ATimes Colonist Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, September 04, 1971 - Page 16
Bobby
If there are any positive superlatives left over to describe Bobby Fischer's play in the past few months, I don't know what they are. His blanking out Russia's Mark Taimanov in Vancouver toward the end of spring was masterful. Six straight games! So far as I can recall there has never been a comparable shellacking in Candidates' play. But for Fischer then to pull the same stunt in Denver against Denmark's Bent Larsen was to make chess history not likely to be duplicated in this lifetime of anyone reading this column.
Poor Larsen! Just a few days before his ignominious defeat at Bobby's hands, he was quoted in a Swiss magazine as saying that he had every hope and intention of going all the way to the top and playing the world champion in 1972. That dream was cracked with the first game in Denver, shattered in the second and pulverized in the next four.
The finals, which will pit Fischer against Tigran Petrosian, the winner to play world champion Boris Spassky, should be truly exciting. If all goes well with Fischer, it will be the first time in years that world chess has not been dominated by the Russians.
“I have a sense of mission to win the championship,” Bobby said immediately after his victory. “I feel I have been the best player in the world for 10 years.”
Nobody has ever accused Fischer of false modesty. But he just might be right. Several times in the past it has seemed that only the notorious Fischer temperament has stood between him and the summit. And, actually, there is really no guarantee that it won't again. But as things stand now, after a century in the wilderness, the U.S. at last has someone who has a chance to become the Champion of the world.
