AKenosha News Kenosha, Wisconsin Friday, March 10, 1972 - Page 27
Fischer Moves Against Foe
New York — Bobby Fischer could not have found a tougher opponent for the world chess championship than Boris Spassky of Russia, says Sports Illustrated this week.
Spassky, who has held the title since 1969, plays a dogged defense and possesses formidable attacking power, and in five tournament games up to now against Fischer he has won three, and there have been two draws.
THE 35-YEAR OLD Russian differs greatly in his approach to the game from Fischer, says Sports Illustrated. While Fischer seems to spend nearly all of his waking hours studying and analyzing, Spassky devotes no more than three or four hours a day to chess analysis. But while Fischer works alone, Spassky has a marvelous team to carry on for him.
The group consists of Igor Bondarevsky, 58, a former Soviet champion who has been Spassky's coach for a decade, and who seems (Spassky is unwilling to disclose the separate functions of his advisory team) to be in charge of overall match strategy and in particular, the task of determining what type of formation is best adapted to countering the individual psychology of the opponent.
Other members of the group includes Nikolai Krogius, a statistical psychologist whose function is cloudy, International Yefim Geller and Nei have between them an enormous amount of expertise on a broad spectrum of opening moves.
As for Spassky himself, he is extraordinary resilient, never so dangerous as in the next game after a loss.
Closely related to this is his delayed-likes to come out at the opening bell ready to flatten his opponent with the first punch, Spassky is often slow to take the initiative. He does not reach full power until early in the middle game. This pattern of play has a deceptive effect, lulling his opponent into a false sense of security just when the explosion is all set to go off.
“I'm lazy,” Spassky once said. “I'm like a Russian bear; calm, slow and finding it an effort to get up.”
Fischer's smashing victories on the path to the finals may have lulled U.S. observers into thinking that the way past Spassky will also be an easy one. Not so, says Sports Illustrated. As former world champion Mikhail Tal says, “Bobby won't have it so easy against Spassky.”
Long ago Spassky remarked that one thing that made him less valuable than Fischer was his ability to accept defeat. When asked how he avoided being discouraged and could snap back after a bad beating in a given game, he replied it was his secret and he was going to keep it.
The secret is something Fischer must bear in mind.
