdS,
SS. h6, Ng4 +, S9. Kgl, Qdl+ 60. Kg2, Qe2, 61. Kh3, Nh6 : 62. Qh6 : Qd3 :
63. Qe6 : Qfl + Yz : Yz

39. NAJDORF - TAL

King's indian

1. Nf3, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. g3, Bg7, 4. Bg2, 0-0, S. 0-0, d6, 6. d4, Nbd7,
7. Nc3, eS, S. e4, c6, 9. h3, Qb6, 10. Rel, ReS, 11. dS, NcS, 12. Rbl, aS,
13. Be3, Qc7, 14. Nd2, lS. Bfl, RabS, 16. a3, cdS : 17. cdS : bS, lS. b4, Nd3,
19. Bd3 : Qc3 : 20. Rb3, Qc7, 21. baS : QaS : 22. Kh2, Recs, 23. Qe2, Rb7,
24. Rehl, RcbS Yz : Yz

40. KERES - IVKOV

(Sicilian)
1. e4, cS, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. Nc3, Bg4, 4. h3, Bf3 : S. Qf3 : Nc6, 6. g3, g6, 7. Bg2,
Bg7, S. 0-0, hS, 9. d3, h4, 10. g4, eS, 11. NdS, Nce7, 12. Rbl, NdS : 13. edS :
aS, 14. c3, Ne7, lS. Qe2, fS, 16. f4, fg4 : 17. Qg4 : Qd7, lS. fe5 : BeS : 19. BgS,
Qg4 : 20. hg4 : Rh7, 21. Be4, Kd7, 22. Rf3, KgS, 23. Rfbl KgS, 24. Khl ! h3,
2S. Rdl, Kd7, 26. d4, cd4, 27. cd4, BhS, 2S. Kh2, RgcS, 29. Rdfl, Bd4 :
30. Rf7, Bes + 31. Khl, Rf7 : 32. Rf7 : Rc4, 33. Bg6 : Rd4, 34. Re7 : + KcS,
3S. BfS+ KbS, 36. Res+ Ka7, 37. Be3 1:0

82
 TOTAL

SOVIET UNION WORLD

I. SPASSKY 1 ,5 1. LARSEN 2,�

(STEIN) 0
2. PETROSYAN 2. FISCHER 3
3. KORCHNOI 1 ,5 3. PORTISCH 2,5
4. POLUGAYEVSKY 1,5 4. HORT 2,5
5. GELLER 2,5 5. GLIGORIC 1 ,5
6. SMISLOV 2,5 6. RESHEVSKY 1,5
(OLAFSSON) 0
7. TAJMANOV 2,5 7 . UHLMAN 1 ,5
8. BOTVINIK 2,5 8. MATULOVIC 1 ,5
9. TAL 2 9. NAJDORF 2
10. KERES 3 10. IVKOV
20,5 1 9,5

THE OLDEST - NAJDORF

The youngest - Hort

The difference between the oldest player Najdorf and the youngest
Hort was 34 years.
Miguel Najdorf 60 - 40
Mihail Botvinik 59 -
39
Samuel Reshevsky 59 -
39
Paul Keres 54 -
34
Vasilij Smislov 49 -
29
Svetozar Gligoric 47 -
28
David Bronstein 46 -
26
Efim Geller 45 -
27
Mark Tajmanov 44 26
-

Tigran Petrosian 41 - 23

83
Victor Korchnoi 3, - 25
Borislav lvkov 37 - 22
Klaus Darga 36 - 30
Leonid Stein 36 - 28
Fridrich Olafsson 35 - 23
Lav Polugayevsky 36 - 28
Bent Larsen 35 - 21
Wolfgang Uhlman 35 - 24
Milan Matulovic 35 - 30
Mihail Tal 34 - 21
Boris Spassky 33 - 18
Lajos Portisch 33 - 24
Robert Fischer 27 - 15
Vlastimir Hort 26 - 21
The first figure means number o f yea rs, the second when he became a Grand­
master.

Keres decided

The Soviet team won the Match, but at the first four boards they lost
- 5,5 : 10,5, at the first five they also lost 8 : 12. At the first six - 10,5 : 1 3,5,
seven - 13 : 15, eight 1 5,5 : 1 6,5. Even at the nine boards they lost 1 7,5 : 1 8,5.
But Keres at the tenth board decided he won against lvkov 3 : 1, and the
Soviet team won the Match 20,5 : 19,5.

Press about the Match

In the spring of 1 969. , a train carrying the Rumanian representatives

to a chess congress in the Yugoslav capital was late in arriving. A handful
of Belgrade chess organize rs, walking around the railroad station, exchanged
a few ideas . . . And that is how the great match, USSR versus the World ,
was born.
The next scene : the FIDE Congress in Puerto Rico, summer 1969.
Both sides agree- in principle. The Soviets, however, proposed that half of
the match be played in Belgrade, the other half in Moscow. The Yugoslavs;
jealously, wanted it all for themselves-it was their idea! So they got the whole
pie-and all the bills as well, amounting to more than 100,000 dollars.

Fischer • • •

For months to come, however, the enormous costs were ov�rshadowed

by a more acute problem : how to choose the World team. On paper it was
easy. Dr. Euwe, their captain , helped himself with mathematics, his own
professional field. He based his list on Professor Elo's famous international
chess rating list, with Fischer leading his selections. So far, so good (or so
it seemed). But when it came to live men, you had to start with the fact that

84
the only Western grandmaster discreetly feared by the Russians had abstained
from play since the summer of 1 96 8. It was even a feat to find out how to
get in touch with him. At the first contact, of course, Fischer said his auto­
matic no, from his Los Angeles shelter. He was then invited to come to Bel­
grade merely as an interested onlooker, at the cost of the organizers. This
melted him a bit. Thus, they got his qualified yes, with a list of 23 conditions.
These ranged from the intensity of the light on the stage (it had to equr l
daylight : 1 100 luces) to elementary money matters. From then on, things
became simple as far as his participation was concerned : it was just a question
of dozens of telegrams and many international telephone calls to him.

Larsen . . .

With quite a few recent successes in his pocket, Bent Larsen gave an
angry yes to Euwe's suggestion to allocate second board to him, behind
Fischer. He was assured-and so he believed himself-that it was just an aca­
demic question , as no one expected Fischer to compete at all. But when the
news got around that Bobby would again do the imprevisible, Larsen changed
his mind and sent word from Lugano that he would not look at Fischer's
back. Then he went to Holland for some simultaneous exhibitions. An orga­
nizer from Belgrade chased him by plane. Although he never did meet the
Dane, he managed to get in touch with him by phone one night after midnight.
Larsen again gave a reluctant yes, only to replace it a few days later with
another no, explaining that he was very tired during the phone conversation .
Having made a successful approach to Fischer, the organizers then
applied the same method to Larsen : they suggested that he come only as
a guest, even with his wife. They both came by plane, he from Holland, she
from Demark, to meet in Belgrade for the first time in two months. As for
his participation, he seemed slightly equivocal at first while the hosts urged
him to acept Board Two. His wife told us it would have been better to try
to attain our goal with him privately, without all the publicity. We did try,
but Fischer had arrived in the meantime and Larsen's no hardened into
marble. Some even expressed the opinion that Larsen had come only to see
whether Fischer would actually appear.

"Forget it"

Fischer was on everybody's lips, however. A Pacific coast reporter

told us about his 44-minute-long phone conversation with a New York sports
magazine editor on technicalities concerning his future chess reports from
Belgrade. When every thing w as settled , the editor casually added : "By the
way, if Fischer doesn't play, just forget the whole thing". The reporter asked
him : "And what if he plays only his first five moves and then disappears?"
Replied the editor after a pause : "Send your report just the same-and don't
forget the five moves!"
The reporter did not let u s ask whether thi<> was just another Fischer
anecdote. "I'm telling you the truth! And it is the truth of it that makes it
so funny ! " he insisted.

85
 It was then that Fischer, the Unpredictable, knocked everybody off
their feet. He made it known that he would leave the top board to Larsen-just
for nothing! (Before coming to Belgrade, he had said he would do it, but
for a very substantial sum.) The strained organizers were ready to weep for
joy, but before actually arranging it, they decided to put the news on ice
for a while, just in case. For some ten hours, at least, not even the official
news agency was informed about Fischer's generous gesture. Bobby meant,
it, however. When this became clear, another big question appeared : What
Would The Russians Say?

The Russians say yes

A very strict protocol had been signed weeks earlier by both sides. The
Russians had particulary insisted on it : they wanted, among other things,
that the individual opponents be fixed so that respective preparations would
be possible. It was then agreed that both captains would send the names
of the team members by telegram on March lst precisely at 12 : 00. This
was done-and on Dr. Euwe's list, Fischer was on top board. The famous
protocol, with their signatures on it, was the organizers' main and sincere
argument in their endeavors to persuade Larsen to accept Board Two.
Acquainted with the high-level procedures the Russians apply in such matters,
the hosts would not believe that the Ru ssians would agree to an improvised
change on the day before the first round.
The Russians team captain, Dmitri Postnikov, President of the USS R
Chess Federation, heard the news <;tony-faced, said not a word and retired
for consultation. After a full hour of tension, he again appeared, just as calm . . .
and did not say Nyet ! The match could begin!
(During all this fuss, by the way, nobody noticed that Matulovic as­
serted he would not play because he had been put on a lower board than
Uhlmann, who did not have as good results, whom he had beaten in a match,
etc. He managed however, to forget his own threats in time. Wouldn't you
do the same - with no delegation to plead on your behalf and no special
press conference in sight?)
After this sudden turn of events, people began to wonder. Maybe the
Russians were glad to avoid the prestige risk of a Spassky-Fischer encounter?
And how to explain Fischer's own change of mind. Did he simply prefer
Petrosian as a somewhat easier opponent? Or was his unexpected decision
the result of some friendly persuasion? ' (The organizers denied this : they
just would not venture to suggest that he leave the top spot to Larsen.) Did
money have something to do with it? Well, help yourself, just choose whatever
hypothesis you prefer.
After midnight, Fischer summoned the President of the Organization
Committee. The poor man feared the worst. But Bobby just wanted it to be
known that he himself did not know why he had ceded to Larsen in the pre­
stige contest. "I must have been very tired to do such a foolish thing", he
said.
A computer had already given its answer, favoring the Soviet team by
21,5 : 1 8,5 in this unique event. The Russians announced beforehand, which

86
is not their custom at all, that they would win even more decisively, while
many of the 2.000 seated onlookers in Belgrade's Syndicate Hall, and more
who were ready to follow the games on a huge (4 x 4 yards) electronic board
outside, did not completely exclude a surprise outcome.

While Mitya Ribicic, President of the Federal Executive Council of

Yugoslavia-a first category player himself-waited in the first row to make
the symbolic first move on the top board, there was a great commotion behind
the scenes. Bobby Fischer was not to be found! Among silent faces loudly
marked with "well, what did you expect?!" youx could hear the Russians
as well as some of the world's players ask : "When is the match going to
begin at last?" Then word got around that Fischer had left his room to have
lunch in a restaurant a mile away. Was it good news or bad ? The long opening
ceremony was the organizers' chance to gain time on complete both teams.

Fischer's timing, however, was dazzlingly accurate. Just when the players
simply had to be introduced to the public and to their opponents, he popped
out of nowhere to divide the most thunderous applause with Tal and Botvin- ·

nik. With 62 accredited journalists and dozens of free-lance ones around,

many photograhers were doing their best before Fischer's veto would cut
them off at the first move, them as well as Belgrade TV men and a Moscow
TV team. Then Ribicic moved Spas5.ky's Queen pawn two squares. As an
adequate symbol of the hard fights that were to follow, a gong announced
the start of play. The gong, by the way, was borrowed from the Yugoslavian
Boxing Association. ·

"I will go back to Moscow with Petrosian in his new car", said Tal
when he was told that the winners of the top two matches would each get
a car. (In case of an even score, it was presumed that four lightning games
before the TV cameras would decide who would get the keys to the car.)
Tal's prognosis was duly registered in the Belgrade press.

In what is rightly considered the strongest lightning tournament of

all time, Robat Fischer placed first with 19 points out o f a possible 22-far
ahead of Grandmaster Tal, who was second with 1 4,5 Korchnoi with 14,
and Petrosian , who is regarded by the Russians as their best "blitz" player,
but who had to be satisfied with his 1 3, 5 points.
All the players went from Belgrade, the scene of the Great Match,
to the Adriatic resort town, Herzeg-Novi, there to compete in a tournament
of 5 minute games. The final score is rather sensational as there is a belief
in chess circles that one has to practice especially for good results in lightning
chess, while Fischer is known for his pronounced years-long aversion to
blitz play, which, in his opinion, "kills your ideas". Although the four games
in Belgrade were the only games played by him in more than 1 , 5 years, he
awed his opponents in Herzeg-Novi by spending only half his allotted time
on the average, and by losing only one game (to Korchnoi), drawing once
with Reshevsky, Uhlmann , Hort and Bronstein, and winning all his other

87
games, including two games each against the three ex-champions of the world
- Tal, Petrosian and Smyslov. This one day of chess brought Fischer the
first prize of $ 400 dollars.
The tournament attracted hundreds of spectators, while only ten people
were seen in the adjoining hall, where the soccer match between Yugoslavia
and Austria was to be seen on TV. The organizers are even preparing a book
on the event, with about 60 selected games (all of Fischer's)-first-category
players (approximately U. S. master strength) were engaged to note down
all moves on every board. It will be a unique event in chess bibliography . . .
(Chess life, june 1 970)

DR P. TRIFUNOVI C : FISCHER GAVE LESSONS . . .

The anxiety was caused, of course, by Fischer's long absence from

practical play. For it is known that <Juch leads normally to poor results. But,
for Fischer, it seems that prognostics based on common rules have no validity.
Fischer's victory in Belgrade over the former World Champion Tigran
Petrosian, who is, be it remembered , the present Champion of the Soviet
Union, therefore caused great wonderment and admiration. How great an
opponent Petrosian is and how difficult it is to play against him is well known.
And yet Fischer achieved a great, quick and impressive victory. Many had
begun to erase Fischer from the list of the world's ranking players because
of his long absence from tournament play. And Fischer had even conceded
first board to Grandmaster Larsen on the "World Team" against the Soviet
team. This great victory over Petrosian , however, showed that this matter
is not so simple : Fischer had not forgotten how to play chess. What is more,
this victory pointed to Fischer as the sole, correct challenger to Spassky for
the title of World Champion.

Fischer - Spassky?

Such is the general opinion of the chess world. For it is interested in

seeing a duel between the two strongest players in the world . The chess pub­
lic expects the FIDE will take this situation under consideration and so decide.
For a direct match between Spassky and Fischer would be the most interesting
chess event possible. It would be compared with the historical match between
Capablanca and Alekhine at Buenos Aires in 1 927. It is expected at least,
as a minimum, that the FIDE, will decide to allow Fischer to play directly
in the Candidatf: s Matches, For a World Championship without Fischer
is not a World Championship.
"The Great Match" in Belgrade ended . Would Fischer stay in Yugoslavia
and take part in the " Second Tournament of Peace" in Rovinj and Zagreb,
or would he return home? The Yugoslav Chess Organization tried to retain
him and to get him to consent to play in the tournament. But Fischer declined
repatedly to give a defin itive assent.
Meanwhile, there arose the possibility of a great "blitz tournament"
(in rapid chess) at Herceg Novi, a small but very attractive place for tourists

88
on the Adriatic coast. Unexpectedly, Fischer agreed to play in this tournament.
"Unexpectedly", that is, for all here. For it is understood that Fischer very
seldom plays "blitz chess' and cultivates no sympathy for this sort of play.
The Soviet "blitz" specialists, Grandmasters Tal, Korchnoi, Bronstein and
Petrosian, and the Yugoslav "blitz" matador, Grandmaster Matulovic,
were very glad to have "Bobby" participate. For all expected that Bobby
would absorb some good lessons and even nice cudgelings in "blitz chess".

