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Calgary Herald Calgary, Alberta, Canada Wednesday, June 14, 1972 - Page 13
Fischer Ready For Test By Al Horowitz
The New York Times, Copyright, 1972
New York — When, on July 2, many-time United States chess champion Robert Fischer sits down to play the first game of his world championship match against title-holder Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union, it will be the first time in 71 years that an American has participated in a match for chessdom's highest title.
Although Samuel Reshevsky took part in a tournament held in 1948 to determine the successor to the throne left vacant by the death of Alexander Alekhine — and finished fourth — no American has faced a reigning world champ in a head-to-head confrontation for the title since Frank J. Marshall in 1901, when he suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Emmanuel Lasker.
Those 71 years represent a long period of hope and frustration for American chess fans, and it is little wonder the national chess community should await the event in a fever of enthusiasm.
Many American chess players have followed Fischer's career from the time when, at the age of 12, he first proved himself a force to be reckoned with. When two years later, in 1956, he won the U.S. championship for the first time, there were many who predicted that he would win the world title before he was old enough to vote. But, although he went on to become, at the age of 15, the youngest grandmaster in the history of the game, the road to the summit proved to he much longer and rockier than his admirers had anticipated.
That road has now led to, of all improbable places, Reykjavik, Iceland, where play, barring accidents, will begin July 2; the first player to score 12½ points (counting one point for a win, half-a-point to each for a draw) within the limit of 24 games will be the winner. If the match is tied at the end of 24 games, the champion will retain his title.
Spassky, at 35, is six years older than Fischer. He won the title in 1969 by besting his compatriot, Tigran Petrosian, after losing to him in his first try in 1966. Spassky was also a world championship contender while still in his teens, but, like Fischer, suffered some sobering setbacks before finally achieving his goal. He should now be at the height of his career and, under ordinary circumstances, might be expected to hold on to his crown for many years to come.
However, it is the firm opinion not only of most American experts, who might well be open to the charge of wishful thinking, but of knowledgeable people all over the world, that the world champion is a decided underdog. International Chess Federation President Dr. Max Euwe, himself a former world champion, some months ago was quoted as saying that Fischer has a “60-per-cent chance” to win the title — mighty long odds in favor of the challenger.
On what, one may reasonably ask, do the authorities base such a sanguine view of Fischer's chances? Certainly not on previous games between these two opponents: the score stands 3-0 in Spassky's favor, with two draws. A careful examination of the games they have contested, however, reveals a different picture. Their first meeting, in a tournament at Mar del Plate, Argentina in 1960, when Fischer was only 16, resulted in a wild battle in which Bobby had a winning advantage, but went astray in the complications of the play and lost.
NOT SO ONE-SIDED
Spassky's second win came in 1966, when Fischer made a mistake in an even position and then succumbed to a brilliant attack. And when Spassky again beat Fischer, at the Chess Olympics — a team event — at Siegen, East Germany, in 1970, it was largely because, with the American team losing to the Russians, Fischer tried too hard and finally over-extended himself. Surely Spassky's three wins against Fischer without a loss cannot be simply dismissed with a few glib explanations, but close analysis does indicate that their meetings have not been so one-sided as all that.
What the experts are basing their opinions on, and rightly so, are the performances of the two protagonists over the past few years. There Fischer has a big edge, as he would have even if Spassky's results were far more impressive than they are. In order to win the right to contend for the championship, Fischer had to win a series of candidates' matches against some of the strongest players in the world, and he did so in extraordinary fashion.
First, he defeated Russian grandmaster Mark Taimanov, in a match held at Vancouver, last May, by an incredible 6-0 score, unprecedented in this form of competition. Then, in August, in a match played at Denver, Colo., he defeated Bent Larsen of Denmark, widely thought to be the top player of the western world, after Fischer of course, by the same margin. And then, to top it off, he disposed of former world champion Petrosian in a match played last November in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by 6½-2½.
Meanwhile, Spassky, since winning the title, has had to he content with a series of indifferent results. His most recent appearance in a major event was in a tournament in Moscow late last year, where he finished tied for sixth — by no means a disgraceful showing in such strong company, but pallid by comparison with Fischer's extraordinary doings.
Indicative of a player's recent results is a numerical ranking system which employs a complicated formula to translate tournament and match performances into a four-digit number, and can be employed to predict future results as well. Spassky's current rating is a healthy 2,690 — anything over 2,500 indicates play at the grand-master level. Fischer's however, is 2,824 — by far the highest ever achieved.
Thus, the mathematical projections indicate that Fischer will have an easy time of it, and suggest, that the final score will be about 12½-8½ in his favor.
Chess matches, of course, are not won by reference to probably tables, but over the board. Fischer is Spassky's superior both technically — his play exhibits fewer weak spots — and temperamentally Spassky has been having personal troubles recently that have markedly affected his concentration, whereas Fischer's whole life is devoted to chess. With the qualification that a player who has once won the world championship is of course capable of beating anyone, anytime, the conclusion is inevitable: Fischer will win, and most likely win big.
Fischer is capable of every type of chess — modern, hypermodern and eclectic. In these branches, control of the centre is paramount, though hypermodern chess, paradoxically, vests the center to the antagonist.
All grandmasters agree that it is important to gain control of the center yet, the
hypermodernist actually inveigles his opponent into taking control of this area. Why?
In the beginning, plans of this player are long-termed. And, he cedes and bequeaths the centre.
As play progresses, the hypermodernist's efforts are to retrieve the median area, and every effort is bent on its repossession. Once regained, the hypermodernist intends to hold on and never to part with it. It goes without saying that the more knowledgeable a player, the greater his choice and also the greater technician, the finer the play. These are Fischer's attributes.
Fischer is a great, end-game expert and he favors hypermodern chess in many wins games.
All things being equal, he is confident — and confidence wins games.
