Chess : It Was a Good Year

Back to 1971 News Articles

The Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, January 10, 1971 - Page 85

Chess : It Was a Good Year
Looking back, 1970 was something of a good year in chess. It was the year in which Robert J. Fischer terminated his silence, caused by what he called “hang-ups,” and came back to tournament play, to defeat Petrosian in a match, win tournaments in Yugoslavia and Argentina by fantastic, unheard-of pluralities, and come at the head of the Interzonals.
His record was marred only by a loss to Spassky in the Olympiade and one to Larsen in the Interzonals. Fischer says Spassky was lucky in their game and that it will be different next time.
It was the year in which Russia defeated the world in the match of the century, and by the precious margin of one point, and won the Olympiade (though Korchnoi fell asleep and failed to show up at one game).
But strangely it was the year in which the Russian stranglehold on International Chess play was broken. No longer did the Russians dominate every tourney—indeed, they had to struggle for position against Fischer, Larsen, Uhlmann, Portisch, Gligoric and Hort.
What will 1971 bring? All eyes are on the World's Championship. Quarter-finals of the World's Championship will be played in March. In July, the winner of the Petrosian-Huebner match will play the Korchnoi-Geller winner and the winner of Fischer vs. Taimanov will play the winner of Larsen vs. Uhlmann. In September the finals will be played. In the spring of 1972, a 24-game match for the world title.
Our quiet view is that Spassky, Larsen and Fischer are the three top players in the world, that Petrosian is the fourth and highly dangerous, that Fischer in the end will triumph, if his temperament does not eliminate him. If this be true, chess will jump in 1971 out of humble columns such as this and on to the front page.
Popular demand brings this victory by John Curdo against Jackie Peters in the 1970 Boston Open. On the sixth move, Curdo effects a questionable maneuver in the Ruy Lopez. Peters gets a strong initiative which fades away.