4,5 miles • • •

Fischer won : instead of taking lesons he gave them to his peerless

opponents, even to the Soviet Grandmasters who regard themselves as insu­
perable in this kind of chess. The vastness of his victory may be measured
by the gap between Fischer and second placed Tal, a whole four and a half
miles (pardon, points : but such a distance might properly be miles). Fischer
won convincingly : in the double-round total of twenty-two games, he lost
but one to Korchnoi and drew one each with Hort, Uhlmann, Bronstein
and Reshevsky, defeating the other six by a clean 2-0. The audience was
surprised by his play and his results but enjoyed watching how he cudgeled
opponents right and left, and they hailed him with the nickname, "Terrific
Bobby".
His opponents were not surprised, rather they were panic-striken .
So gloomy an outcome of the tournament they could not have presup­
posed , even in a nightmare. The difference between Fischer and his compa­
triot Reshevsky was nearly inconceivable, a mere ten and a half points. And
also, in the majority of the games, Fischer used less than half the time that
his opponents did.
In the opinion stated by the actual participants in the tournament
and also by Yugoslav chess experts, this was the strongest "blitz" tournament
ever organized in the history of chess. Many of them, therefore, consider
it as an unofficial world championship in , ,blitz".

SIDELIGHTS

The Russian team, including the two reserve players, was an average age
of 43 years. The world team's average : 38.7. The oldest competitor was Naj­
dorf, born in 1 9 1 0 : the youngest Hort, born in 1 944.

The chess table at which Fischer and Petrosian played was different from
the rest. Made of white and green marble, it was Fidel Castro's gift (on the
occasion of the Olympiad in Havana in 1 966). The chess set, too, had to be
special-Fischer demanded that it not be shiny.

The city lights on the square in front of the match hall were dimmed during
the event, so that the outside spectators could better follow the games on
the electronic chess board, which is said to be 20 times cheaper than earlier
types.

89
The cost of the match (more than 100 OOO dollars) should be covered by adverti­
sements, travel firms, the Belgrade municipality, the Serbian government, etc.
Although the hall, seating 2.000 people, was full to capacity all along, the
sale of tickets brought only about S 5,000. This was, however, more than
any chess event ever before.

The grandmasters gathered in Belgrade decided there to form their own

international association , as they did not feel that their interests were well
served by FIDE. The association's provisional board consists of Spassky,
Larsen , Keres, Gligoric and Robert Byrne.

During his games, Fischer drinks a rather special cocktai l : milk and mineral
water. They say he wants it neither warm, nor cold, nor tepid.

The Vice-captain of the Soviet team, Lev Abramov, was heard approaching
the director of the match : "May I, in the name of the Soviet team, ask just
one question-to Fischer's one thousand questions?"

All the players were presented with life insurance policies before the match.
One of them was curious : "Couldn't they insure us against defeat?"

The last round was broadcast by Belgrade TV directly for one and a half
hours. It is considered to be the longest direct telecast ever of a chess event.

Portisch asked Najdorf for his autograph. Najdorf said : "Five dollars, please".
Portisch was surprised, but Najdorf added : "That's what Fischer would
my! " Tal then approached Portisch modestly, with "Please, only two dollars
for mine . . . "
We can testify, however, that Fischer gave out quite a few autographs (for
nothing) at the final banquet.

They Said
World Champion Spassky on Fischer : "His weak points in chess are a secret".
Larsen on his own daring style : "If I were afraid of what could happen on
the chess board. I would do something other than play chess".
Taimanov on the 2,000 spectators : "Look at all the people! It's like a pop­
-music concert".

90
Petrosian on chess personalities : "The chess public sees the grandmasters
as if in an oblique mirror. So I am considered to be too cautious, while in
fact I try only to avoid danger".
Korchnoi on the match : "This was the best moment for the Soviet team.
I do not think it will be this strong five years from now".
Fischer in a TV interview : "I am not in top form".
Najdorf on the world team's opponents : "I do not believe the Soviet players
are more talented than the others. They are just more inclined to consider
chess work rather than play".
Najdorf on sacrifices : "When Spassky ofters you a piece, you could just as
well resign right there. But when Tal sacrifices, you would do well to go on
playing, as he might sacrifice another piece, and then . . . who knows?"
Najdorf on Fischer's absence when the official photographs were to be taken :
"He prefers to enter chess history alone".

Najdorf's Kiss

The second game TAL - Najdorf was adjourned. Najdorfs position was
better, but it was not so easy to win.
After the adjournement the Soviet grandmasters started to analyse. In many
variations they found a draw for TAL. . . But after that came world Champion
S passky who immediately found a winning move for Najdorf. Of course Najdorf
was so happy. He kissed Spassky and went out of the room saying : Old
N<i.j dorf is winning. . .

Hort complains • • •

World's fourth board Vlastimil Hort was complaining that Euwe did not
make a good Choice.
Euwe gave early the names of our team, says Hort, in that way the Soviets
C Juld make their team . Matulovic usually plays badly against Botvinik, Ivkov
against Keres, Uhlman against Tajmanov. It was necessary to put the names
of both teams together in two envelopes . . .

91
 BORIS SPASSKY

Born on January 30th in 1 937. Became Soviet master in 1 953, became

junior world champion 1 955, Gradnmaster 1 956, and world champion 1 969.
Nine times played at the Soviet Championships. He was first in 1961.
A t the Candidates matches in 1 965 he beat:
Keres : 6 : 4, Geller 5,5 : 2,5, Tal 6,5 : 3,5. In 1 966 he lost the match
for the tittle against Petrosian - 1 1 ,5 : 1 2,5. At the candidates matches
in 1 968. he beat : Geller 5,5 : 2,5, Larsen 5,5 : 2,5, Korchnoi 6,5 : 3,5 became
World champion 1 969, after the Match against Petrosian 12,5 : 10, 5

Important results :

BUCUREST, 1 95 1 . 4--5
GETEBORG, 1 956. Interzond 7-9
AMSTERDAM, 1953. Candidates tour. 3-7
MOSCOW, 1 959. 1-3
RIGA, 1 959.
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 960. 1-2
HAVANA, 1 962. 2-3
AMSTERDAM, 1 964. Interzonal 1-4
BEOGRAD, 1 964.
SOCHI, 1 965. 1 -2
HASTINGS, 1 965/66. 1 -2
SANTA MONICA, 1 966.
BEVERWIJK, 1 967.
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 963. 2-3
SAN JUAN, 1 969. 1

92
 TIGRAN PETROSIAN

Born on June 1 7th in 1 929. Became master 1 950. I. M. 1 952, Grand­

master 1 953. World champion 1 963-1969. Eleven times played at the Soviet
Championship-e was Champion 1 959, 1 96 1 , 1 969. After the Match with
BOTVINIK 1 963, which he won ( 1 2,5 : 9,5) Petrosian became world Cham­
pion, in 1 966 he beat Spassky for the title (12,5 : 1 1 , 5) and lost with him in
1 969. ( 1 6, 5 : 12,5)

Important results :

STOCKHOLM, 1 952. Interzonal 2-3

ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 5
BUCUREST, 1 953. 2
GETEBORG, 1 955. Interzonal 4
AMSTERDAM, 1 956. Candidates 3-7
PORTOROZ, 1 958. Interzonal 3-4
JUGOSLAVIJA, 1 959. Candidates 3
BEVERWIJK, 1 960. 1-2
COPENHAGEN, 1 960.
Z ORICH, 1 96 1 . 2
BLED, 1 9 6 1 . 3-5
CURACAO, 1 962. Candidates l
BAMBERG, 1 968. 2-3
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 965. 4
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 969. 2

93
 VICTOR KORCHNOI

Born on June 23rd in 1 93 1 . Became Int. master 1 953, Crandmaster

1 956 At the Soviet Championships played 1 1 times Champion 1 960, 1 962,
1965, 1 970. At the Candidates matches 1968 he beat Reshevsky 5,5 : 2,5,
Tal 5,5 : 4,5 and lost against Spassky 3,5 : 6,5.

Important results :
BUKUREST, 1 954.
HASTINGS, 1 955/56. 1 -2
CRAKOW, 1 959. l
MOSCOW, 1 960. 3
BUENOS AIRES, 1 960. 1-2
BUDAPEST, 1 96 1 . I
STOCKHOLM , 1962. Interzonal 4-5
CURACAO, 1962. Candidates 5
HAVANA, 1 963. 1
BELGRAD, 1 964. 2-3
DJULA , 1 965.
EREVAN, 1 965.
SOCHI, 1 966. 1
LENJINGRAD, 1 967. 1
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal 2-4
BEVERWIJK, 1968. I
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 968. 1
SARAJEVO, 1 969. 1
MIHACEVICE, 1969.
HAVANA, 1 969. 1 -2
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 969. 3----4

94
 LEV POLUGAYEVSKY

Born on Novembre 2Qth 1 934. Became master 1 953, grandmaster in

1 962. Played 1 2 times at the Soviet Championships, occupied first place 1 967.
and 1 968.

Important results :

MARIANSKE LAZNE, 1 959.

ROSTOV, 1 964. 4
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 962. I
HAVANA, 1 962. 2-3
BAD LIBENSTEIN, 1 962. 1-2
SOCHI, 1 963. 1
SARAJEVO, 1 964. 1-2
BUDAPEST, 1 965. 1-3
SARAJEVO, 1 965. 2-3
SOCHI, 1 966. 2
HAVANA, 1 967. 4
B O SUM, 1 969. 2
BELGRAD, 1 969. 1-4
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 97 1 . l

95
 EFIM GELLER

Born on March 8th 1 922. Became Int. master 1 950. Grandmaster 1 952.
Pl ayed 13 times at the Soviet Championships, became champion 1 955.
At the Candidates Matches he beat Smyslov in 1 965. 5,5 : 2,5, lost
against Spassky 2,5 : 5,5 and against Larsen 4 : 5. In 1968 he lost against
Spassky again 2,5 : 5,5, in 1 97 1 . lost against Korchnoi 2,5 : 5,5.

Important results :

BUDAPEST, 1952. 2
STOCKHOLM, 1 9 52. Interzonal 4
ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 6-7
ZAGREB, 1 955. 4-5
AMSTERDAM, 1 956. Candidates 3-7
SCAVNO ZDROY, 1 957. 1-2
D REZDEN, 1 959. 1-2
STOCKHOLM, 1 962. Interzonal 2-3
CURACAO, 1 962. Candidates 2-3
HAVANA, 1 963, 2-4
BEVERWIJK, 1 965. 1-2
HAVANA, 1 965. 2-4
KISLOVODSK, 1 966. 1
MONTE CARLO, 1 967. 3-4
SKOPJE, 1 967. 2-3
SOUSSE, 1 967. Intezronal 2-4
SKOPJE, 1968. 2
GETEBORG, 1 968.
BEVERWIJK, 1969. 1-2
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 970. Interzonal 2-4

96
 VASILIJ SMYSLOV

Born on March 241h in 1 92 1 . Became master 1 938, Grandmaster 1941.

World Champion 1 957-1958. At the Soviet Championships played 14 time<;,
champion in 1 949.
For the world Championships he played from 1 948, when he was second
at the Match tournament. He played three matches against Botvinik for
the Champion title 1954 ( 1 2 : 12) . 1957 ( 1 2, 5 : 9,5) and 1 95 8 ( 1 0,5 : 12,5)
-

At the Candidates matches 1965 he lost against Geller 2, 'l : 5,5.

Important results :
GRONINGHEN, 1 946. 3
MOSCOW, 1 947. 3-4
HAG, MOSCOW, 1948. Match tourn . 2
BUDAPEST, 1 950. Candidates 3
VENEZIA, 1 950. 2
BUCUREST, 1 953. 3
ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 1
HASTINGS, 1954. 1-2
ZAGREB, 1 955. 1
AMSTERDAM, 1 956. Candidates 1
MOSCOW, 1 956. 1-2
MOSCOW, 1 959. 1-3
JUGOSLAVIA, 1 959. Candidates 4
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 962. 1-3
MOSCOW, 1 963. 1
AMSTERDAM, 1964, Interzonal 1-4
HAVANA, 1 965. 1
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 966. 1
POLANICE ZDROJ, 1 967. 1
MONTE CARLO, 1 967 2
MOSCOW, 1 967. 2-4
HAVANA, 1967. 3
HASTINGS, 1 964. 1
MONTE CARLO, 1 969. 1-2

7 Chees meets of the century

97
 MARK TAYMANOV

Born on February 7 th 1 932. Became international master 1 950, grand­

master 1 952. Played 19 times at the Soviet Championships . Soviet Champion
in 1 956.

Important results :

STOCKHOLM, 1 952. Interzonal 2-3

HASTINGS, 1955/56. 4
REJKJAWIK, 1 956. 2-3
MOSCOW, 1 956. 3
DRESDEN, 1 959. 1-2
LENINGRAD, 1 960. 1
ROSTOV, 1 960.
DORTMUND, 1961. 1
HAVANA, 1 963. 3
BUDAPEST, 1 965. 1-3
COPENHAGEN, 1 965. 1 -3
LENINGRAD, 1967. 3--4
HAVANA, 1967. 2
BEVERWIJK, 1 970. 1-2
SKOPJE, 1 970. 1 -2
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 970. Interzonal 5-6

98
 MIHAIL BOTVINIK

Born on August 1 7th in 1 9 1 1 . Became master 1 927, grandmaster 1 93 5.

World champion 1 948-1957, 1958-1960. and 1961-1 963.
At the Soviet championships he played 12 times. Soviet Champion :
1 93 1 , 1 933, 1 939, 1 94 1 , 1 944, 1 945, 1 952.
At the Match tournament in 1 948 he became World Champion. His
matches for the World Champion title : Bronstein 1 9 5 1 . ( 1 2 : 1 2), Smyslov
1 957. (9,5 : 12,5), Smyslov 1 958. ( 1 2, 5 : 1 0, 5), Tal 1 960. (8,5 : 12,5), Tal
1 96 1 . ( 1 3 : 8). Petrosian 1963. (9,5 : 1 2, 5).

Important results :

MOSCOW, 1935. 1-2

MOSCOW, 1 936. 2
NOTINGHAM, 1 936. 1-2
"AVRO" TOURNAMENT, 1 938. 3
GRONINGEN, 1 946. 1
MOSCOW, 1 947. 1
MOSCOW, 1 956. 1 -2
VAGENINGEN, 1 958. 1
HASTINGS, 1 96 1 /62. 1
STOCKHOLM, 1 962.
AMSTERDAM, 1 963.
NORDWIJK, 1 966.
AMSTERDAM, 1 966. 1
HASTINGS, 1 966/67. 1
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 967. 2-3
MONTE CARLO, 1 968. 2
BEVERWIJK, 1 969. 1-2

7•
99
 MIHAIL TALJ

Born on November 9th, in 1 936. Became master 1 954. Grandmaster

1 957. World Champion 1 960-196 1 . He played 10 times at the Soviet Cham­
pionships, Soviet Champion : 1 957, 1 958, 1967. Match with Botvinik for the
Champion title : 1 960. (12,5 : 8 , 5) 1 96 1 . (8 : 1 3).
At the Candidates matches 1965. he beat Portisch (5,5 : 2,5) , Larsen
(5,5 : 4,5) lost against Spas sky (4 : 7). Candidates matches 1 968. beat Gligoric
(5,5 : 3,5) lost against Korchnoi (4,5 : 5,5) and Larsen (2,5 : 5 , 5).

Important results :

PORTOROZ , 1 958, lnterzonal 1

ZORICH, 1 959. 1
JUGOSLAVIA, 1 959. Candidates 1
BLED, 1 96 1 . 1
MISKOLC, 1 963. 1
HAVANA, 1 963. 2--4
MOSCOW, 1 963. 2
HASTINGS, 1963/64. 1
REJKJA WIK, 1 964. 1
AMSTERDAM, 1 964. 1--4
KISLOVODSK, 1 964. 1-2
SARAJEVO, 1 966. 1-2
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 966. 1
MOSCOW, 1967. 2-5
BEVERWIJK, 1 968. 2--4
TBILISI, 1 969. 1-2
TBILISI, 1 97 1 . 1 -2

1 00
 PAUL KERES

Born January 7th in 1 9 16. Became master 1 935. Grandmaster 1 938.

