AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, July 30, 1971 - Page 6
Chess: The Fischer Bishops by Leonard Barden
After Fischer's clean sweeps in his matches with Taimanov and Larsen, club tournament and county players will scan the young American's games for winning ideas of general application. The basic thread which runs through all Fischer's play is freedom from serious error, technical chess in its best and most precise sense. Two of the strands within this framework are his excellent opening knowledge and his confidence in active bishops in open positions. Such bishops may be confronted by passive enemy bishops, cramped knights, or even disconnected rooks. These two Fischer hallmarks are linked because his favorite anti-Sicilian method with B-QB4 aims at free bishop diagonals, while the underlying theme of his King's Indian and Grunfeld formations with Black is to gain activity for initially cramped bishops.
This weeks games complete the Fischer v. Larsen series begun in the two previous Guardian articles: both show the Fischer bishops, although in the final game it is only after a tough defensive struggle that he emerges with a won ending of bishop against knight. One aspect of the Fischer v Petrosian final world title eliminator this autumn will be a struggle of minor pieces, for Petrosian is noted for his skill in achieving blocked games where knights function well against bishops. Petrosian beat Korchnoi 5½-4½ by winning the ninth game of their match and drawing the rest.
Robert James Fischer vs Bent Larsen
Fischer - Larsen Candidates Semifinal (1971), Denver, CO USA, rd 5, Jul-18
Sicilian Defense: Fischer-Sozin Attack. Leonhardt Variation (B88) 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044348
10. f4 Qc8 (Better than 10. … P-QR3 11. P-B5 Q-B1 as in the third match game—but now Fischer chooses an interesting pawn sacrifice to increase the scope of his bishops and rooks.)
18. Rxe4 d5 (If 18. … BxB 19. R(3)xB regains the pawn with good winning chances based on the queen's side pawn majority.)
19. Rg3 g6 (19. … PxR? 20. RxPch K-R1; 21. RxBP dismissed check soon forces mate.)
21. Rxe6 (The rook on the seventh active bishop pair, and extra pawn with the pawn majority are now good compensation for the sacrifice of rook for bishop.)
29. Bc3 h5 (Passive defense by K-B1 is a better chance: now Larsen's rook gets trapped).
35. Kd3! (35. BxB R-K5ch, 36. K-Q3 RxB would only draw.)
39. Bc3 Bxc3 (39. … B-R6 is slightly better, but the outside QRP would still be a defensive trump as it proves in the following pawn endgame.
Bent Larsen vs Robert James Fischer
Fischer - Larsen Candidates Semifinal (1971), Denver, CO USA, rd 6, Jul-20
Bird Opening: Sicilian Bird (A02) 0-1
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044712
19. Nd4!? (White has active pieces but weak pawns—so this sacrifice for attack is logical.)
31. Qf6? (Objectively, White should force perpetual check by 31. Q-N5ch K-B2; 32. Q-R5ch since the black king cannot run by 32. … K-K2; 33. QxRPch K-Q1? because of 34. Q-R8ch and 35. NxPch winning the queen. But with a score of 0-5, a draw here would end Larsen's paper chance of continuing the match.)
40. Re8+ Kg7 0-1 (If 41. R-K7ch K-B3 wins the knight, which is trapped in any case.)
