AThe Capital Times Madison, Wisconsin Monday, July 17, 1972 - Page 17
Fischer Plays In True Form by Pete Dorman (State Chess Champion)
The third game between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer has been adjourned in a position that looks like a win for the American challenger. Fischer is a pawn ahead, and Spassky will have to give up at least one more in order to save his threatened king.
At last the true Bobby Fischer emerges; the chess wizard whose deadly accuracy cuts through the toughest opposition. This third game, after Bobby's first-round fiasco ([due to disruptive camera men who were both in plain sight and audible]) and his second-round forfeiture ([which was done out of nationalist bias for Soviet imperialism by Anti-American Icelandic organizers and a Soviet opposed to 1 American representative on the deciding committee]), marks the real start of the match.
Fischer opened with the Benoni Defense, a double-edged system that usually leads to a dangerous game for both players. With Black attacking on both sides of the board and White straining to break through in the center, the Benoni is one of the most complicated setups in modern tournament chess.
And before long, it was Fischer who was getting the upper hand. With his 11th move, Bobby began an attack against Spassky's king. By taking the knight, the Russian hoped to profit from the challenger's weakened pawn structure, but it was Fischer who grabbed the key squares and took control of that part of the board.
Then attention shifted to the queen's wing, where the American opened up a second front with 21. … P-N4. This is standard procedure in this opening, threatening to open lines for Black's rooks and bishops, and possibly to push Black's queen's bishop pawn deep into White's position.
Spassky replied with another standard device: with his 22nd move he threatened to push his king pawn, giving new attacking scope to his pieces. But Fischer put a stop to this plan, forcing the champion to fall back on passive defense.
Hoping to defuse Fischer's attack, Spassky initiated a maneuver on his 25th move to lock pawns on the queen's side. Yet this plan only added to his troubles, for it made the champion's king pawn all but untenable. A brief period of peaceful wood-shifting followed, and then the American captured the weak pawn, opening a path to the heart of Spassky's position.
Soon, the Russian's king was on the run, and Fischer's queen and bishop moved in for the kill, hopping from one menacing white square to another.
With his monarch caught in the middle of the board, with his pieces in disarray, Spassky faced imminent defeat.
The adjournment postpones, but it will not prevent, this defeat. If Fischer's sealed move is 41. … B-Q6ch, Spassky will be hard pressed to find an adequate reply. In every instance, Fischer picks up another pawn with no letup.
In a few, the game ends quickly, for example: 42. K-K3 Q-Q8; 43. Q-N2 Q-B6; 44. K-Q2 Q-K7; 45. K-B3 Q-K4; 46. K-Q2 P-B6; 47. QxP Q-K7 mate. The one slim hope remaining to the world champion is that he can somehow force an exchange of queens and set up a blockade with his bishop. (He would be relying on the fact that his bishop can control squares that Fischer's can't. But this is a very slim hope. Few observers would be surprised if Spassky resigned before resuming play.
In all probability, Bobby Fischer will go on to win this game, the first triumph over Spassky in his entire career. This will give the American a powerful psychological boost.
Caption: Diagram shows Bobby Fischer's use of the Modern Benoni Counter, an attack designed for domination of the center of board, against Boris Spassky in the third game of the world chess championships in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sunday. Diagram shows the position of pieces at adjournment. The game is to be continued today. (AP)