A t the Soviet Championships played 1 4 times. Soviet champion : 1 947, 1 950,
1 95 1 .
Almost 40 years h e has been among the best i n the world, but he
never was champion.

Important results :

NOIHEIM, 1 936. 1-2

M O NCHEN, 1 936.
MARGATE, 1 937. 1 -2
OSTENDE, 1 937. 1-3
PRAG, 1 937.
WIEN, 1 937. 1
STOCKHOLM, 1 937. 2
SEMERING BADEN, 1 937.
HASTINGS, 1 937/38 . 2-3
NORDWIJK, 1 938. 2
MARGATE, 1 939. 1
BUENOS AIRES, 1 939. 1-2
M O NCHEN, 1 942. 2
PRAG, 1 943. 2
MADRID, 1 943.
POZNAN, 1 943.
HAAG, MOSCOW, 1 948. Match tournam. 3-- 4
BUDAPEST, 1 950. Candidates 4
BUDAPEST, 1 952. 2
ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 2-4
HASTINGS, 1 9 54/55. 1-2
AMSTERDAM, 1 956. Candidates 2
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 957. 1

101
HASTINGS, 1 957/58 . 1
JUGOSLAVIA, 1 959. Candidates 2
CURACAO, 1 962. 2-3
LOS ANGELES, 1 963. 1-2
BEVERWIJK, 1964. 1-2
BUENOS AIRES, 1 964. 1-2
HASTINGS, 1 964/65.
MARYANSKE LAZNY, 1965. 1-2
BAMBERG, 1968. 1
TALJN, 1 969. 2-3
NIHACHOVIZE, 1 969. 2

1 02
 DAVID BRONSTEIN

Was born on February 1 9th 1 924. in Bijela Crkva (USSR). Started

to play chess at 1 3, became master at 16, and Grandmaster at 26. He
played 1 5 times at the Soviet Champhionships, became Soviet Champion
1 948 and 1 949.

Important results :
STOCKHOLM, 1 948 . Interzonal
BUDAPEST, 1 950. Candidates 1-2
ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 2--4
HASTINGS, 1 953/54. 1 -2
BELGRAD, 1 954.
GETEBO RG, 1955. Interzonal
AMSTERDAM, 1 956. Candidates 3-7
MOSCOW, 1 956. 5
GOTA, 1 957. 1
MOSCOW, 1 959. 1-3
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 960. 2
BUDAPEST, 1961. 2-3
BEVERWIJK, 1 963. 2
BERLIN, 1 968. 1-2
AMSTERDAM, 1 968. 2
SARAJEVO, 1971. 1-2

1 03
 LEONID STEIN

Born on November 1 21h 1 934. Became master in 1 959. Grandmaster

in 1 962. He played 7 times at the Soviet Championships, became Soviet cham­
pion three times : 1963, 1 965, 1 966.

Important results :

BUCUREST, 1961.
STOCKHOLM, 1962. Interzonal 6-8
BERLIN, 1 962. 2-3
AMSTERDAM, 1 964. Interzonal 5
KISLOVODSK, 1 964. 2
MAR DEL PLAT A, 1965. 2
RIO DE JANEIRO, 1 965. 2
EREVAN, 1 965. 2-3
MAR DEL PLATA, 1966. 2
MOSCOW, 1 967.
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal 6-8
HASTINGS, 1 967. 1--4
KECKEMET, 1968. 1
HAVANA, 1968 . 2-3
TALIN, 1969.

1 04
 BENT LARSEN
Danmarc

Born on March 4th in 1 935 in Copenhagen . Became International

master in 1 954, Grandmaster in 1 956. at the Moscow Olimpiad. He is
one of the best players of to-day. Larsen took part at the Candidates tour­
naments in 1 965, 1 968, 1 97 1 . But he lost against Ficher 0:6 in Denver
in the Semifinal of the Coudidates Matches.

Best results :

WAGENINGEN, 1 957. Zonal 3-4

DALLAS, 1 957. 3-4
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 958. 1
BEVERWIJK, 1 960. 1-2
HALLE, 1 963. Zonal 2
AMSTERDAM, 1964. Interzonal 1-4
AMSTERDAM, 1 964.
HAVR, 1 966. 1
SANTA MONICA, 1966. 3
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal
HAVANA, 1 967.
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1967.
MONTE CARLO, 1 968.
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 968. 2-3
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 969. 1
B OZUM, 1 969. 1
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 970, Interzonal 1-4

Matches :
Ivkov, Bled, 1 965. Candidates 5,5 : 2,5
Geller, Copenhagen, 1 966. 4,5 : 3,5
Portisch, Poree, 1968. Candidates 5,5 : 4,5
Uhlman, Las Palmas, 1 97 1 , Candidates 5,5 : 3,5

105
 ROBERT FISCHER
U.S.A.

Born on March 9th in 1 943 in Chicago. Eight times U. S. Champion.

Started to play chess at six. Became master in 1 957. International master and
Grandmaster in 1 958 when he was 1 5. He played at the Candidates tour­
naments in 1 959, 1 962, 1971. In 1971. he took a sensational 6 : 0 against
Taymanov in Vancouver in the first match of Candidates in 1 97 1 , and
against Larsen in Denver, also 6:0.

The best results :

PORTOROZ, 1 958. Interzonal 5-6
BLED-ZAGREB-BELGRAD, 1 959. Candidats 5-6
ZORICH, 1 959. 3-4
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 960. 1 -2
BLED, 1961 . 2
STOCKHOLM, 1962. Interzonal
CURACAO, 1 962. Candidates 4
HAVANA, 1 965. 2-4
SANTA MONICA, 1 967. 2
MONTE CARLO, 1 967.
SKOPJE, 1 967.
NATANIJA, 1968. 1
VINKOVCI, 1 968. 1
ZAGREB, 1 970.
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 970. Interzonal

1 06
 LAJ OS PORTISCH
Hungary

Born in April 1 937. in Zalaegerseg. Became National master in

1 955. Three years later International master, Grandmaster in 1961. Played
at the Candidates tournaments 1 965. i 1 968.

The most important results :

MADRID, 1 960. Zonal 1--4
SARAJEVO, 1 962. 1-2
SARAJEVO, 1 962.
HALLE, 1 963. Zonal
AMSTERDAM. 1 963
BEVERWIJK, 1 965. 1-2
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 966. 3
KECKEMET, 1 966. 1--2
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 966. 3
HALLE, 1 967. Zonal
AMSTERDAM, 1 967.
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal 5
BEVERWIJK, 1 968. 1 -2
SKOPJE, 1 968.
MONTE CARLO, 1 969. 1-2
AMSTERDAM, 1 969.
HASTINGS, 1 969 /70.

107
 VLASTIMIL HORT
Czechoslovakia

Born on January 1 21h 1 944. Became International master 1 964.

Grandmaster 1 965. He is one of the most succesful grandmasters in spite
of the fact that he had no good results in the competitions for the world
championship.

The best results :

MARY ANSKE LAZNY, 1 965. 1-2

KECKEMET, 1 965. 1--2
HALL, 1967. Zonal 2
POLANICE ZDROY, 1 967. 2-3
SOUSSE, 1 967. lnterzonal 6-8
VIJK AN ZEE, 1 968. 2-4
MONTE CARLO, 1 968. 3--4
SKOPJE, 1 968. 4
VINKOVCI, 1968. 2-3
VENEZIJA, 1 969.
MONTE CARLO, 1 969. 3--4
ZAGREB, 1 969. 2-3
LUHACOVICE, 1 969. 3
SKOPJE, 1 969. 1-2
ATINA, 1 969. Zonal 2-3

1 08
 SVETOZAR GLIGORIC
Yugoslavia
Born on February 2. 1 923. in Belgrade. Became master in 1 939. Int.
master 1 948. grandmaster 1 9 5 1 . The best Yugoslav player of all times. He
played three times at the Candidates 1 953, 1959, 1 968, 1 1 times he was
Yugoslav champion.

The best results :

VARSAW, 1 947.
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 950.
BAD PYRMONT, 1 93 1 . Zonal
CELTENHAM, 1 95 1 , Staunton's tornament
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 953.
BUENOS AIRES, 1 955. 2
MOSCOW, 1 956. 4
DUBLIN, 1 957. Zonal 2-3
DULLAS, 1 957. 1 -2
PORTOROZ , 1 958. lnterzonal 2
ZORICH, 1 959. 2
MADRID, 1 960. Zonal 1 -4
BLED, 1 96 1 . 3-5
SARAJEVO, 1 962. 1 -2
ENSHEDE, 1 963. Zonal 1
MOSCOW, 1 963. 3
COPENHAGEN, 1 965. 1-3
HAAG, 1 966. Zonal 1
DUNDY, 1 967. 1
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal 2--4
HAVANA, 1 969. 3
LJUBLJANA, 1 969. 2
PRAJA DA ROCHA, 1 969. Zonal 1-3
BELGRADE, 1 969. 1--4

109
 SAMMY RESHEVSKY
U. S. A.

Born on Novembre 261h 1 9 1 1 . in Ozerkovo (Poland). When he was seven

he played Simultaneous exhibitions in Europe. Official he became grandma­
ster in 1 949. Reshevsky played at only two Candidates tournaments : in 1 953,
1 968. He had many results of great importance :

Important results :

NOITINGHAM, 1 936. 3-5

KEMERY, 1 937. 1-3
SEMERING, BADEN, 1937. 3-4
AVRO-TOURNAMENT, HOLLAND, 1 938. 4-6
MOSCOW-LENJINGRAD, 1939. 2
HAAG-MOSCOW, 1 948. the Match tournament 3--4
AMSTERDAM, 1 950. 2
NEW YORK, 195 1 .
HAVANA, 1 952. 1-2
ZORICH, 1 953. Candidates 2-4
DULLAS, 1 957. 1-2
BUENOS AIRES, 1 960. 1-2
AMSTERDAM, 1964. Interzonal 8-9
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 966. 4
MARIBOR, 1967. 2
SOUSSE, 1 967. Interzonal 6-8

Matches :
Najdorf, New York, 1952. 11 : 7
Gligoric, New York, 1 952. 5,5 : 4,5
Najdorf, New York, 1 953. 9,5 : 8,5

1 10
 WOLFGANG UHLMAN
DDR

Born on March 19th in 1935. in Dresden. Became National master in

1 954. International master 1 956. and Grandmaster 1 959. He had no great
success at the FIDE tournaments. He played at the Interzonal 1962. and 1 970.
and Candidates Matches in 1 97 1 .

Best results :

ERFURT, 1 955.
KRINICA, 1 956. 2-4
KINBAUM, 1958.
HASTINGS, 1 958 /59.
BALATONFIRED, 1 959. 2
DRESDEN, 1 959. 3-4
WIEN, 1 959.
BEVERWIJK, 1961. 3
SARAJEVO, 1964. 1 -2
HAVANA, 1 964. 1
ZAGREB, 1 965. 1 -2
HALEM, 1 967. zonal 3-4
BERLIN, 1968. 1--4
BERLIN, 1968. 1--2
RACH, 1969. zonal 1
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1 970, Interzonal 5-6

111
 MILAN MATULOVIC
Yugoslavia

Born on July }0th 1935. in Belgrade. National master became in 1955.

International master in 1 96 1 , grandmaster in 1 965. Yugoslav champion : in
1 964, 1967.

The best results :

BELGRADE, 1 965. 1-2

SARAJEVO, 1 965. 2-3
NOVI SAD, 1 965. championship Yugoslav 1
SOCHI, 1 966. 3-4
KRALJEVO, 1967. Yugoslav championship 1
HALLE, 1 967. Zonal 3--4
SKOPJE, 1967. 2-3
SKOPJE, 1 968. 5
VINKOVCI, 1 968. 2-3
SARAJEVO, 1969. 2
SKOPJE, 1 969. 1 -2
BELGRADE, 1969. 1-4

112
 MIGUEL NAJDORF
Argentina

Born on April 1 51h 1 9 10. in Varshaw. Polish master became in 1 930.

Grandmaster 1950. At the Candidates tournament he played twice : Budapest
1 950, Zurich 1 953. Only at the tournaments in Mar del Plata during the period
1941-1961 he was first eight times.

Some results :

BUENOS AIRES, 1 939.

ROSARIO, 1 943. 1
VINJA DEL MAR, 1 945. 2
GRONINGEHAM, 1 946. �-5
PRAG, 1 946. 1
VENEZIA, 1 948. 1
SALTSJOBADEN, 1 948. Interzonal 6--9
NEW YORK, 1 948 /49. 2
BLED, 1 950.
AMSTERDAM, 1 950. 1
HAVANA, 1 952. 1-2
MONTEVIDEO, 1 954. 2-3
MOSCOW, 1 956. 6
BOGOTA, 1958. 4----5
BUENOS AIRES, 1 960. 1-2
LOS ANGELES, 1 963. 3-4
HAVANA, 1 962. l
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 969. Zonal 1-2

8 Chess meets of the century

1 13
 BORISLAV IVKOV
Yugoslavia

Born November l21h 1 933. in Belgrade. Master became in 1 949. Inter­

national master in 1 95 1 , when he became the first junior world champion.
Grandmaster became in 1 955. He played at the Candidates matches in 1 965.

Important results :
BELGRADE, 1 954. 4--5
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 955. 1
BUENOS AIRES, 1 955. 1
ZAGREB, 1955. 2-3
MAR DEL PLATA , 1 959. 3-4
BEVERWIJK, 1 96 1 . 1 --2
ZENICA, 1 963, Jugoslav championship 1-2
HALLE, 1 963, zonal tournament 3-4
AMSTERDAM, 1 964, Interzonal 7
SARAJEVO, 1 964. 3
BELGRADE, 1 964. 2-3
ZAGREB, 1965. 1-2
HAVANA, 1 965. 2-4
PALMA DE MALLORCA, 1965. 4
VRNJACKA BANJA, 1967, Zonal
SARAJEVO, 1 967. 1-2
BELGRADE, 1 969. 1-4

I I4
 FRIDRICH OLAFSSON
Iceland

Born on January 26.th in 1 935. in Rejkjawik. Became national master

in 1 953. l.M. 1 956. Grandmaster 1 958. when he played at the Candidates
tournament.

Important results :

MARYANSKE LAZNY, 1 954. Zonal l

HASTINGS, 1 956. 1-2
VAGENINGEN, 1 957. Zonal 2
PORTOROZ, 1958. Interzonal 5-6
BEVERWIJK, 1 959. 1
MAR DEL PLATA, 1 960. 3
BERG EN DAL, 1 960. 1
MOSCOW, 1961 . 3
MARIJANSKE LAZNY, 1 96 1 . Zonal 1
STOCKHOLM, 1962. Interzonal 1 1 -12
LOS ANGELES, 1 963. 3-4
DUNDY, 1 967. 2-3

115
 CLAUS DARGA
W. Germany

Born in 1 934, Int. master became 1 957. Grandmaster 1 964.

Important results :

HAMBURG, 1955.
MADRID, 1957.
GRAZ, 1961.
SARAJEVO, 1 962.
ENSHEDE, 1 963., Zonal
AMSTERDAM, 1 964. Interzonal
WINNIPEG, 1 967.

116
 WITH BOBBY FROM PORTOROZE TO DENVER

I began to write story about Fischer in Portoroze during the JnterzonaJ

Tournament in 1 958. when I met Bobby for the first time. It continued in
Zurich in 1 959. in Sarajevo, Bled, Zagreb, Belgrade, Leipzig (at Olympics),
Stockholm (the Interzonal) Warna (Olympics) Havana (Olympics), Sousse
(the Interzonal), Match of the Century etc. In the course of all these events,
I spent a lot of time with Bobby Ficher, We became good friends. I spent
a considerable time with him in the hospital where he went after the Bled
tournament of 1 96 1 . troubled by appendicitis. I listened to many frank opi­
nions from this genius of chess. As he is the author of this book with me,.
I'll choose some of my interviews with him :
Let me start with our first meeting in Portoroze in 1 958. He was fifteen.
He would cross from his hotel to the tournament room without noticing
anybody. After the game he would go to his hotel and start to analyze. His
"second", William Lombardy looking, in his white suit, like a doctor, was
always reading some book in the front row of spectators in the tournament
room.

