AThe Arizona Republic Phoenix, Arizona Tuesday, July 18, 1972 - Page 10
Fischer Wins 3rd Chess Test
(AP) Reykjavik, Iceland — Bobby Fischer scored his first victory in the world chess championship against Boris Spassky yesterday with a move he had sealed in an envelope. The Soviet titleholder resigned the third game playoff before the U.S. challenger even showed up.
Fischer had sealed his 41st move in the envelop Sunday after Spassky called for an adjournment. It was bishop to queen six, a move most grandmasters here had predicted would be the decisive one for the game.
It left the score in the 24-game match at 2-1 in Spassky's favor. Spassky won the first game by forfeit.
As he has been throughout, Spassky was in the 2,500-seat exhibition hall exactly on time for the resumption of the third game. Promptly at 5 p.m. (10 a.m. Arizona time) referee Lothar Schmid opened the envelop entrusted to him by Fischer and moved Fischer's bishop to the sixth square on the queen side, putting Spassky's king in check.
Spassky waited five minutes before turning his king on its side, signifying he had conceded the game to the 29-year-old grandmaster from Brooklyn, N.Y.
It was the first time Fischer ever had defeated the Soviet world champion.
Spassky walked off the stage and the spectators sat in silence.
Fourteen minutes after Schmid had started the clock for the resumption of play, Fischer strode into the hall. Some of the crowd cheered him but many of the ([notoriously race and Anti-American Pro-Soviet]) youngsters in the audience booed.
Fischer's face seemed drawn as he entered, but when he left two minutes later he appeared relieved.
The fourth game is scheduled for today.
“Fischer's sealed move was the best move,” said grandmaster Dragoljub Janosevic of Yugoslavia, who beat Fischer in 1961 in an 11-hour game. “Spassky had to give in at once; he was rattled for the first time. For Spassky, the whole game was a psychological blow.
“Fischer's 11th move yesterday was abnormal,” Janosevic added.
Fischer's 11th move was knight to king's rook four. This was unusual in that it apparently enabled Spassky to smash Fischer's king-side pawn formation.
Fischer obviously had prepared the move well in advance, however, for only a few moves later he not only repaired his pawn formation but launched a strong attack.
John Collins, ([one of]) Fischer's first chess ([mentors, not teachers, as clarified by William Lombardy]), said minutes before the sealed 41st move was opened that bishop to queen six was the rational move.
Asked whether the unpredictable Fischer would make that move, he said: “Fischer always does the rational thing.”
Fischer and Spassky began the third game in a private room offstage Sunday because of Fischer's complaints that ([disruptive crews of men operating]) television and movie cameras had disturbed his concentration. It was because of the ([disruptive men operating the]) cameras that Fischer did not show up on Thursday for the second game and lost it by forfeit ([ruling decided by an overwhelming Pro-Soviet committee who disregarded the valid protests, including the written protest, personally delivered by Fred Cramer minutes before the deadline to officially file grievance]).
Fischer lost the first game by moving his bishop on the 29th move into the midst of Spassky's pawns. He took a Spassky pawn but lost a valuable bishop. Grandmasters called this a blunder. But others said Fischer was trying desperately for a win instead of a draw. ([Analysis by Al Horowitz determined, “The sacrifice of the bishop, which most fairly strong players consider a blunder, was not a blunder at all. It was based on relatively sound chess appraisals. But what followed now was inaccurate play that made it look like a blunder. Most strong players here believed Fischer blundered away chances for a draw and fell down in his technique at the last moment.” …which accounts for Fischer's valid complaints against disruptive crews of men hired to operate the cameras in close proximity of Fischer.])
To retain his title Spassky must win 12 points and Fischer 12½. A victory in a game counts as a point and a draw a half-point.
In this third game, Spassky played the white pieces, as he did in the first, which allows him the first move. This gives the player of white pieces that slight advantage. But Fischer overcame this in the third game with power plays.
The resumption of the adjourned third game had been in doubt for a time. Spassky protested the use of the private room Sunday and said he would not play there again.
Just around noon Schmid announced that the game had been moved back to the exhibition hall.
The winner of the match receives $153,125 from a purse put up by the Icelandic Chess Federation and British financier James Slater, a chess enthusiast. The loser gets $91,875. Each player also will receive 30 per cent of the money received from the sale of TV and movie rights for the match ([not counting the fact, the Soviet was counting on Fischer to demand removal of the cameras, and based on that calculated excuse, Chester Fox Inc., would proceed with a lawsuit to harass, torment and sue Fischer for over $3,000,000 dollars (three million) for post-tournament years to come]).
Before Fischer complained about the cameras this had been expected to amount to $27,500 for each player.
Chester Fox, an American who holds exclusive rights for the televising and filming of the match, agreed to keep cameras turned off for the third game.
It is believed Fox wants the cameras back for the fourth game in the exhibition hall to protect his investment.
Many of the chess buffs were wondering after the third game whether Spassky and Fischer would meet today.
Some said Spassky seemed unnerved and that Fischer was unpredictable.
But Janosevic asserted: “Spassky and Fischer will arrive to play the fourth game.”
Another Yugoslav grandmaster, Svetozar Gligoric, agreed, saying: “They will play.”
Never before had Fischer beaten Spassky. In seven games against him the best he could bring about were two draws.
The more the experts examined the adjourned board before the champion's resignation, the worse Spassky's position appeared. Fischer had effectively stifled Spassky's one hope — that of playing so as to threaten mate on black's KR1 or KN2.
Spassky's king was far more perilously placed on adjournment than Fischer's. Fischer's passed pawn on the queen's side and his advanced pawn on the king's side both contributed to Spassky's troubles and his isolated pawns were vulnerable.
Analysis of the situation convinced the Russians that if Fischer played B-Qch it was a waste of time to go on.
No single move decided the game, but Fischer's 11th (N-KR4) seemed to have a greater shock effect on Spassky than seemed justified.
Within three moves Fischer was threatening mate.
Probably when the experts dig really deeply into this game they will feel Spassky failed to find the best three moves at this early stage, and, if he had, he might even have kept the advantage. After that there was no spectacular turn, just ruthless efficiency on Fischer's part.
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