AThe Bangor Daily News Bangor, Maine Monday, July 17, 1972 - Page 6
Game Adjourned, Fischer Leading by Ian Westergren
Reykjavik, Iceland (UPI)—The third game of the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky world chess championship match was adjourned Sunday with the American challenger one pawn ahead after 40 moves.
Fischer and the world champion began the third game of their $250,000 challenge match Sunday in a small room with only the judges present. The moves were relayed to an audience in an adjacent hall by closed-circuit television.
Experts said Fischer's position after 30 moves was superior to Spassky's but that the two grand masters were equal. Fischer led in time allotted with nearly a 2-1 advantage toward the close of Sunday's session.
Spassky was in trouble as he pondered his 41st move, which will be sealed in an envelope to be opened when the match resumes at 5 p.m. (1 p.m. EDT) Monday. Fischer ended the five-hour playing session on the attack, forcing two queen checks in the 38th and 39th moves.
Even Nikolai Krogius, one of the world champion's seconds, admitted Fischer now had a chance to win his first game in the match when the game is finished Monday.
The two played the game in a closed room with only the arbiters present after a dramatic day in which it was highly uncertain until only 90 minutes before the start of the game if there would be any play at all.
Spassky leads the 24-game match 2-0 after beating Fischer in the first game and winning the second on default.
Robert Byrne, a U.S. grand master, said “Bobby has a chance to win this game. He is a pawn ahead. The only problem is that they have bishops of different colors which is a complication.”
Krogius said Spassky made an error in his opening game around the 11th move but he would not discuss it in detail. “We will have to look at that tonight,” he said.
When Spassky made his 41st move, filing it in a closed envelope, he got up and left the table. Fischer remained in his black leather swivel chair pondering his response for 10 minutes before he finally took his protocol, wrote his move, stuck the paper into a big envelop and handed it to arbiter Lothar Schmid of West Germany who sealed it.
Spassky opened the game with his queen's pawn, the same opening he used in the first game—which he won.
Fischer, who showed up eight minutes late, opened with a knight—also his opening move in the first game.
After 15 moves, most chess experts felt Fischer had the stronger position and the initiative while Spassky was forced into a defensive game.
The Russian took off his black and white jacket and looked slightly worried. Both men drank orange juice.
Fischer played a strong positional game and some experts said his position was superior to Spassky's after 30 moves even though they were materially equal. Spassky on the other side of the table appeared to be short of ideas in a complex position and repeated himself at least once.
Fischer had 43 minutes left after 30 moves while Spassky had only 27 minutes left for his last 10 moves before a possible adjournment.