Learnt chess at six

Bobby told me a lot about himself. He was born on March 9th 1943.
His sister Joanna taught him how to play chess at the age of six. His first
victory was in the U. S. Junior Championship in 1956. His mother advertised
in a Brooklyn newspaper "Chess teacher wanted to play with my son". After
that he went to the Manhattan Chess Club.

They would not play with him

It was the beginning of perhaps the most interesting chess career of

all time. Bobby wanted to play everybody "blitz games" but the gentlemen
would not oblige.
We once discussed prospects in the Candidates' Tournament " Smyslov
will finish first" said Bobby, "I shall be fourth or fifth".
Zurich 1 959, the grand masters' tournament. Bobby went about reading
a Tarzan book everywhere. Before his game with Keres' "I shall win to-day . .
I will smash him" said Bobby.

llT
 Beats Keres at sixteen

He played that game wonderfully. Keres was in time trouble, but re­
mained typically calm. Bobby kept looking from the board to the spectators.
He became nervous at the prospect of such a victory. He won the game.
Somebody gave him as a present a book inscribed "To Bobby Fischer, future
world champion". At that time, Bobby was more realistic. He did not think
he would be World Champion so very soon . . .
It was quite a surprise to enter his room in the Bellevue Hotel by the
lake. It was like a schoolboy's room just before an examination in Russian.
On the table there were a lot of Russian magazines. The book The Soviet
School of Chess lay open. I noticed four pocket chess sets and several telegrams
from his fans. He was not satisfied with his place in the tournament, because
of his game against Keller.

A composed end-game beat him

Bobby promised he would come to Sarajevo. He kept his promise and

a telegram arrived on June 1 9th 1 959 :
"Coming Friday by plane-Bobby". When he arrived at Sarajevo, where I live
he told me that he would not play any chess. That day we went from one book
shop to another. He bought all the chess books he had not got already.
We set before him a very complex end game to solve. After half an hour he
said "It is very difficult. Nothing like this would ever occur in a real game".
He did not find the solution .
I met him again during the Candidates' Tournament at Bled in 1 959.
We often played table tennis or went for a walk. He was not much of a player
in table tennis. Tai, joking, said that he would beat Bobby, Benko and Olafs­
son 4----0, and Bobby was a little bit angry at this. In Zagreb he started to
play better, but in Belgrade he was very optimistic. Before his game with
Smyslov we went to the cinema. "Lust for life" was on, a film about Van
Gogh's life. After the scene where the hero cut off his own ear Bobby told
me : "I'll cut off my ear if I don't beat Smyslov tomorrow". His victory against
Smyslov was really wonderful. So he still has both ears . . .

Very elegant

Leipzig 1960, the Chess Olympiad . Bobby arrived with six fashinable
suits. He bought a new hat and he was really very elegant. He wanted to
revenge himself on Tai because of that 4----0 remark, but the game ended
in a draw.
"You do not play badly" said Bobby.
"This is the first time you have conceded that" replied Tai : "But if
I had lost, I would have played like a genius !"
Bobby and Tai were the centre o f interest. At the closing ceremony
Bobby asked Tai to look at his hand and read his future. Tai gave his hand,

118
and Bobby started reading "I see the World Champion is going to be-a young
American grand master".
"Congratulations, William" said Tai to Lombardy.
We were on a simultaneous display tour affer that tournament in Bled
1 96 1 . Bobby got an attack of appendicitis and spent three days in Banja
Luka Hospital in Bosnia. We played many a casual game. He told me that
his stay at the hospital must be kept secret. He did not like journalists. I recall
with amusement how this chess genius would sit up in bed with the book
of Keres's best games in one hand and the other hand on his stomach. Keres
was the only Russian grand master in the Bled Tournament 1961 who had
drawn with him, the other three, Tai , Geller and Petroshan , Bobby had
beaten.
I was with him again in 1962 at the Stockholm Interzonal tournament
where he finished 2,5 points in front of everybody else. We went to dance
halls together ; Bobby loved to listen to the music. One evening I asked a Swe­
disch girl had she heard about the famous chess player Bobby Fischer. "No"
she replied. This came back to me when , during the Candidates' tournament
in Yugoslavia, we visited a night club in Ljubljana and Bobby remarked
"How is it that nobody has noticed I'm here?" I told the orchestra Bobby
Fischer was there in person and they started an impromptu song about him.

Sousse, 1967.
During his notorius walk-out from the International Tournament at
Sousse, I was on his side but told him more than once : "The only way to
become world champion is to play in this tournament". When Bobby drop­
ped out of the tournament he told me : "You can write : I am leaving these
patzers".
The Interzonal in Sousse was one of the most exciting tournaments
ever held, with drama in the chess arena and around it. There was the Fischer
Affair, Matulovic's "new rule" against Bilek, and many other things inconsi­
stent with good tournament management.
Fischer was leading the tournament and had already demonstrated
by his form that he was the outstanding candidate for first place. Then Bobby
asked for a schedule adjustment, a simple enough request occasioned by an
apparent misunderstanding. When the officials said no adjustment was pos­
sible, he withdrew and departed for Tunis (and his game against Gipslis
was marked as forfeit). He was very angry because the Committee did not
wish to change the schedule.
A day and a half later, Bobby returned from Tunis when few expected
him to do so. His clock was already running against Reshevsky, only ten
minutes and Bobby would lose. I was surprised when I saw him in his room ;
he was tired and asked how many minutes remained before the one-hour
forfeit limit. "Only ten", I said, and Bobby rested for five of these before
going downstairs and winning from Reshevsky.
Then a draw against Korchnoi, a win over Byrne, a bye, and on the
fourth day after his return Bobby withdrew for the second time. Now because
he felt it was impossible to work with the officials, who would not reschedule
his game against Gipslis.

119
 Two more days of speculation and we in Sousse heard that Fischer
(who was in Tunis) wanted to continue to play. The Committee sent him a letter
to sign, it's main point being that he must accept the two losses against Gipslis
and Hort. He telephoned me about 6 : 00 pm and said that he was not a cri­
minal to be required to sign such a letter. A little after 7 : 00 he phoned again
and said he wanted to play and would sign his letter accepting the forfeits
if they were according to FIDE rules. I conveyed this message to the Com­
mittee, which replied at 7 : 40 pm that if he arrived by 8 : 00 pm he could
play. Of course he could not make it in half an hour from Tunis to Sousse
( 1 50 kilometers) . and it was the end of this story.
A pity for Bobby, as well as for world chess, that things happened
as they did. He was in his best form and very dangerous as a challenger for
the world title, but now all went with the wind.
After this tournament I sent him a second edition of my book "Grand
masters in profile" in which I described my meetings with twenty of the best
players of today. In a big chapter I wrote about all my meetings and interviews
with him.

Bobby in California

Before the Match of the Century I went to visit Bobby in Los Angeles.
While enjoying California's beautiful sunshine, I asked myself "Is it this
that has attracted him, one of the greatest chess players of our time from
New York?" I had telephoned him from New York and he had told me how
to find him. It was so easy in Los Angeles.
I was on my way to visit a young man who is already a chess legend,
the only person in history who has become a grand master and candidate
for world champion when only 1 5.
It was Ambrose Avenue, small houses, all alike, surrounded by plenty
of trees. He was obviously glad to see me. Everything in his one-room flat
revealed that here lived a famous grand master, eight times U. S. champion ;
books everywhere, a chess set on the table, side by side with a bottle of milk.
A colour TV which he told me he had got from Mrs. Piatigorsky. Not a trace
of all those numerous suits he used to collect as a boy, no records either : he
had left them all behind in New York.
"It is better here than in New York", he said. "The climate is wonderful
and it is much more peaceful ; that is what I need". He said he would play
in Belgrade. He asked me : "I suppose Spassky will play against me, maybe
Petrosyan . . . ?" As it went he played against Petrosyan, not because of Spassky
but because of Larsen !
Among the books, I noticed one not about chess. It was a book "How
to make life easier", if I remember correctly. It struck me how lonesome
great artists can be. He was alone with chess sets and books.
Bobby was very sorry that he would not play in the Interzonal.
"Larsen told me" I said "That your demand for a 2 1 -round U. S. cham­
pionship was not fair because the other players are not professionals".

1 20
 "Larsen had no right to talk like that. Most of them do nothing but
play chess" . . . But talking about Larsen : "I should like to play a match
with him. It would show the Soviet players how dangerous a player I am".
(Bobby's wish become truth in semifinal of Candidates matches : Fischer­
Larsen 6 : 0)
I was looking at his books, and said it looked to me as if he was pre­
paring for something".
"Yes, I am preparing for Spassky", said Bobby.
In front of him was a book of the Spassky v Petrosyan match for the
world championship.
"I analysed all those games, and I think that Spassky was afraid of
his opponent. He made many mistakes. Petrosyan did not learn his lessons
from the first match.
"Spassky told me that the Match of the Century would not be very
interesting because of the big advantage of the Soviet team".
"I, too", said Bobby "think we shall lose. We'd have a better chance
if we played more boards".
"What will be the first board result, Spassky v Fischer?"
"I think Spassky has even chances' because I have not played for a
long time".
Doesn't like Euwe

"Do you think Euwe has chosen the best team?"

"He has picked the best players, more or less. I don't want to talk about
Euwe. He has said several things about me that I do not like".
Bobby told me that the match in Holland with four players was going
to be rather funny. Spassky would certainly win (he did !).
"Who has the best prospects of challenging Spassky for the world
championship 1 972. "?
"Larsen or Korchnoy" said Bobby. (Fischer did not know that he
would play at the Candidates matches, OR may be he knew . . . )
"Korchnoy told me Spassky is too lazy and that he would not be cham-
pion for more than three years?"
"He may be lazy, I don't know. But there are lots of other factors".
"What match for the final would be most interesting?"
"Fischer v Spassky! "
"Who would win?"
"Frankly speaking, I am sure that I would win, but only if we were
to play to the first six or ten outright wins. Unfortunately that match will
never come about".
"Who is the best player in the world?"
"I would not like to be immodest, but it is silly not to tell the truth -
it is Fischer".
"Who are the best six?"
"They must be Spassky, Korchnoy, Larsen , Fischer, may be Petrosyan ... "

121
 "Whom are you afraid of at the chess board?"
"Nobody in a match, but in a tournament many of them could be dan­
gerous. For instance Spassky, Korchnoy, Larsen , Tai , Petrosyan".
We started to compare Soviet grand masters with others. Bobby said
the Russians are better because they have government support.
"What would be your chances if you were to play in the Soviet cham­
pionship. Petrosyan told me you would not be first?"
"I would have a very good chance of first place. . . "

The World Championship System

"What do you think of the system of qualification for the world cham­
pionship?"
"It is too slow. There ought to be a world championship match every
year. The tournaments are interesting only for spectators but everything
should be decided by matches, drawn games not counting".
"Who do you consider the best players in history?"
"Morphy and Steinitz".
"If Morphy were to play today"
"He would need six months to catch up with theory and he would
become world champion".
"Would Fischer beat Morphy in a match?"
"Yes but he was a great player. Chess players know more today. Morphy
would find it hard even against ordinary international masters because they
know so much theory, but he was unique".
"About young chess stars?"
"I think Mekcing of Brazil is very good, also Kaplan from Puerto Rico".

Chess-playing machines

"What do you think of the future of chess?"

"I think Botvinnik is right. Chess playing machines are going to be
so strong that they would at least draw with grand masters . . . "
We often went for a walk. One evening when we went into the Beverly
Hills Hotel night club, the porter did not want to let Bobby in because he
had no tie. I asked the porter had he heard of Bobby Fischer and he said
it was the first time he had heard the name. After that Bobby told me that
he is not so well known in Los Angeles as in Yugoslavia, where everybody
has heard of him. He said : "May be 35 per cent of the people know me here".
Walking along Sunset Boulevard, I asked him "When will you be world
champion?" He looked at me rather sadly and answered : "I don't know.
But I do know I am tired of waiting . . . "
It is very good for him and for the world of chess that he is in the chess
arena again. So here we were, together again, at the Match of the Century.

122
We were in Bobby's room with the organisers. They explained that Larsen
did not want to play if he was not at first board. I found Bobby in bed lying
on his back with his arms behind his head, surrounded by admirers, looking
rather like a maharajah with his court around him. Bobby said : "Do I get
as much money?" "Yes" and Bobby agreed . . .
But when we went along to the start of the match, Bobby told me "I slip­
ped up there. They pressured me to play at the second board. Whatever
will my friends say to me when I go back to the States?"

Hero of the day

Bobby was the hero of the day. The newspapers gave him big headlines,
he received a tremendous fan mail, though not the offers of marriage they
reported in the Belgrade "Politika". Spassky and Larsen were also in the
centre of interest, so I put the same questions to the three of theam.
"Spassky is world champion, Larsen believes he will soon be champion
and Fischer is uncrowned champion. . . Let's hear your views. First of all
about that top board".
LARSEN : "I should not have come to Belgrade if Euwe had not
telephoned to me that I would play at first board . When I came here I noticed
that Fischer came to play. I knew that Fischer believes that he is better than
me, but also I considered it was his move, because he had not played for
a long time".

SPASSKY : "I think Larsen was right in asking to play in front of

Fischer. Who is the better player counts less than who has had better results
in the last year. Bobby surprised me with his gentlemanly retirement. I did
not expect it."

Fischer a t the Interzonal

"Bobby will not play in the Interzonal ?"

LARSEN : "He ought to have played in the U. S. championship, it
is late now for him to regret".
(We now know that strenuous efforts by the U. S. Chess Federation
have got him into the Interzonal, where he was the winner. After that he
beat Tajmanov and Larsen with fantastic score 6 : 0.
-

SPASSKY : "He probably had reasons for not playing in the U. S.

championship. I looked on him as one of the strongest candidates for a match
with me. In his absence I think Petrosyan has the best chances.
"Bobby said there were many errors in the Petrosyan v Spassky match?"
LARSEN : "There were! I thought Petrosyan would win by 12,5 : 10,5,
but Spassky won ! "
SPASSKY : "There were errors. There always are".
"Before the beginning of the Match of the Century who did you think
would win?"

1 23
 LARSEN : "I predicted 23-17 for the Soviets".
SPASSKY : "I knew we would win. According to the computers, by
three points . . . "
"Bobby told me that you would have an even chance against him be­
cause he had not played for a l ong time. But, in the event, he met Petrosyan .
How would a match Spas�.ky v Fischer go?"
LARSEN : "I don't know who would win, I only know I thought
I could beat Spassky".
SPASSKY : "It is difficult to say who would win , but I would rather
meet Fischer, because I have already had a match with Larsen".
"Bobby said that your match in Holland with Botvinnik and Donner
is going to be rather amusing and that Spassky would be easily first?"
LARSEN : "He is not right. I shall be first". (He was not).
SPASSKY : "Bobby is angry because he failed to get his match with
Botvinnik. I am not sure I shall finish first in Holland".

Who'll be the challenger?

"Who has the best chance to challenge Spas sky in the title match?"
LARSEN: "You know that I think - Larsen".
SPASSKY : "I told you - Petrosyan".
"Bobby agrees with Korchnoy that Spassky is lazy?"
LARSEN : "I agree he may be. Don't forget, though, that Capablanca
was lazy too ; he was world champion for some time".
SPASSKY : "Yes, I am lazy, but if Korchnoy said that I should be
champion only 3 years, O.K. by me. I shall certainly hold the title longer,
because all Korchnoy's predictions go wrong".
"The most interesting match of today?"
LARSEN: "Korchnoy v Fischer".
SPASSKY : "Any matches involving Fischer. May be Fischer against
Tai, Korchnoy or me".
"Fischer says he is the best player now. Is this true?"

