AThe New York Times New York, NY Sunday, January 04, 1971 - Page 28
Chess: Fischer's Victory at Majorca Impressive by Any Standard
Grandmaster Bobby Fischer of Los Angeles captured first place in the recent interzonal tournament at Palma, Majorca, winning the 24-man round-robin knockout by 3½ points. He posted 18½-4½, including 15 victories outright against the world's highest rated players. He drew seven games and lost only one.
Against the four Soviet players, Fischer scored 3½-½. He beat the Czechoslovaks 2-0, and East Germany 1-0. His antagonists from the West were given a worse drubbing. All were whitewashed—not a single draw was allowed. Fischer defeated his American compatriots by 2-0, Canada by 1-0, and South American by 3-0.
But there was an odd side to Fischer's total performance at Palma. He could do no better than split the point with the three bottom scorers — Jimenez of Cuba, Naranja of the Philippines and Uituman of Mongolia.
Playing the black pieces against Uituman, Fischer essayed Alekhine's Defense and squeezed every nuance into an ending favorable to him. After 28 … NxQ, Fischer's median passed pawn assured him a point with 38 … KxP, it seemed. But Uitman forced the draw by an accurately calculated defense, based on a knight's stride.
At Palma, quite a few pretournament favorites failed to finish among the six qualifiers for the coming elimination matches for the world challenge. The most experienced was the Grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia.
Grandmaster Vlastimil Hort of Czechoslovakia also disappointed his fans. He ended in the minus column despite a resurgence in the final rounds. The Queen's Gambit Declined, Gligoric vs. Hort, was an ideal presentation of the classic debut. It's highlights follow:
White played 12 B-N3 to retain the bishop against … N-K5. If now 12. … N-R4; 13. NxP NxB; 14. NxBch, etc And if in the above line 13 … PxN; 14 B-B7 wins Black's queen.
To complete his development, Hort had to resort to an awkward plan. That explains 13. … P-KN3. Note 18 P-N4. This initiated a thematic minority attack, typical of the variation. White intended to prod the enemy pawn structure on the queen flank and when he penetrated with his rook, 29. R-R8, victory was certain.
