AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, June 11, 1971 - Page 7
Chess - How Fischer Won by Leonard Barden
Fischer's crushing 6-0 victory over Taimanov in their world title quarter-final eliminator makes the young American favorite to win the championship from Spassky next year. Fischer still has to play a semi-final match with Larsen (who beat Uhlmann 5½-3½), beginning on July 4. The final eliminator in the autumn will pair Fischer or Larsen against one of the Russians, Petrosian (4-3 winner against Huebner) and Korchnoi (who defeated Geller 5½-2½).
Botvinnik, the former world champion, has castigated Fischer as just an encyclopedic memory man with little originality; but paradoxically Taimanov fully held his own in the openings and it was Fischer's ability to squeeze the most from apparently level endings which broke the Russian's resistance. This week's games and diagram show how Fischer, like Tal on his way to the world title, apparently has developed a psychological hold on his opponents which induces errors and even (as in the fifth match game below) crude blunders.
Mark Taimanov (Soviet Union)— Robert Fischer (US), fifth game.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 (Taimanov's favorite system against the Grunfeld. Fischer varies from the usual reply 5. … P-B4; 6. BPxP NxN; 7 PxN QxP; but the opening gives White a distinct initiative.)
5. … Nxc3 6. bxc3 dxc4 7. e3 Be6 8. Rb1 b6 9. Be2 Bh6 10. Nf3 c6 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. f4 Bd5 13. O-O Nd7 14. Nxc4 O-O 15. a4 c5 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. dxe5 f6 18. Rb2 Be6 19. Rd2 Qc7 20. Bg4 Qc8 21. Bf3 Rb8 22. Qe2 Rd8 23. Rfd1 Rxd2 24. Qxd2 Qe8 25. exf6 exf6 26. Qd6 Rc8 27. a5 Bf8 28. Qd2 Be7 29. Bd5 Qf7 30. Bxe6 Qxe6 31. Qd7 Kf7 32. Qxa7 bxa5 33. e4 Qc6 34. Rd7 Qxe4 35. h3 a4 36. Bf2 Kf8 37. c4 a3 38. Qxa3 Ra8 39. Qb2 Ke8 40. Qb5 Kf8 41. Rd1 Qxf4 After five hours of patient defense, Fischer adjourns with a draw in sight but with the Russians still hoping Taimanov will make headway with his QBP. The following moves are headlined by Sovietsky Sport, with restrained Muscovite understatement, as “the misplaced rook…”
42. Bxc5 Bxc5+ 43. Qxc5+ Kg7 44. Rf1 Qe4 45. Qc7+ Kh6 Taimanov had no less than three “seconds” to help him in Vancouver—grandmasters Vasyukov and Kotov, and the Moscow champion Balashov. In the light of White's next move as well as the play from this week's diagram, one wonders how they all spent their time during the adjournments.
46. Rxf6 Qd4+ 47.Rf2 Ra1+ wins.
Fischer-Taimanov, sixth game.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nb5 d6 6.Bf4 e5 7.Be3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Be6. In the second game 8. Q-R4+ gave Fischer the chance of an interesting pawn sacrifice for initiative by 9. Q-Q2 NxP; 10. Q-Q NxQ; 11. B-K3 K-Q2; 12. N(1)-B3.
9.N1c3 a6 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Na3 Nd4 12.Nc4 (12. B-B4 (Fischer-Najdorf, Santa Monica, 1966) should be good for Black after 12. … P-Q4! The text is a later improvement, and Najdorf also gives Black's next move with the comment that White has a slight plus—a doubtful verdict since Taimanov seems to equalize.
12. … f5 13.exf5 Nxf5 14.Bd3 Rc8 15.Bxf5 Rxc4 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Qe2 Rd4? From here on, Taimanov goes downhill. Either Q-B2 or R-B2 should be played.
18.O-O Qg5 19.Rad1 Qf5 20.Rxd4 exd4 21.Ne4 Be7 22.Rd1 Qe5 23.Qd3 Rf8 24.Qxd4 Qxd4 25.Rxd4 d5 26.Nc3 Bc5 27.Rd2 Rf4 28.g3 Rc4 29.Ne2 Ra4 30.a3 Kd7 31.Kg2 b5 32.c3 a5 33.Nd4 b4 34.Nb3 Bb6 35.axb4 axb4 36.c4 Kc6 37.c5 Bc7 38.Nd4+ Kd7 39.f4 e5 40.c6+ Kc8 41.Nb5 Ra2 42.f5 Bd8 43.Rxd5 Rxb2 1-0
No. 1144 This finish from the second game of the Fischer v. Taimanov match will become a textbook classic, and also gives readers a chance to do better than Taimanov.
(a) Black to move; how can he draw?
(b) Taimanov actually played 1. … K-K5; how did Fischer (White) then force a win?
Robert James Fischer vs Mark Taimanov
Fischer - Taimanov Candidates Quarterfinal (1971), Vancouver Canada, Round 2, May 18
Sicilian Defense: Paulsen. Szen Variation (B44) 1-0