Larsen, disciple of auto-suggestion

LARSEN : "My answer to Fischer is : The best player today is Larsen.

I do not say this just to be provocative, I believe it".
SPASSKY : "There is tremendous competition in the forefront of
world chess. Bobby may be best but he must play more, to prove it".
"The six best players in the world?"

1 24
 LARSEN : "Spassky, Petrosyan, Korchnoi, Fischer, Larsen . Who
is sixth? May be Geller or Hort".
SPASSKY : "Korchnoi, Petrosyan , Spassky and Geller from the
Soviet Union ; Larsen and Fischer from outside".
"Whom do you fear at the chess board?"
LARSEN : "Nobody".
SPASSKY : "Myself".
"Could Fischer win the Soviet championship?"
LARSEN : "Very difficult".
SPASSKY : "He would have equal chances with several others".

The best player ever

"The best player in history?"

LARSEN : "Philidor, because he was so far ahead of his time. I think
Botvinnik is a more interesting player than Alekhine was. Tai and Bronstein
are very interesting too".
SPASSKY : "I told you once 'Alekhine' but I have since changed my
opinion . . . but who is the best, let it be my secret".
"If Morphy were to play today?"
LARSEN : "He would not enjoy being a professional chess player,
I think I should beat him".
SPASSKY : "I should offer him a draw".

The best younger players

"Young chess stars?"

LARSEN: "The best are Mecking and Browne".
SPASSKY : "Perhaps Karpov or Adoryan, though I do not know them
very well. Balasov is very good. Outside the Soviet Un ion , Mecking and
Browne".
"Three best chess countries?"
LARSEN : "Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, U.S.A."
SPASSKY : "Soviet Union , Yugoslavia, U. S.A. and you must add
Hungary".
"The future of chess?"
LARSEN : "It as a fine future".
SPASSKY : "It depends on the grand masters. Chess must have better
organisation. In the Soviet Union we have not had a really big international
tournament for a long time".

125
 "Bobby said that he was tired of waiting to become world champion.
When will he become world champion?"
LARSEN : "Never. He is afraid to lose".
SPASSKY: "It is difficult to say but he is one of the most outstanding
candidates".

Television scripts

During Bobby's one month stay in Sarajevo with me we composed

ten scripts for television about great grand masters. Each lasted for 20 minutes,
with Bobby explaining one game . . . more than three hours' show in all, about
Morphy, Steinitz, Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosyan, Tai , Spassky, Gligoric,
Larsen and Reshevsky. I decided to put all the stories in a book and I hope
it will appear soon.

Unexpected questions

In one of our T.V. interviews I told Bobby I was going to ask him about
other things than chess. I have the record of that interview :
"Is it nice to be so famous?"
"Not bad".
"What is Fischer?"
"It is my name".
"Could you describe that name?"
"Just a name with seven letters".
"What are you interested in except chess?"
"Music, T.V. , radio, sport, walking, travel. To do everything".
"Do you think that you play like a chess machine?"
"No. Nobody is complete as a machine".
"But they call you a chess machine?"
"The people call you a chess machine when you are successful. When
you lose they stop".
"Did you expect to beat Petrosyan by 3-1 ?"
"No . I did not bother too much about the result".
"But if you had played against Spassky?"
"He would have had a better chance, he had more practice".
"Would you like to play a match with Spassky? Would you win?"
"I should win if I were to prepare well".
"People say that you know hundreds of games by heart".
"No, only several".
"Which of your games do you like best?"
"My game against Donald Byrne, when I was 1 3".
"Which game do you consider the best ever played?"
"Very difficult to say. May be one of Andersson's or Morphy's. It
is hard to say only one game".
"Who are the best players in history?"

1 26
 "Morphy, Andersson, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Tchigorin, Lasker, Capablanca,
Alekhine".
"What about contemporary players?"
"Petrosyan, Spassky, Larsen, Tai, Korchnoy".
"What about Fischer?"
"Yes, may be myself".
"But do you remember what you told me in Los Angeles that you
would not like to be modest, that you are the best player in the world".
"That's the truth".
"How come you have changed your opinion?"
"I did not exactly say it like that. You keep pressing me . . . "
"People are interested to know when you will start fighting for the world
championship?"
"I don't know for sure. . . "
"Once you told me that you were interested in politics?"
"Yes, because I travel a lot, I meet many people. It is very interesting
to know what might happen in the future".
"Who are your favorite writers"?
" I don't know".
"You mentioned Shakespeare once".
"I like to read magazines and newspapers".
"I remember when you were at Zurich in 1 959, you were reading a book
about Tarzan?"
"Yes, it was a long time ago. That was a very good writer".
"Music. . . ?"
"I like popular music, also Negro music".
"What did you like especially about Belgrade?"
"The city has changed".

Bobby and girls

"What about the girls"?

"Not bad !"
(After this Bobby laughed . Several days later one newspaper announced
that he had stayed in Zagreb because of a girl. He was very angry with that.
In fact there has been no Bobby Fischer romance in Yugoslavia).
After a new big victory in the tournament of piece in Rovinj and Zagreb
the experts says that Fischer played in the first half of the tournament nearly
errorles chess. Perheps wholly except for the game with Ivkov. His victory
was completely merited and above cavil. Fischer was two point ahead of
Hort, Gligoric, Smyslov and Korchnoi.
Buenos Aires he won by the fantastic margin of 3,5 points. He made
draws only with Najdorf, Reshevsky, Smyslov and Meckong, all with the
Black pieces. Fischer had 1 5 points, Tukmakov 1 1 ,5, Pano 1 1 , etc. Most
interesting was Fischer's victory against Szabo. When everyone thought
Szabo had achieved an easy draw, it turned out he was completely lost. . .

127
 SZABO - FISCHER
English opening

1. c4, g6, 2. g3, Bg7, 3. Bg2, c5, 4. Nc3, Nc6, 5. e3, Nf6, 6. d4, 0-0, 7. Nge2,
d6, 8. 0-0, Bf5, 9. d5, Na5, 10. e4, Bd7, 11. b3, a6, 12. Rbl, b5, 13. c6 :
ab : 14. b4, cb : 15. Rb4 : Qc7, 16. Nb5 : Qc5, 17. Qd4, Nd5 ; 18. Qc5 : de :
19. Rbl, Nb4, 20. Nc7, Ta7, 21. a3, Rc7 : 22. ab : cb : 23. Rb4 : Rc2, 24. Nd4,
Bd4 : 25. Rd4 : Bb5, 26. Rel, Nb3, 27. Rb4, Ncl, 28. Rb5 : Ne2+, 29, Kfl,
Nc3, 30. Rc5, Rd8, 31. Bh3, R8d2, 32. Res+ Kg7, 33. Re3, Ndl, 34. Rf3,
Rf2 : + , 35. Rf2 : Rf2 : 36. Kgl, Re2, 37. Bg4, R :e4 0 :1

Siegen, 1970

It was the big day of the Olympiad. The world Champion against Robert
Fischer. The Chess world had been waiting very long for that game, many
chess fans had come only because of that game. It was impossible to come
closer to their table. All the music, reporters, recalled something of the
famous Spanish corridas. The audience had been waiting for one hour to
see two famous Grandmasters. Spassky came ten minutes earlier : Fischer
was late. When they started it looked as if there existed nothing except their
game.
- Spassky won that game. He analyzed several minutes Fischer was
waiting, he was angry and sad, because he could never beat Spassky. His
big dream had not come true. After that game I spoke with Spassky about
Fischer.
Tai and Fischer contributed to the popularity of chess. They are excep­
tional personalities in chess history. Who of them is the bigger talent?
- I think Tai , but it is a great thing for chess that there is such a Grand­
master as Fischer.
The day before I met Bobby at the Press room. He was very happy
after the game with Portisch but he could not forget that game with Spassky.
He was not sure about playing at the Interzonal. I told Spassky that Bobby
had changed . . .
- Yes, answered the Champion. He has changed, he is better now.
The organizers of the simultaneous exibition from Hamburg offered 400 dollars
to Spassky for an exibition. They promised the same to Fischer. Spassky
said : As I am World champion, I would like to have one dollar more than
Fischer!
Fischer played at 20, and Spassky at 40 boards
- Frankly speaking, says Spassky, Fischer is the biggest candidate
to play a Match against me. But it seams that he would like to play that
Match without FIDE competitions . . . (Bobby later changed his mind).
- You told me before that Petrosyan was the biggest Candidate?
- Yes, but without Fischer. If Fischer plays, he is number one.
There is a proposal from the U. S.A. for the Match Spassky - Fischer out
of FIDE competitions. The Americans would offer several thousand dollars?

1 28
 - For every professional chess player it's pleasant to earn money in
such a Match. But for me, money has never been so important. I know
very well that the time will come when I am not the champion any more and
when I'll not earn as I do now. But I like the title of the World Champion
to be respected .
- Of course, I would like to play a Match with Fischer. It would
be a very interesting Match, but I'd like it to be for the world championship.
I must say that Fischer is a Grandmaster who stimulates my progress in
chess.
What about his victories in Zagreb, and Buenos Aires?
All that is quite normal and it shows that Fischer, with his big talent,
works very much.
- Fischer told me that he would win the Match of 24 games against
you? What do you think?
- It's his personal opinion. It's difficult to say who would win. If I
played such a match I would not think how to win, but how to prepare for
such a Match.
- If I decided to play at the same tournament with Fischer, I would
like to prepare to be ahead of him.
After Siegen came the Interzonal in Mallorca. Once more Robert Fischer
suprised the chess world. He came to Mallorca in Caesar's style and he also.
could have said : veni, vidi, vici. Fischer had 3,5 points more than the second
player, After this Tournament he continued his way to the top of the chess
World. In Vancouver he made a fantastic 6 : 0 against Tajmanov. This was
one more surprise for the chess world. After that big victory Spassky said ;
- Fischer has better chances against Larsen. I think that he has the
best chances to play the Match with me in 1 972. But I am not afraid of Fischer
I am only afraid of myself. I am very glad to play that Match with Fischer. . .

MALLORCA, VANCOUVER, DENVER :

18 Wins in a Row !

Fischer's sensational victories (6 : 0) against Taymanov and Larsen

became part of chess history. The last draw Fischer made in 1 7th Round
of the Interzonal tournament in Mallorca, in December 1970 against Uitu­
men. From that moment he won 1 8 games in a row. His victories began
against Rubinetti in 1 8th Round. After that he beat Uhlman, Taymanov,
Suttles, Mecking, Gligoric and Panno (without playing).
It means that Fischer's great record consists of 18 victories three times
6 : 0 against Grandmasters except Rubinetti and Mecking. Let's see the
games from his sensational Matahes . The games against Taymanov comments
Mihail Tai , and against Larsen-Tai and other Soviet grandmasters . . .

9 Ches meets the century

1 29
l �---
 Michail Tal's comments
Kings indian

TAYMANOV - FISCHER
First game
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6, 5. Nf3, �O, 6. Be2, e5, 7. 0-0
Nc6, 8. d5, Ne7 (Taymanov plays a variation which Fischer likes to play
with Black. Till then they were both satisfied .) 9. Bd2, Ne8, 10. Rel, f5, 11.
ef, gf : 12. Ng5, h6, 13. Ne6, Be6 : 14. de : Qc8, 15. Qb3, c6 (Black defwded
d5 , and plans : Ne8---c7 : e6 taking a Pawn and puts his Knight in an active
position.)
16. Bh5 (A piece sacrifice 1 6. Nd5??! would be dangerous for Black but only
in Blitz games. Black plays 1 6. . . cd : 17. cd : Qb8 with an easy defence.)
16 . . . Qe6: (As it is known Fischer likes a pawn more, he chose a forced
variation winning material and giving to white more space for operation.)
( 1 6 . . . Nc7, 1 7. Bf7+ Kh7) 17. Qb7, Nf6, 18. Be2, Rfb8, 19. Qa6, Rb2, 20.
Rfdl, e4, 21. Qa3 (21 . Bf4 after this immediately 2 1 . . . d5 is impossible,
if 21 . . . Rb6, 22. Qa3 or 22. Qa5).
21. . . Rb7, 22. Bf4, d5, 23. cd : cd : 24. Nb5, Ng6 ! (Threats 25. Nc7, but 25 . . .
Qf7, 26. Na8 : Nf4, Black would have an attacking position for an exchange.)
25. Nd4 (25. Qg3, Nh5 ! 26. Bh5 : Nf4, 27. Qf4, Rb5 : 28. Rc7, Qe5 ! (not 28 . . .
Be5, 29. Bf7 + Qf7 : 30. Qe5 :)
25 . . . Qd7, 26. Qe3, Kh7, 27. h3, Rf8

28. Ba6 ! (White plans an exchange sacrifice.)

28. •Rb6, 29. Rc7, Qa4, 30. Rg7 : + ! (Without that Bishop Black King
•

would feel less safe)

30• •Kg7, 31. Bh6+Kf7, 32. Be2, Rfb8, 33. Nf5 : (For an exchange White
•

has a Pawn more, and his pieces, first of all his Knight, are in good positions.
Unfortunately, Taymanov played badly for rest of the game. Perhaps because
of the pressure of time.

131
33. . . Rbl, 34. Rbl : (First of the series of bad moves. It was not necessary
to allow Black's Rook to come at the first row. White had a good possibility :
34. Kh2! because it is not good 34. . . Rd l : 35. Bdl : Qd l ? 36. Qa7 : ? Black
would probably continue as in the game 34. Qd7. In that way White could
have played 35. g4, after which Black would have to defend not so easily.)
34 . Rbl : + , 35. Kh2, Qd7, 36. Nd4 (It was not so necessary. Because of
• •

this White gives an advantage to his opponent. It was possible : 36. Qg5 and
Black had no better choice than to force a draw : 36. . . Nh7, 37. Qh5, Nf6
etc. 36. g4, also is not bad, but Black has a counter attack after 36 . . . Qc7 + .
37. Kg2, Qb6, 3 8 . Qc3, Rb2 and i f 39. Be3, 3 9. . . Nf4+ !)
36 • Qd6 + , 37. g3, Qb4 ! (threats 38 . . . Qe l), 38. Nc6, Qb6, 39. Na7 : (Better
• •

was 39. Nd4) 39. . . Qe3, 40. Be3 : Rel ! The game was adjourned here, but
Taymanov resigned without playing. - 0 : 1
In the first game Taymanov was attacking more than Fischer, but in the second
game Fischer had chess and psychological initiative. Very often people say
that Fischer plays only - well known variations, not playing his own moves,
inspite of the fact that he knows very much about opening. But that opinion
i s wrong. W e can once more see it in the second game.

