ANew York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, March 26, 1972 - Page 210
Chess: Eleventh 'Chess Informant' Is Out by Al Horowitz
The eleventh number of the semi-annual Yugoslav “Chess Informant” (covering approximately the first six months of 1971) is now available in this country, but it is not, for a happy change, “even bigger than the last.” To be exact, Number Eleven contains 622 games, compared with 841 in Number Ten.
The “Chess Informant,” as most tournament players already know, publishes mostly games, in algebraic notation, and with light, wordless notes—mostly suggesting alternate lines of play, enclosed in square brackets to distinguish them from the text of the game itself—but also an occasional cross-reference to games in previous issues with the same opening variation.
Other materials in each volume include crosstables of the events from which the games are taken, a “combinations” section, in which the reader is given various diagramed positions and asked to find the winning move in each (see the Quiz, below), news from the International Chess Federation, in any one of a number of languages, and so on. The 11th “Informant,” as well as many of the previous issues, is available from the United States Chess Federation, 470 Broadway, Newburgh, N.Y. 12550, at $6.50.
The “Informant” is, of course, primarily dedicated to inclusiveness, but the editors also run in each issue the results of a poll to select the 10 best games published in the previous issue. the 10 judges, including International Federation President and former world champion Dr. Max Euwe, grandmasters Dr. Petar Trifunovich of Yugoslavia, Alexander Kotov of the Soviet Union and others, each pick out 10 games and list them in order of preference. Then the results are tabulated — for every first-place vote it receives, a game is awarded 10 points, for each second-place vote, nine points, and so on.
Voted the best game from “Informant 10,” with a total of 52 points, was Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen's victory over Bobby Fischer from the 1970 Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca—the last game Fischer lost before he went off on his amazing winning streak. Second place (with 47) went to Fischer's win against Argentinean grandmaster Oscar Panno from the international tournament at Buenos Aires in 1970, and third place (with 46) to his win against Sam Schweber of Argentina in the same event.
In all, Fischer had five games on the list, three wins and two losses: his defeat at the hands of world champion Boris Spassky at the last Olympiad placed fifth, and his win over Vassily Smyslov of the Soviet Union at Palma, ninth.
Larsen's win over Fischer received mention by nine of the ten judges but only one first-place vote. Fischer's victory over Panno, on the other hand, was cited by only seven judges, but received three first-place votes, which goes to demonstrate, if further demonstration were needed, that excellence in chess is very must a matter of taste. The three top games are included here so that the reader may judge for himself.
Robert James Fischer vs Bent Larsen Palma de Mallorca Interzonal (1970), Palma de Mallorca ESP, rd 9, Nov-20 Sicilian Defense: Fischer-Sozin Attack. Leonhardt Variation (B88) 0-1 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044314 Robert James Fischer vs Oscar Panno Buenos Aires (1970), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 8, Jul-30 Formation: King's Indian Attack (A07) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044324 Robert James Fischer vs Samuel Schweber Buenos Aires (1970), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 4, Jul-23 French Defense: Winawer. Classical Variation (C18) 1-0 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044333
