ANew York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, July 19, 1972 - Page 45
Spassky Plays to a Draw With Fischer in 4th Game by Harold C. Schonberg
Reykjavik, Iceland, July 18—After a nerve-racking, wearisome five-hour session of play this evening, Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer drew the fourth game of the world's chess championship match.
After 45 moves, both players looked at each other, there was a tacit understanding and Fischer offered his hand, which Spassky took.
The score now stands at 2½ to 1½ in favor of the Russian.
The game was an exciting one, with dynamite on both sides. Early in the opening, a Sicilian Defense that Spassky set up against Fischer's inevitable first move, P-K4, Spassky sacrificed a pawn for the sake of a possible attack.
From then on, Spassky pressed that attack, with his two bishops pointing like twin daggers at Fischer's king. Fischer was forced on the defense to maintain his one-pawn majority, and at one point was in danger of being mated.
Precise Play Demanded
The game demanded precise, concentrated play. Spassky took about a half hour for his 18th move, and even more than that for his 19th. The game was by far the most complicated of the three the champion and his American challenger have played so far. Professionals in the audience could hardly keep up with the possibilities.
However, a Yugoslav grandmaster, Svetozar Gligoric said that Spassky's 29th move, R-KR1, was in error. Had he not erred, Gligoric said, Spassky would have had a clear victory. The Yugoslav did not say what the winning move should have been.
After an exchange of rooks on the 39th move, there was no doubt about the outcome. With the same number of pawns on each side, and with bishops of opposite colors, the result was a textbook draw.
Some had come to the same conclusion several moves before the end. The three Russians of Spassky's entourage—Efim Geller and Nikolai Krogius, grandmasters, and an international master, Ivo Nei—were seen leaving the hall a good 10 minutes before the end of the game. They knew.
Cameras Are Removed
The game, held on the stage of Exhibition Hall, was preceded by the skirmishing that has been the way of life of this match. This time neither player arrived at 5 P.M.
The referee, Lothar Schmid, started Fischer's clock promptly at 5. Spassky reached the stage seven minutes later. Fischer was 10 minutes late. He had been on the second floor making sure that film and television cameras had been removed from the hall.
The cameras were there only 20 minutes before game time. The film crew of Chester Fox, Inc., had installed them. Mr. Fox has made an exclusive contract with the Icelandic Chess Federation for all film rights.
“I put the cameras in every day,” said Mr. Fox. “That's what my contract reads. And they are ordered out every day, because Fischer threatens to leave.”
Fischer and the 35-year-old titleholder, like most grandmasters, demand a tomb-like silence when they play. Fischer has been known to object to whispers in the playing room. At one point during the play today, the match organizers ordered the hinges on the doors oiled because a squeak was heard.
The game was described as absorbing and exciting by experts, and an audience of some 1,200 seems to agree, “What a great game!” was heard from every side.
The Sicilian Defense is one of the oldest openings known to chess. Characterized by the move … P-QB4, it leads to exciting tilts, with the black pieces highly mobile and poised for counterattack. The opening gets its name from a 17th-century Sicilian player, Gioacchino Greco, who specialized in it. In recent years it has become one of the most popular answers to the king's pawn opening, which is Fischer's specialty.
Spassky Comes Prepared
Spassky and Fischer are, of course, thoroughly familiar with the Sicilian Defense. Fischer is generally regarded as the world's greatest living expert in it, and Spassky has scored notable victories in the Sicilian.
The champion came to this game fully prepared for Fischer's inevitable opening move, and his offer of a pawn early in the game, while not unusual, had clearly been intensively analyzed by Spassky and his team.
Of the three games played so far—Fischer lost the second on a forfeit—it has been the player of the black pieces who has carried the attack. This is rather unusual. Generally, white comes out swinging and maintains the pressure.
The next game is scheduled to start at 5 P.M. (1 P.M. New York Time) Thursday. Meetings, meanwhile, will continue in an effort to solve the camera impasse. The Russians so far have not entered into the dispute, though today it was reported that they had indicated a desire to have all games on film for the Soviet audience.