Sicilian defense

FISCHER - TAYMANOV
Second game
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4 ; cd : 4. Nd4 : e6, 5. Nb5, d6. 6. Bf4 (Variation
with 5. Nb4 is very rare in Fischer's practice, but 6. Bf4, if I remember co­
rrectly, Fischer played it ten years ago. At the Interzonal, 1 970, Whites played
6. c4 but they did not get initiative in the openning.
6. .e5, 7. Be3, Nf6, 8. Bg5, QaS+ (Several games ended very fast with 8 . . .
•

Be6, 9. Bd2, Qd8, 10. Bg5, Qa5 + , 1 1 . Bd2, Qd8, with a draw. I do not know
whether Taymanov was ready to draw that game, or . . . ) 9. Qd2, Ne4 : 10.
Qa5, Na5 : 11. Be3 (Obviously it was bad 1 1 . Nc7 + Kd7, 1 2. Na8 : Ng5)
11 • Kd7
• •

1 32
In this position as a rule, White takes a Pawn 12. N or B: a7, but Black's good
Center gives a nice play. Fischer now plays a very interesting innovation.
12. Nl c3 ! (I do not know whether this pawn sacrifice was correct. We are
still waiting for the teorists' or Fischer's and Taymanov's answer at the Match.
But in this position Black has to defend very long. Taymanov does not like
passive play . . .
12• Nc3 : 13. Nc3 : Kd8 (May be 1 3 . . . b6) 14. Nb5! (If now 14. . . d5, 1 5.
• •

Ba7 with 1 6. Bb6+Kd7, 1 7. Nc7 . . . )

14 . . . Be6, 15. 0-0-0, b6, (If 1 5 . . . d5, 1 6. Ba7 :) 1 6. f4 ! (After 1 6. Nd6 :
Bd6 : 17. Rd6 : + Ke7, 1 8. Rd l , Bc4, Black would have an even game. But
now Black has nothing better than exchange on f4. After 1 6. . . e4, 1 7 . N d6,
dd6, 1 8. Rd6 : + Ke7 and White has a move 19. Rd4, and if 1 6. . . f6, 1 7.
fe : fe : 1 8. Nd6 : pawn e5 is very weak.)
16. . . ef : 17. Bf4 : Nb7, 18. Be2, Bd7 (if 18 . . . Be7, 19. Bf3)
19. Rd2 ! Be7, 20. Rhdl. (If 20 . . . g5, 2 1 . Bd6. or 2 1 . Kd6 : 20. . . a6, 2 1 . Nd6 :
Nd6 : 22. Bd6 : Bg5. Also 2 1 . Bd6, Bg5 ! If 2 1 . . . Bb5, 22. Be7 : + Ke7, 23.
Bb5 : ab : 24. Rd7 + Ke6, 25. Rb7 :)
20• . Bb5 : 21. Bb5 : Kc7, 22. Re2, Bf6, 23. Rdel, Raes (Because of 24. Re7 + !)
•

24. Bc4, Rhf8, 25. b4 ! (Positions like this Fischer plays wonderfully.)
25. • a5, 26. Bd5 (threats 27. Re7 +)
•

26. . . Kb8, 27. a3, Rfd8, 28. Bf7 : (28. Re4, Bc3, 29. R l=e2)
28• • Bc3 ! 29. Bd2, d5, 30. Rdl, d4, 31. Bc3 : Rc3 : (Also 3 1 . . . de :) 32. Kb2,
•

d3 ! 33. Kc3, de : 34. Rel, Nd6, 35. Bh5, NbS+ (For such a defence Taymanov
spent lot of time and he made a mistake (35 . . . Rc8 + , 36. Kb2, Nc4 + , 37.
Ka2, Ne3 ! or 36. Kb3, Nb5, 37. c4, Nd4+ , 38. Kc3, Nb5,
36. Kb2, ab : 37. ab : Rd4, 38. c3, Rh4 (Not 38 . . . Rd2, 39. Kb3, Rd3, 40. Kc4)
39. Be2 : Nd6 : 40. Rdl, Kc7, 41. h3, Rf4, 42. Rfl, Re4, 43. Bd3, Re5, 44. Rf2,
h5, 45. c4 (The game was adjourned here for the first time.

White has a Pawn more. His Bishop is more active than Black's Knight.
45. . . Rg5 (45 . . . Re3, 46. Kc3 , Ne4+, 47. Kd4, Rd3 : + , 48. Ke4 and White
wins.)

133
46. Kc3, Kd7, 47. Ra2, Kc8, 48. Kd4, Kc7 (White could continue : 49. Re2,
and after 49 . . . Kd7, (If 49 . . . Kd8, 50. Re6, Kd7, 5 1 . Rg6), 50. c5, bc4,
5 1 . be : Nc8. Averbach recomended 49. h4, Rg4 + , 50. Kd5, Rh4 : 5 1 . c5)
49. Ra7 + Kd8, SO. cS (Probably after this move White can not win. It was
better 50. Ra6 or 50. Ra2)
SO• • be+ , Sl. be : Ne8, S2. Ra2 (52. Be4, Nc7, 53. Kc4 gave more possi­
•

bilities to white)
S2• • • Nc7, S3. Bc4, Kd7, S4. Rb2 (It would be more difficult for Black, after
54. Bb3)
S4• • Kc6, SS. Bb3 (55. Rb6 + Kd7) SS
• • • • NbS + (Of course not 55 . . . Rc5,
56. Ba4+) S6. Ke3, KcS : (White has some advantage, but it is not enough
for victory)
S7. Kf4, Rg6, S8. Bdl, h4, S9. KfS, Rh6, 60. KgS, Nd6, 61. Bc2, Nf7 + ,
62. Kg4, NeS+ , 63. Kf4, Kd4, 64. Rb4 + Kc3, 6S. RbS, Nf7, 66. RcS + , Kd4,
67. RfS gs+ , 68. Kg4, NeS + , 69. KgS : Rg6 + , 70. Kh4 : Rg2, 71. Bdl, Rg8,
72. Bg4, Ke4, 73. Kg3, (Adjourned second time). It was a "dead draw"
but. . . the ne xt day they played the third game which I think had a big
influence on this game.

Taymanov's seconds also did not find any of the ways for a draw.
73• • Rg7, 74. Rf4+KdS, 7S. Ra4, Ng6 (The easiest was : 75 . . . Ng4 : 76.
•

hg : Ke6, 77. Kh4 (77. Rf4, Rf7) Rg8 ! 78. Rf4, Ke5, with a theoretical draw
76. Ra6 (75. Ra5 + Kd6, 76. Rg5, Ke7)
76. . . NeS, 77. Kf4, Ng6 + , 78. KgS, NeS + , 79. KfS, Rf7+ , 80. Rf6 (The
last try which brought success .)
80• • • Rf6+, 81. Kf6 : Ke4??
(Black had an easy draw 8 1 . . . Nd3, 82. h4 (or 82. Kf5, Kd6) Nf4, 83. Kf5,
Kd6 ! Also, it was draw : 8 1 . . . . Kd6, 82. Be2 (82. Bc8, Nf3, 83. Bb7, Nh4,
84. Kg5, Ke7) Nd7 + , 83. Kf7, Ke5, 84. h4, Nf6. Taymanov overlooked the
next move - 82. Bc8, because of 82. . . Nf3, 83. Bb7 + , or 82. . . Nd3, 83.
Bf5. The game finished like this :
82• • Kf4, 83. h4, Nf3, (83 . . . Ng4 + , 84. Kg7) 84. hS, BgS, 8S. BfS, Nf3,
•

86. h6, NgS, 87. Kg6, Nf3, 88. h7. NhS+ , 89. Kf6 - 1 : 0

1 34
 Kings Indian
TA YMANOV - FISCHER
third game
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6, 3. Nc3, Bg7, 4. e4, d6, 5. Nf3, 0-0, 6. Be2, e5, 7. 0-0,
Nc6, 8. d5, Ne7, 9. Bd2, Ne8, 10. Rel, f5, 11. Qb3 (May be because of this
move Geller did not play King's indian defence !?) in the fifth game against
Korchnoi)
11 . . . b6, 12. ef, gf : 13. Ng5, Nf6 (if 1 3 . . . h6, 1 4. Ne6, Be6 : 1 5. de : Qc8 ,
1 6. c 5 ! be : 1 7 . Nb5 With a good position for a pawn but Fischer's continuation
also gives many difficulties for Black.) 14. f4, h6 (It was stronger 14 . . . e4.
May be, Fischer phyng a forced variation overlooked White's 1 9th move.)
15. fe : de : 16. c5 ! (If 1 6. . . hg : 1 7. d6+Kh8, 1 8. de : Qe7 : 19. cb : ab : 20.
Bg5 : or 20. Nb5 . . . 16 . . . Kh8, 17. d 6 !)
16 . . . Nfd5, 17. Nd5 : Nd5 : 18. cb : ab :

.. -. ... � ��·�
• �.,
�., .
....,_"'m'��,"�......
1f"" .
�.r.��1
,

• ......
1 .....n
. . . ,., .... � � . ,,,/.

- - - -
-if- - -
B
�
� 1.. ,,���..��-
.. . .. � �.
. .,. ,m1. . ,

- ,, .,•-i( . " · ·""

19. Rc6 ! (Nice move. If 1 9 . . . hg : 20. Bc4, Kh8, 2 1 . Bd5: f4 (or 2 1 . . . g4)
22 Rc3 ! with threats : 23. Ba8 : or 23. Rh3 +)
19 . . . Kh8, 20. Nf3 (For this move Taymanov spend an hour but. . . Why
did Taymanov not continue with attack 20. Qh3 ! ? threatens 2 1 . Rh6 : + and
Black has to defend by 20. . . Rf6 or 20. . . Nf6 in the first case White would
have brought his Bishop in the game with 2 1 . Bc4, in the second case with
2 1 . Bc3. Much better for Black would be : 20 . . . Nf6, 2 1 . Bc3, Bd7 ! (21 . . .
Qe7, 22. Nf3, Ng4, 23. Nh4!) 22. Ne6, Be6 : 23. Re6 : Qd7. But after 24. Re5 :
white has an advantage 24 . . . Ng4, 25. Rd l , Qf7, 26. Red5)
20 . . . Bb7, 21. Rg6 Nf4 ! 22. Bf4 : ef : 23. Rdl, Qe7, 24. Re6, QcS + , 25. Kfl ,
Rfd8, 26. Rd8 : + Rd8, 27. Qd4, Qcl + , 28. Kf2, Bf8, 29. b 4 (because of 2 9. . .
Bc5 +)
29. . Be4, 30. Re8. (If 30. Qb5, Qe3 + , 3 1 . Kel (3 1 . Kfl , Rd l + ! 32. Bd l ,
•

Bd3 + 33. Be2, Qc l +) Qc3 +, 32. Kf2, Bb4 : 33. Re8 + Re8 : 34. Qe8 : + Kh7
and Black wins)
30. • Bc6, 31. Qc6 : (3 1 . Rd8 : Ba4 : 32. Rf8 : + Kg7 Black wins)
.

31. . Qc6, 32. Rd8 : Qf6, 33. Rc8 : Qe7, 34. Kfl, Kh7, 35. Nd4, Bg7, 36. Nb5
•

(36. Nf5 : Qd7, but not 36 . . . Qe6, 37. Bd3) Be5, 37. a3, Qd7, 38. Ra8 f3 !
39. gf : Bh2 : 40. Kg2, Qq7+ ! 41. Kh2 : Qes +
It was adjourned. White resigned without play 0 : I

135
 Sicilian

FISCHER - TAYMANOV
Fourth game
1. e4, cS, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4, Qc7, S. Nc3 (Theory recommends
here 5. Nb5 or 5. c4) S • • e6, 6. g3, a6, 7. Ng2, Nf6, 8. �O, Nd4, 9. Qd4 :
.

BcS, 10. Bf4, d6 (Queen's exchange would be convenient for white) 11. Qd2,
h6 (Possible also 1 1 . . . Nd7) 12. Radl, eS, 13. Be3, Bg4 (After 1 3 . . . Ne3 :
14. fe : Black loses a pawn ( 1 4. . . Ke7'! 1 5. Rf6 :) 14. BcS, de, lS. f3, Be6,
16. f4, Rd8 (It was better 1 6. . . 0-0, 17. f5, Rad8, 1 8 . Qe3, Bc8, 1 9. Nd5, Nd5 :
20. ed : f6, or 1 7 . . . Bc4, 1 8 . Rfe l , b5, 1 9. b3, b4! 20. be : be : 2 1 . Qc3 : Rfd8.
White is a pawn ahead but his Bishop is very passive)
17. NdS, BdS: 18. ed, e4 (threatened 19. d6, and 20. fe: if 1 8 . . . ef: 19. Rde l +
like suicide. Black was not afraid now 19. d6, Qc6 saveing an important
pawn e4)
19. Rfel ! RdS : 20. Re4 : + Kd8, 21. Qe2 (Queen's sucrifice was not good
2 1 . Qd 5. + Nd5, 22. Rd 5 : + Kc8, 23. Tee5, Kb8 ! 24. Rc5, Qb6) 21. • Rdl : + ,
•

22. Qdl : + Qd7 (If 2 2. . . Kc8, 2 3 . Re5, Rd8, 24. Qf3 White i s also better)
23. Qd7 : + Kd7 : 24. ReS (The ending is better for White because of open
position where the Bishop is stronger then the knihgt)
24 • b6, 2S. Bfl, aS, 26. Bc4, Rf8, 27. Kg2, Kd6, 28. Kf3, Nd7, 29. Re3,
• •

Nb8 (In the future Black will have a difficult and pasive defense) 30. Rd3+
Kc7, 31. c3, Nc6, 32. Re3, Kd6, 33. a4, Ne7, 34. h3, Nc6, 3S. h4, hS, 36. Rd3+
Kc7, 37. RdS, fS, 38. Rd2, Rf6, 39. Re2, Kd7, 40. Re3, g6, 41. BbS, (The game
was adjourned here)

41• Rd6, 42. Ke2, Kd8, 43. Rd3, Kc7, 44. Rd6 : Kd6, 4S. Kd3, Ne7, 46. Be8,
• •

KdS, 47. Bf7+ Kd6, 48. Kc4, Kc6, 49. Bes+ Kb7, SO. KbS, Nc8, Sl. Bc6+
Kc7, S2. BdS, Ne7, S3. Bf7, Kb7, S4. Bb3, Ka7, SS. Bdl, Kb7, S6. Bf3 +
Kc7, S7. Ka6, Ng8, SS. BdS, Ne7, S9. Bc4, Kc6, 60. Bf7, Kc7, 61. Be8, Kd8,
62. Bg6 : Ng6 : 63. Kb6 : Kd7, 64. KcS, Ne7, 6S. b4, ab, 66. ch : Nc8, 67. as,
Nd6, 68. bS, Ne4+ , 69. Kb6, Kc8, 70. Kc6, Kb8, 71. b6 1 :0
Fischer and Taymanov agreed that this game was the best.

136
 Grunfeld

TA YMANOV - FISCHER

5th game
1. d4, Nf6, 2. c4, g6 : 3. Nc3, dS, 4. BgS, Ne4, S. Bh4, Nc3 : 6. be: de: (Fischer
played like this against Macking, in Buenos Aires. Taymanov knew that and
he prepared an interesting answer.)
7. e3 (It's better than 7. Qd4+ as Mikenas played against Tukmakov, at the
Soviet Championship in Riga)
7• •Be6, 8. Rbl, b6, 9. Be2 ! ((Til now it was the same in the game Mecking­
•

Fischer. Mecking played 8. Nf3, Bg7, 9. Be2 and Black had a good position.
Taymanov's move is better. Now if 9 . . . c5, 10. Bf3, Bd5, 1 1 . Qa4+Nc6,
1 2. Qc6 : + (or 1 2. e4)
9• •Bh6, 10. Nf3, c6, 11. NeS, Bg7, 12. f4, BdS, 13. �O, Nd7, 14. Nc4 : 0-0,
•

(White has some advantage in the opening) lS. a4, cS, 16. NeS (if 1 6. . . Nf6,
17. c4, Bb7, 1 8. d5)
16 . NeS, 17. de : (A good move.)
• •

17 . f6, 18. Rb2 ! Be6 (Because of 19. Rd2) 19. Rd2, Qc7, 20. Bg4 (20. . .
• •

Bg4 : 2 1 . Qg4 : Rad8 (21 . . . fe : 22. Qe6+ Kh8, 23. Rd7)

22. Rfd l , Rd2, 23. Qe6+ Kh8, 24. Rd2 : 23. Qe6+ ! Kh8, 24. Rd2 : Rd8,
25. ef: ! ef, 26. Bf6 : or 20. . . f5, 2 1 . Bf3 . In a difficult position Fischer defen­
ded wonderfully.)
20 . •Qc8 ! 21. Bf3, Rb8, 22. Qe2, Rd8, 23. Rfdl, Rd2 : 24. Qd2 (I think
• •

it was more dangerous for Black 24. Rd2 : For instance : 24.., Qe8 , 25. Qa6, fe :
26. Qa7 : ef:

27. Bc6! Qc8, 28. Be7, or 24. . . Qc7, 25. ef: ef: 26. Qd l)
24 Qe8, 2S. ef: ef:, 26. Qd6, Rc8, 27. aS, Bf8, 28. Qd2, Be7, 29. BdS
• • •

