ANew York Times, New York, New York, Monday, October 11, 1971 - Page 32
Chess: French Defense Is Not Timid, as Petrosian Shows Fischer by Al Horowitz
The third game of the Bobby Fischer-Tigran Petrosian qualifying match was a French Defense—an opening that derives its name from the London-Paris correspondence match of 1834, when it was adopted by the French players. It was also mentioned by Lucena in 1497 and at one time was called the King Pawn One opening.
Its disciples have been called pusillanimous, a breed of players who indicate they want to play chess but who contain themselves in the very first move with a diffident 1. … P-K3. But Petrosian's 6. … PxB was anything but cowardly; his acceptance of doubled pawns on the kingside took courage.
With 10. P-Q5, however, White expressed contempt for Black's pawn contour, and after 11. NxP, Black's pawn skeleton—with the doubled, isolated king bishop pawn—was vulnerable.
White's 12. B-N2, defying Black to capture the rook, had elements of poke bluffing, though the attempt to draw Petrosian into a speculation was based on comparatively good judgment. Not unexpectedly, Petrosian did not oblige.
The move 12. R-QN1, followed by 12. … B-K4; 13. B-N2 and then 14. 0-0, 15. R-K1—and possibly KN-B4-R5—would have established a powerful attack. Moreover, Black's queen bishop would have been pinned down to the defense of his queen knight pawn.
R5 Is Preempted
White's 15. Q-R5 preempted the square R5 from the knight. Had he played 15. Q-K2, the sequence 16. QR-Q1, 17. KR-K1, N-K3, and N-R5 could have followed, leading to an attack on the forward doubled pawn. The game could then have virtually played itself.
Fischer's 18. K-R1 was understandable in view of, say, 18. B-R3, NxN; 19. PxN Q-N3ch, and the exchange of queens. But here again, 18. Q-B3, abandoning K-R5 to the knight, would have been in order.
With a pawn plus, Black tried to bring about exchanges and win by attrition.
Fischer's 25. BxP invited an annoying pin, and 25. NxP would have been better.
Petrosian was pressed for time. He should have tired to win, but how to do it was not clear. Perhaps 34. … Q-N4, attacking the rook and king bishop pawn and threatening an incursion, possibly by … R-QN8ch, might eventually have been the way. Even then, though there would have been many chances for a perpetual check.
If we say Petrosian's judgment and play were bad, in that he permitted Fischer to obtain a good game, we must balance this by admitting that Fischer failed to obtain a decisive edge.
That third game left the players with 1½points each. The first to reach 6½ points wins the match —being played in Buenos Aires — and the right to play Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union next year for the world championship.
Another French Defense, this one between Fischer and Jeff Rubens, editor of Bridge World, in a simultaneous display some time ago, showed the antagonists in a wild, woolly mood.
The line 3. … B-N5 was popularized by a former world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union.
Here White followed the reflexes developed by his early training; he took everything that wasn't nailed down. Then, again, he accepted a rook when Black played 17. … RxPch. (The sacrifice was a violation of a guiding general principle: Always sacrifice the opponent's piece.)
At the end, with all the ballast gone, Black resigned.
Robert James Fischer vs Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian Fischer - Petrosian Candidates Final (1971), Buenos Aires ARG, rd 3, Oct-07 French Defense: Classical. Burn Variation Morozevich Line (C11) 1/2-1/2 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106921
