AThe San Francisco Examiner San Francisco, California Sunday, July 25, 1971 - Page 131
Bobby Fischer's Total Victories
Chronicle chess columnist and International Chess Master George Koltanowski has provided us with this story on the recent sensational feats of Bobby Fischer on his way, quite possibly, to the Chess Championship of the World.
Shortly before his semifinals match with Bobby Fischer began, Denmark's Bent Larsen told a reporter: “I am convinced that I will play (Boris) Spassky in 1972 for the World Championship. I am not afraid of any player in the world.”
At the same time, the No. 1 player of the U.S., Bobby Fischer, was far more subdued: “I should like to play in the Candidates' Final in Yugoslavia,” he said, “but first we must see what the outcome of my match with Larsen is.”
Last Tuesday, the shards of Larsen's dream lay around his feet in Denver—and Bobby Fischer had a clear track to the finals,” which would decide whether an American or a Russian played Spassky for the top place in chess.
No Draws
It wasn't so much that Bobby had won that set the chess world on its ear. It was the way that he did it.
Chess is considered a cautious game, and contenders for the title are expected to draw a number of games on their way to the top. Not. Bobby.
In the quarter-finals in Vancouver earlier this summer, he smashed Russia's Mark Taimanov, 6-0, a virtually unheard-of feat against one of the top players on earth. But then, in Denver, he duplicated it by flattening Larsen by the same score. (By contrast, the other semi-finalists, Russians Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, had played eight games by the middle of last week — and all eight were draws).
Sense of Mission?
Not since the days of the great Paul Morphy of New Orleans, nearly a century ago, has the United States had anyone to gun for the title of World Chess Champion. Now it had.
The victorious Bobby told the Denver Post: “I feel a sense of mission to win the championship. I feel I have been the best player in the world for ten years.”