(Taymanov finds a new way how to keep an initiative. Bobby played almost
till the end wonderfuly.
29 . . . Qf7, 30. Be6: Qe6, 31. Qd7, Kf7 (Of course not 3 1 . . . Qe3 + ? 32. Bf2)
32. Qa7: ba: 33. e4, Qc6 (If 33. Qe4 : 34. Re l , Ra8, 35. Qc7) 34. Rd7
(Because of 34. . . Ra8)

1 37
34 Qe4, 35. h3, a4, (If 35 . . . Ra8, 36. Re7, Ke8, 36. Rd l with 37. Qd7+
• • •

and 37. Re l)
36. Bf2 (If 36. . . a3, 37. Bc5 : Rc5 : 38. Qc5, a2, 39. Qa7, Qe l + , 40. Kh2,
a l Q, 4 1 . Re7 : +)
36 . . . Kf8, 37. c4, a3! (37 . . . Ra8, 38. Qc7 with 39. Re7 : Not imidately 38.
Re7 : because of 38 . . . Qb l +
38. Qa3, Ra8, 39. Qb2, Ke8, 40. Qb5, Kf8, 4 1 , Rdl (White does not like
draw but his advantage is very small. If 4 1 . Re7 :? Ke7, 42. Bc5, Kf7)
41. • •Qf4 (It was adjourned here. A draw had been expected.) But . . .
42. Bc5, Bc5: 43. Qc5: +Kg7, 44. Rfl (May be 44. Qd5 is a little better)
44. . . Qe4, 45. Qc7 + Kh6, 46. Rf6:?? (Incredible. Is it possible that
white thinks that Black overlooked a Pawn in the analyses? !
46 . . • • Qd4 +,, 47. Qf2, Ral + 0 :1

Sicilian defense

FISCHER - TAYMANOV

(Sixth game)
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, Nc6, 3. d4, cd: 4. Nd4: e6, 5. Nb5, d6, 6. Bf4, e5,
7. Be3, Nf6, 8. Bg5, Be6, 9. Nlc3, a6, 10. Bf6, gf: 1 1 . Na3

Soviet master Estrin gave these analyses : analizing this position Fischer gave
these variation : 1 1 . . . b5, 12. Nd5 ! 1 1 . . . Ne7, 12. Bc4! 1 . . . f5, 12. Bc4,
Bc4 : 1 3 . Nc4 : fe : 1 4. Ne4, d5, 1 5. Qd5 : ! 1 1 . . . . Nd4, 1 2. Nc4, Rc8, 13. Ne3 .
Nh6, 1 4. Bd3, Rg8, 1 5 . Qh5, with an initiative for White.

138
1 1. .. Nd4, 12. Nc4, fS, 13. ef: NfS, 14. Bd3, Rc8, lS. BfS: Rc4:
16. Be6: f6:

We met for the first time this position lo years ago. It was my game against
Borisenko in the Soviet correspondence championship 1961. I continued
1 7. Qf3, Qe7, 1 8 . 0-0-0, Rf4, 19. Qh3 with better chance for white.)
17. Qe2, Rd4, 18. 0-0, QgS, 1 9. Radl, QfS (19 . . . . Rd l : 20. Rd l : Rg8,
2 1 . g3 with an obvious advantage for White.)
30. Rd4: ed: 2 1 . Ne4, Be7, 22. Rdl, QeS (22 . . . . e5, 23. Rd4 : !)
23. Qd3, Rf8, 24. Qd4: Qd4: 2S. Rd4: dS, 26. Nc3, BcS, 27. Rd2, Rf4,
28. g3, Rc4, 29. Ne2, Ra4, 30. a3, Kd7, 31. Kg2, bS, 32. c3, aS, 33. Nd4,
b4, 34. Nb3, Bb6, 3S. ab: ab: 36, c4, Kc6, 37. cS, Bc7, 38. Nd4, Kd7, 39.
f4, 40. eS, 40. c6+ Kc8, 4 1 . NbS. Ra2, 42. fS, Bd8, 43. RdS: - 1 : 0

BORIS SPASSKY :

After this Match the World champion Boris Spassky said in his lesson at
Leningrad's chess club :
- I think that Fischer is an annormous chess strength. An extraordi­
nary Grandmaster with a pure style. In recent years he became more serious,
more solid, he started to give less interviews. Fischer is a real chess fanatic.
Taymanov's chances in this Match were in a good opening preparation and
in a good figthting spirit.
It is difficult to play with Fischer. He sets, great tasks. It was also ne­
cesary to take Fischer's age into consideration ther is 28, and Taymanov 45,
Fischer likes his opponents present him with sacrifices.
Taymanov's play in the first and the third game were impulsive and
nervous. He could not play well in any games from the beginning to the end.
After the third game where Taymanov could have played Qh3, and posed
more problems to Fischer everything had been finished. The score is "ter­
rible" with exception of Botwinik (not including Taymanov) other Grand-

139
masters, and I myself, predicted Fischer's victory. But such a score . . .
The Fischer - Larsen Match will be very sharp. I think Fischer will win ,
he is stronger . . .

BOBBY FISCHER :

- The score 6 : 0 is too high: the fihgt was more difficult than the
score would indicate. Taymanov had winning position in the third game,
the variation in the opening 1 1 . Qb3 is a very important innovation. It's
easier to be a gentleman when you win than when you lose, and because of
that I congratulate Taymanov.

MARK TAYMANOV :

- This match reminds me of childhood. I made such mistakes only

when I was a boy. Fischer made important innovations in the opening in
the second and fourth games ( 1 2. Nc3). Fischer deserved this victory, but
still I have my music . . .

French defence

FISCHER - LARSEN

(First game)

1. e4, e6, 2. (In an interview before the Match Larsen said that he had pre­
pared for Fischer several surprises in the opening. Larsen played the very
rare French defence, and so it was a surprise at the first move).
2. d4, d5, 3. Nc3, Bb4 (This variation is Uhlman's favourite. The played
against Larsen. At the 3rd and 5th game against Uhlman Larsen played
3. Nd2 and he did not allow that variation.)
4. e5, Ne7 (The same order was chosen by Uhlman). 5. a3, Bc3 : 6. be : c5,
7. a4, (Here White has two ways of agressive play 7. Qg4 and the move in
the game) .
7. . . . Nbc6, 8. Nf3, Bd7 (Uhlman played the same against Fischer in 1 960.
That game continued like this : 9. Qd2, Qa5, 10. Bd3, c4, 1 1 . Be2, f6, 1 2. Ba3.
Ng6, 1 3. 0-0, with a sacrifice of the central Pawn. Uhlman in the end won,
9. Bd3 ! (Better than 9. Qd2, it 9 . . . . Qd5 10. Bd2 or 10. 0-0 with a pawn.
sacrifice)
9. • Qc7, 10. 0-0, c4, 11. Be2, f6, 12. Rel (this position was not a new
• .

one for Fischer. Ten years ago he had played against Madnis 12. Ba3, also
sacrificing a Pawn. It followed 12 . . . . 0--0, 1 3. Re l , Rf7, 1 4. ef : gf: 1 5.
Bfl , Re8, 1 6. Nh4, Ng6, 1 7. Qh5, Rg7, with even play).

141
12 . . . . Ng6 (an activity, but not in good time. May be 12. 0-0 and if 1 3 . Ba3,
Rf7 as in the game Fischer - Mednis. It seems that Larsen did not know
all the secrets of this variation.

13. Ba3 ! fe : (Risky, but typical for Larsen. 13 . . . . 0-0-0 seemed safer.)
14. de, Nce5 : 15. Ne5 : Ne5 : 16. Qd4, Ng6, 17. Bh5 ( 1 7. Qg7 : 0-0-0)
17. Kf7, 18. f4 (threatens 19. f5, ef: 20. Re7 +) 18 . . . . Rhe8, 19. f5, ef,
. . •

20. Qd5+, Kf6 (If 20. . . . Be6, 2 1 . Re6 : Re6 : 22. Qf6 +, Qf6, 23. Qd5 +
Re6, 24. Rfl + wins) 21. Bf3, Ne5 ! (Larsen defended well. He gave two
pieces for Rook with complications)
22. Qd4, Kg6, 23. Re5 : Qe5 : 24. Qd7 ; Rad8 (Larsen hopes for a counter
attack, but . . . )
25. Qb7 ; Qe3+ (if 25 . . . . Qc3, 26. Qb4)
26. Kfl, Rd2, 27. Qc6+ Re6

(Threatens mate and attacking the Queen.)

28. Bc5 ! Sacrificing the Queen White keeps and advantage.
28. •Rf2 + , 29. Kgl, Rg2 : + + , 30. Kg2, Qd2 +, 31. Khl, Rc6 ; 32. Bc6,
. .

Qc3 ; 33. Rgl + , Kf6, 34. Ba7 : f4, 35. Bb6, Qc2 : 36. a5, Qb2, 37. Bd8+

1 42
 Ke6, 38. a6, Qa3, 39. Bb7, Qc5 (If 39 . . . . c3, 40. Bb6, c2, 4 1 . a7, e l Q, 42.
Rel : ! Qe l + , 43. Bgl and "a" Pawn wins.)
40. Rbl, c3, 41. Bb6 - 1 : 0
Larsen had only 1 5 seconds after his 40th move, Fischer had more
than 30 minutes.
Comments by Grandmaster Jurij Averbah

Sicilian defence

LARSEN - FISCHER

(Second game)

1. c4, c5, 2. Nf3, g6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4 : Nc6, 5. e4, Nf6, 6. Nc3, d6, 7. Be2,
Nd4 : 8. Qd4 : Bg7, 9. Bg5 (9. Ne3 as in the game Botvinik - Matulovic,
Belgrade, 1 970. After 9 . . . . 0-0, 10. Qd2, Be6, 1 1 . f3, Qa5, 1 2. Nd5, Qd2 : + ,
1 3 . Kd2, Nd7, 1 4. Rab l , Ne5, 1 5. Rhe l , Rfc8, 1 6. b3, Nc6, 1 7. f4, f5 White
did not achieve an advantage)
9 . . . . h6, 10. Be3, 0-0, 11. Qd2, Kh7, 12. 0-0, Be6, 13. f4 (It was more
solid 1 3 . Rae l , but Larsen after first lost game had to play for a win.)
13 • •Rc8, 14. b3, Qa5, 15. a3 ( 1 5. Rael was better)
• •

15 . . . . a6

15. f5 (It seems that White's attack is dangerous, but Fischer with the Queen's
manoeuvres showed that it was not.
16• • Bd7 (of course not 16 . . . . gf, 17. ef: Bf5, 1 8 . Rf5 : ! Qf5 : 19. Bd3 and
• •

White wins.)
17. b4 (A big mistake would be 1 7. Bd4 because of 17 . . . . Ne4 : !) .
18. . . . Qe5 ! (Very good calculations. I f 1 8. Bf4 or 1 8 . Bd4, Ne4 : and Black
is 0. K.) 18. Rael, Bc6 (it was dangerous 1 8 . . . . Ne4 :? because of 1 9 . Ne4 :
Qe4: 20. Bd3, Qc6, 2 1 . fg : fg : 22. Bh6 ! with a big attack.)
19. Bf4 (After 19. Bf3, Ne4 : ! 20. Ne4 : Ne4 :, white has no square for his
Bishop)

1 43
19• •Ne4 : 20. Ne4 : Qe4 : 21. Bd3, Qd4+, 22. Khl, Rce8, 23. Be3 (if 23.
• •

fg : + fg : 24. Bg6 : + Kg6 : 25. Qc2+ Bf5, 26. Be5, Qe4 etc or 24. Rfl : Rq2 : +
etc.)
23 • • • • Qc3 (If 23 . . . . Qe5, 24. Qc2)
24. Bh6 : Qd2; 25. Bd2, Be5 (It was an even endgame)

26. Bf4, Bf4 : 27. Rf4 : gf: 28. Bf5 : Kg7, 29. Rg5+ (It was better 29. Kgl
or Ne4) 29 Kh6, 30. h4, e6, 31. Rfl, f5, 32. Rbl (White does not know
• • • •

what to do. After several moves Black's position became better. May be
32. Kh2)
32• Rf7 (After 32 . . . . Rg8, 33. Rg8 : Rg8 : 34. Rb2, Rg4, Black could
• • •

have taken a Pawn, in that case Black had to count on : 33. a4, Rg5 : 34. hg+
Kg5, 35. a5, Ra8, 36. Ral and a Pawn could be dangerous)
33. b5, ab : 34. cb : Bd7, 35. g4, Ra8, 36. gf, ef : 37. Bc4? (A terrible mistake!
After 37. Rbg l ! Ra3 : 38. Rg6+ Kh7, 39. Rd6 with R :d7. If Black plays
37 . . . . Ra4, 38. Rg6+ Kh7, 39. Rd6 : Rh4 : + , 40. Kg2, Rg7 + , 41 . Kf2,
Rf4 + , 42. Ke3 ! White is 0. K.)

1 44
37 . Ra4 ! (Larsen did not expect this move.)
• . .

38. Rel? (38. Rb4, Rb4 : 39. ab : Re7, 40. Bd 5, Re5, 4 1 . Bf7, but after 4 1 . . . .
Bb5 : 42. Rg6+ Kh5 ! 43. Rd6 : + Kh4 : Black is better.)
38 • Bb5 : ! (Attack after attack!)
• • •

39 • Bf7 : Rh4 : + , 40. Kg2, Kg5 : 41. Bd5, Ba6, 42. Rdl, Ra4, 43. Bf3, Ra3 :
• • •

44. Rd6 : Ra2+, (White could have resigned, but, the rest needs no com­
ments .)
45. Kgl, Kf4, 46. Bg2, Rb2, 47. Rd7, b6, 48. Rd8, Be2, 49. Bh3, Bg4, 50. Bfl,
Bf3, 51. Rb8, Be4, 52. Ba6, Ke3, 53. Rc8, Rbl + , 54. Kh2, Kf4 - 0 : 1

Comments by Grandmaster
Ratmir Cholmov

Sicilian defence

FISCHER - LARSEN

(third game)
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4 : Nf6, 5. Nc3, Nc6, 6. Bc4, e6, 7. Bb3,
Ne7, 8. Ne3, 0-0, 9. f4, Bd7, 10. 0-0, a6, 11. f5, Qc8??

After this move Black would have a bad position without a Pawn. He had
to plays : 1 1 . . . . Nd4 : 12. Bd4 : e5, 1 3. Be3, Bc6 with b7- b5.
(According to the theory exchange on d4 is in the tenth move.)
12. fe : Be6 : (if 12 . . . . fe, 1 3. Nf5, Qc7, 14. Bf4 ! Qb6 + , 1 5. Khl with winning
position)
13. Ne6 : fe : 14. Na4 ! (the rest is only technique)
14. Rb8, 15. Nb6, Qe8, 16. Be6 :+ Kh8, 17. Bf5, Ne5, 18. Qd4, Qh5,
• . .

19. Nd5 ; Nd5 : 20. Qd5, Qe2, 21. Ba7, Rbe8, 22. Rf2, Qb5, 23. c3, Bh4, 24. g3,
Qd5, 25. ed : Bf6, 26. Rafi, Nc4, 27. Be6, Ra8, 28. Bd4, Bd4 : 29. cd, Rf2 :
30. Rf2 : b5, 31. Kfl, g6, 32. b3, Na3, 33. Ke2, Ra7, 34. Rf8+ Kg7, 35. Rd8, b4,
36. Rd6 : Nb5, 37. Rb6, Nd4 : + , 38. Kd3, Ne6 : 39. Re6 : a5, 40. Kd4, Kf7,
41. Re2 - 1 : 0

JO Chess meets the century

145
 King's Indian

LARSEN - FISCHER
(Fourth game)
1. c4, g6, 2. Nf3, Bg7, 3. d4, Nf6, 4. Nc3, 0-0, 5. e4, d6, 6. Be2, e5, 7. 0-0,
Nc6, 8. d5, Ne7 (This variation i-s very popular now. Several times we saw
this line in the Candidate's Matches.)
9. Nd2 (Modern is 9 . Bd2, Geller played aginst Zaitzev at the 37th Soviet
.

