AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, June 18, 1971 - Page 6
Chess - Russians Plan A Comeback by Leonard Barden
It may sound odd to suggest that the Soviet Union, which holds both the individual and team world championships, should be planning a chess comeback: but it is now widely recognized that Russian supremacy is waning. Their failure on the top boards in last years USSR v. World match coupled with the narrow win by only a single point over Hungary in the Olympiad makes it likely that the ageing Soviet stars will soon be inferior to younger grandmasters in the West like Fischer, Larsen, Hort and Portisch.
There is a curiously ambivalent attitude in Russian commentaries on Fischer's prospects of the world title. “Official” writers connected with the Soviet Chess Federation bracket the American with other leading foreign contenders: before the match which he lost 0-6 Taimanov wrote that “Fischer plays well but not that much better than the rest of us.” Spassky and Korchnoi, who have to try to stop Fischer becoming world champion, take a more wary and cautious view, in a recent interview Korchnoi takes it for granted that Fischer will beat Larsen, and comments that “Petrosian or I will have to prepare very, very hard.”
So the Russians are preparing their comeback in case Fischer becomes champion in 1972 or 1975 and another country wins the world team event. The search is on for young players who can challenge Fischer in the 1980s, and already Tukmakov, Karpov, and Balashov are actual or potential grandmasters. The latest Russian hope is the 19-year-old Armenian Rafael Vahanian who won first prize in a tournament in Yugoslavia in April, ahead of seven grandmasters including Stein. Benko, and Matulovic. This week's game, one of his wins there, shows the strength of a broad mobile pawn center even in the ending.
Georgi Tringov vs Rafael Vaganian Vrnjacka Banja (1971) French Defense: Winawer. Advance Variation (C19) 0-1 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1305099