Championship 9. Nd2, Nd7, 10. b4, f5, 1 1 . c5 with an attack at the Queen side)
9 . . c5, 10. Rbl (In the game Polugaevsky - Tringov, Belgrade, 1 968.
• .

It was like this : 10. a3, Ne8, 1 1 . b4, b6, 12. Rb l , f5, 1 3 . a4, Nf6, 1 4. a5 with
better position for white.) 10 . . . . Ne8, 11. b4, b6 (if 12. be : be : 1 3. Nb3, f5,
with counter ply for Black)
12. a4, f5, 13. a5, Nf6, 14. Qa4 ! Bd7, 15. Qa3, Bh6, 16. Bd3, Qc7, 17. be: be :
18. ef : (if 1 8 . a6, Rab8) 1 8. . . . gf : 19. Bc2, a6 ! (Black defended b5, and
from nou Black's position is better.)

1 5 . . . Bh6 27. Rb l ?

20. Nde4, Bel : 21. Nf6 : + Rf6 : 22. Rfcl : (22. Qc l , f4) 22 . . . . Raf8, 23. Rb6
(This active move makes White's position worse. May be 23. Qb3 with 24.
Qb6 (23 . . . . Qa5, 24. Ral , Qd8, 25. Ra6 :)
23. Bc8, 24. Ne2, f4, 25. Be4, Nf5, 26. Bc6 (with this and the next move Larsen
sets a trap)
26. .Qg7, 27. Rbl ? (Losing quickly. 27. Khl , but after 27 . . . . Nh6, Ng4
. •

or Nf7- g5 with a big Black attack.)

27. Nh4 (After 28. Rc8 : Rc8, 29. Qh3, Rcf8, 30. Qh4, Rh6)
28. Qd3, Bf5, 29. Khl, f3 + , 30. Ng3, fg : 31. Kgl, Be4 : 32. Qe4 : Nf3 + ,
33. Kg2, Nd2 - 0 : 1
(Comments by Soviet masters
Murej and Sasin.)

1 46
 Sicilian defence
FISCHER - LARSEN
(5th game)
Before the Match I vas sure that Fischer would win, but I could not imagine
what would happen with Larsen. Larsen was not prepared for the openings
as well as he was psychologically. But even is Larsen had prepared well,
I still think that Fischer would have won.
1. e4, c5, 2. Nf3, d6, 3. d4, cd : 4. Nd4 : Nf6, 5. Nc3, Nc6, 6. Bc4, e6, 7. Bb3,
Be7, 8. Be3, 0-0, 9. 0-0, Bd7, 10. f4 (In the third game of the Match
Larsen continued 10 . . . . a6, 1 1 . f5, Qc8 but after 12. fe : Be6 : 1 3. Ne6 : fe :
14. Na4 he was in a lost position.)
10• • Qc8 (A new move. The idea of this move is to prevent f4-- f5. Theo­
• •

retically 10 . . . . N d4 is better.)
11. f5 (Nevertheless !)

A pawn sacrifice gives a good compensation for White. Probably, Fischer

had this opening idea in his repertory)
11 . • Nd4, 12. Nd4 : ef : 13. Qd3, fe : 14. Ne4 : Ne4 : 15. Qe4 : Be6, 16. Rf3
• •

(Also 1 6. Rae l) 16 Qc6, 17, Rel, Qe4: 18. Re4: d5, 19. Rg3, g6, 20. Bd5:
• • • •

(Now Black could play Nd5 with chances for a draw in end game. But it was
not enough for Larsen. He wanted to complicate the game, But against
Fischer . . .
20• • Bd6
• •

10
147
21. Re6 : ! (Of course if 2 1 . Rg5, Bf5.)
21 • Bg3 : 22. Re7, Bd6, 23. Rb7, Rac8, 24. c4, a5, 25. Ra7 (White gives
• • •

no chances to his opponent. Maybe Larsen with an excellent defense could

have saved a draw, but he wanted only to win the game.
25 • Bc7, 26. g3, Rfe8, 27. Kfl, Re7, 28. Bf6, Re3, 29. Bc3, h5, 30. Ra6,
• • •

Be5, 31. Bd2, Rd3, 32. Ke2, Rd4, 33. Bc3, R8c4 : 34. Bc4 : Rc4, 35. Kd3, Rc5,
36. Ra5 : Ra5 : 37. Ba5 : Bb2 : 38. a4, Kf8, 39. Bc3, Bc3 : 40. Kc3, �e7, 41. Kd4,
Kd6, 42. a5, f6, 43. a6, Kc6, 44. a7, Kb7, 45. Kd5, h4, 46. Ke6 - 1 : 0
(Comments by Grandmaster
Leonid Stein)

Sicilian defence

LARSEN - FISCHER
(6th game)
1. f4 (There was no doubt about the result of the Match. Larsen decided to
play just for his heart.
1• • c5, 2. Nf3, g6, 3. e4, Bg7, 4. Be2, Nc6, 5. �o. d6, 6. d3, e6, 7. Na3
• •

(A move in Larsen's style.) 7 • • • Nge7, 8. c3, 0-0, 9. Be3, a6, 10. d4, cd :
•

11. Nd4 (if 1 1 . cd : f5, (1 1 . . . . d5, 1 2. e5 with a positional advantage for White)
11 • b5, 12. Nc6, Nc6 : 13. Qd2 (Also 1 3. Qel in order to come with the
• • •

Queen at the King's side.)

13 • Qc7, 14. Radl, Rd8, 15. Nc2, Rb8 (A very calm answer. Without
• • •

paying attention to White's plan, Fischer prepared a counter attack at the

Quen's side)
16. a3 (Instead of this move, it was possible also 1 6. Qe l )
16 • Na5 (An automatic reaction to the previous move.)
• • •

17. e5, Bf8

In spite of the fact that Larsen in this Match was faced by total disaster he
did not think about a draw in the fifth and sixth games.

148
18. b4, Nc6 (Fischer was not satisfied with variation : 1 8 . . . . Nc4, 19. Bc4:
Qc4: 20. Bd4 with 2 1 . Ne3 and advantage) 19. Nd4, de : 20. fe : Ne5, 21. Bg5,
Rd5 (After 2 1 . . . . Be7, 22. Be7 : Qe7, 23. Qf4, Rd5, 24. c4! be : 25. Bc4: with
a dangerous initiative for white.
22. Qf4, Bg7, (A risky variation was 22. . . . Qc3, 23. Bf6, Nd7, 24. Rd3,
Qb2, 25. Bg7! with attack 25 . . . . f5, 26. Nf5 :)
23. h4, Rb7 (An excellent defended move) 24. Bf6, Bf6 : 25. Qf6, Qc3, 26. h5,
gh : 27. Khl (Of course n ot 27. Bh5 : Qe3 + White must exchange the Queens
and comes to the ending without two Pawns.)
27. . Ng4, 28. Bg4 : hg : 29. Qh6 (Not 29. Re l because of 29. . . . Rh5 +)
• •

29. . . . Bd7

(A long waiting draw would be with a Rook sacrefice : 30. Rf7 : Kf7 : 3 1 . Rf4 :
For a draw i t was enough also 3 1 . Qh7 : + Ke8, 32. Qh8, Ke7, 3 3 . Qg7 and
Black King has to return back on e8 because it is dangerous 33 . . . . Kd6,
34. Nf5 + ef: 35. Rd5 : + Kd5 : 36. Qc3 :)
3 1 . . . . Rf5 (The only move) 32. Qh7+ and Black must make a draw,
because 32 . . . . Kf6, 33. Nf5 : Qh3 + !? 34. gh : Bc6 + , 35. Kgc, Rh7 : 36. Nd4
would lead to a loss of material. But Larsen tempts fate.) 30. Rf4, f5, 31. Qf6
(3 1 . Qg5 gives a draw but Larsen was under the pressure of time.) 31 • • Bc8 !
. •

32. Rffl, Rf7, 33. Qh6, Bb7, 34. Ne6 : Qf6 ! (White is waiting for a lost endgame.)
35. Qe3, Re7, 35. Rdel, Rd6, 37. Qg5 : Qg5 : 38. Ng5 : Rel : 39. Rel : Bd5,
40. Re8+ Kg7 - 0 : 1
The first and the last game were most strongly fought.
Comments by Grandmaster
Mihail Tal and Int. master
Igor Zaitzev

Fisher : THEY MADE MISTAKES . . .

- After beating Taymanov and Larsen 12 : 0 have you discovered any
new methods in chess?
In fact I have not. I think that I played more precisely than they did.
They made mistakes and I took advantage of those mistakes.

1 49
 - How is it possible that none of them drew a game? It's because of
the rules under which these matches are played. I do not like these rules,
and I fought against them.
- The only way to play matches is not to take into consideration draws.
For example in the 6th game, Larsen with two Pawns behind could
have forced a draw : but that would have meant the loss of the match, because
I would have had 5,5 pts. from IO games, and that would have been sufficient
for me. However, if 6 victories were necessarys, then Larsen could have drawn
and still have been "in with a chance."
The situation was the same earlier when Larsen lost the 2nd game he
also lost hope. .
- Do you expect to beat Petrosyan in Buenos Aires?
- Yes.
- After that, next spring you will play Spassky. What will happen?
- I hope to beat him as well. I have been the best player in the world
for the last ten years, and the majority of those who know about chess will
agree with me.
- If I become world champion I will play more often. If conditions
are suitable I will play everybody within one year.
- Who played better. Taymanov or Larsen? Larsen is much stronger,
he gave me more trouble than the result would indicate.
After losing two games he still fought and he did not want a draw :
and that is the reason why the result was so bad .

Larsen :
- I think it was mistake that we play in Denver. It was too hot here.
Also my bad health conditions contributed to my defeat.

Mihail Tai : FISCHER PLAYED LIKE A MACHINE . . .

Ten years ago there was a Grandmaster who made such a fantastic
victories as Fischer to day. In one attack he became World Champion. Of
course, it was Mihail Tai. I called him by telephone after Fischer's historical
1 8 : 0 in a row in Mallorca and against Taymanov and Larsen.
Tal's mother told me that Misha was at the Sea side. She gave me his
telephone number and after ten minutes we spoke together.
- What do you think about these victories of Fischer's. Did you expect it?
- Against Taymanov and Larsen 12 : O! I did not expect it even in
my dreams.
- How did Taymanov and Larsen play?
- I knew that Fischer would beat both but not like this. I was sur-
prised that Taymanov had given better games than Larsen. It's imposible
to explaine why Larsen played so badly. It seems to me that Larsen had no
advantage in any game, in any move. Fischer's 6 : 0 is such a score that
frankly I envy him. Nobody gave such a play in a long history for the world
championship. He played like a Machine. It's incredible.

1 50
 - Do you think that Korchnoi would have been more dangerous
for Fischer than Petrosyan?
- Both of them would have their plus and minus for the Match
with Fischer. Petrosyan is safer, but he lost the last Match 1 : 3 against
Fischer. Of course, we cannot compare that Match with this. Korchnoi
would be more dangerous , I thought, but against Petrosyan it was not
the real Korchnoi. Such a Korchnoi could not win against Fischer.
- What about a Fischer - Spassky Match next year?
- I think that Fischer's results in the last year have been fantastic.
There is no comparison in chess history. In this year I made 17 out of 1 7
at the Moscow blitz championship. But i t was only blitz, and Fischer's
opponents were all grandmasters. But in that eventual Match against Spassky
Fischer would have a result's complex against Spassky because he lost three
games against him (Mar del Plata, Santa Monica, Siegen), he never beat
him . . .

Mihail Botvinik : HOW TO EXPLAIN 12 : 0

Fio;cher beat Larsen with "usual" score 6 : 0. It's possible to explain

every of his 12 victories in the two Matches, separately, but not explain the
score together - 12 : 0.
Of course, It's most ea sier to proclaime Fischer as the all-time gerius
of chess . . . Fischer likes chess, It's his only speciality. He had a crisis in
1 968-69 when he did not play after the Century Match : he made a new
step and started to win regularly against Grandmasters . But against 9 top
Grandmasters from the Interzonal in Mallorca 1970, he won 5 and four
of them were between 44 to 49 years old. At that age to the ability to calculate
is weaker.
Against 9 Grandmasters from 22 to 37 yea.rs of age Fischer made only
50 percent. Against 9 Grandmasters Fischer made 6,5 points. It's a wonderful
score, 8 of them were Candidates and 9th was Polugaevsky.
Euwe :
- Fischer was t oo strong for Larsen . . .

Petrosyan : FISCHER'S WINS ARE A REAL RIDDLE TO ME

I rang up Petrosyan the day he left for Buenos Aires (October 20th)
and asked him about his preparations for the coming match with Fischer.
- I cannot tell whether I have prepared well. We'll see it during the
Match. My preparations have lasted the whole month. During that time
I have analysed games, played table tennis and so on.
- Have you looked over all Fischer's games?
- No, not all of them, as some did not need to be looked over. What is
your opinion, how was it possible for Fischer to beat both Taymanov and
Larsen 6 : O?
- His wins are a real riddle to me.
- Do you remember 1 958 when you sat, for the first time, at the same
table with Fischer? It was in Moscow, and a blitz match. Who was the winner?
- Yes, I think it was me.

151
 - Capablanca a nd Alekhine played in Buenos Aires in 1 927. Who is
going to be Capablanca and who Alekhine this time?
- If I remain that old Petrosyan, believe me, everything will be 0. K.
What will be most important in Buenos Aires?
- For me, - the physical condition.
- Fischer says that you are a very solid and hard player. What can
you say about Fischer?
- Fischer is very solid, very hard, and very aggressive.

Fischer's WORLD RECORD

M1:1 .llorca 6 wins in the last rounds, not counting against Panno (without
playing) Tayrnanov 6 : 0, Larsen 6 : 0 - 1 8 victories in a row. In order to
find similar examples we have to go back in the past, to the year 1 873. But
of course in our time it's more difficult to win. The nearest to Fischer's victo­
ries is Steinitz whom Fischer considers to be best in history, with Morphy.
Steinitz had 1 6 victories in a row in Vienna in 1 873. 98 Years passed u ntil
a new chess genius Robert Fischer with 1 8 victories in a row breaks all world
records. These victories also represent "Meets of the Century" as the title
of our book.
Steintz also won against Mongredien 7 : 0 in the Match in 1 864 and in
1 876 Bleckburn 7 : 0 But these victories were not in a row, and Fischer's
opponents · were stronger.
Steintz made a fantastic score at the Championship of the club in Vienna
in 1 861 with 30 points out of 3 1 . , but his opponents were not strong.
Alekhine made in San Remo, in 1 930 : 1 3 victories and two draws,
he was 3,5 points in front of Nirnzovicz. Rubinstein, Bogolubov, Vidmar,
Spilman etc. At that time It was biger victory than Fischer's first place in
Mallorca also with 3,5 points in front of others .
Alekhine made in Bled in 193 1 . 1 5. wins, 1 1 draws, with 5,5 points in
front of Bogolubov. Korchnoi produced the same margin in the small tourna­
ment in Hungary in 1965.
Capablanca made 302 wins out of 583 games, and had the same 73
percentage as Alekhine. But Fischer in recent years has a much better per­
centage.
In 1 9 1 9 Capablanca beat Kostic 5 : 0 and in 1 809 Marshal 8 : I .
From 1 9 1 4 to 1 927 Capablanca lost only 6 games and from 1 6 tourna­
ments during that time he had 1 3 first places.
Lasker won in 1 892 against Bird 5 : 0, and Bleckburn 6 : 0 with 4 draws,
and in 1910 I against Janovsky 8 : 0, 3 draws .
Morphy won against Leve in 1 858 in London 6 : 0, Bird IO : 1 with
one draw, but he is also far from Fischer's victories. Fischer had 1 1 out of
1 1 at the U.S. championship in 1964. Lombardy did the same at the Junior
World Championship in 1 957, but nothing can be compared with Fischer's
year 1 97 1 .

1 52
Fischer and Larsen: Jt WdS before Denver . . .
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