ANew York Times, New York, New York, Wednesday, October 27, 1971 - Page 01
Fischer Beats Petrosian to Gain Right to Play Spassky for Title
Buenos Aires, Oct. 26—Bobby Fischer of the United States defeated Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union for the fourth straight time tonight, winning their chess match and the right to play the world champion for the title.
The victory gave Fischer 6½ points, the minimum needed in the 12-game series. The remaining games scheduled for the Teatro San Martin here will not be played. Petrosian, a former world champion, will receive $4,500 and Fischer $7,500.
With his victory over Petrosian, the 28-year-old becomes the first American to reach the final step in the elimination series for the world championship.
That final hurdle is the world champion, Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The two will meet in a 24-game title match next spring.
The procedure for picking the site will probably be the same as that for the Fischer-Petrosian match: the highest bidder among neutral countries will win, with the consent of the United States Chess Federation and the Soviet Chess Federation.
For 10 years, Fischer, a lanky bachelor with time for little else than chess, has considered himself the best player in the world. But until recently he had refused to prove it in the long and grinding rounds of elimination tournaments.
During the elimination matches he maintained a winning streak that reached 20 games and included two 6-to-0 victories over grandmasters—a record that had never before been recorded in modern high-level match and tournament play.
The daring and flash of his game—he often goes all out to win with the black pieces, which usually are handled in a cautious and more defensive way — gained him idolizing fans among the approximately 60 million chess players in the
world. Even in the Soviet Union, where he once was regarded as overly brash, he has become a hero.
The elimination series was established in 1948 to sort out a scramble for the title following the death of the then world champion, Alexander Alekhine of the Soviet Union.
The title competition was won by Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union and since that time the Soviet players who emerged as leading chess experts in the nineteen-thirties because of powerful state aid, have held every title. The three-year cycle of tournaments is organized by the World Chess Federation.
To challenge for the world championship, a player must survive in an international elimination contest that first produces zonal champions, then interzonal champions and finally a champion among the remaining aspirants.
Many of the great names in American chess, such as Emmanuel Lasker and Frank J. Marshall, played before the competition was formalized. The most famous of all, Paul Morphy of New Orleans, who died in 1884, is generally conceded to have been the best of his time, but he was never able to get his British arch-rival, Howard Staunton, to agree to a match.
Petrosian a Former Champion
Fischer defeated the 42-year-old Petrosian in a tail-end winning streak. He won the first, lost the second, drew the third, fourth and fifth, and then won four straight.
Spassky won the world title in Moscow in 1969, at the age of 32, by beating Petrosian, 12½ to 10½. Petrosian had been champion for six years.
The match touched off an epidemic of chess fever in Buenos Aires. In recent days it has been difficult to buy a chess set in the city's shops, despite the inflated price of $1.50 at the cheapest.
Outside the vast hall of the San Martin Theater, on Avenida Corrientes, as many as 3,500 spectators began lining up at the box office at 9 A.M. for the 5 P.M. game.
Fischer lounged in a swivel chair, occasionally leaning forward as if he might lunge at the board after a move. Petrosian tucked his feet primly under his chrome and yellow-plastic chair and showed the tension only by suddenly gripping his head in both hands.
Occasionally, Fischer would clutch the side of his head or tap his foot. A glass of fresh orange juice was always at his side. During a game he would break for something to eat—his favorite snack being a grilled-kidney sandwich.
Petrosian would interrupt play to step behind a screen, for a sip of coffee from a vacuum flask prepared by his wife. A small, round woman, she watched her husband from the fourth row, which is actually the first because of Fischer's request that the first three be kept empty.
Finale a Classic
The ninth game was a classic example of obtaining a small advantage and building it up to a winning result. The opening was a French Defense, 1. … P-K3, played by Petrosian in reply to Fischer's favorite opening move, 1. P-K4.
Petrosian had tried the same defense in the third game. He varied on his fourth move by developing the queen knight, an unusual variation. It led to a symmetrical game in the center, but Fischer had the edge in development. In addition, Petrosian was saddled with doubled pawns.
In view of the score, Petrosian might have been expected to adopt a more aggressive line, even with the black pieces. He seemed satisfied to equalize, and offered an exchange of queens.
Fischer made the exchange, which, as it turned out, further exposed the black pawns. Fischer immediately moved to open the queen bishop file, which his rook then commanded.
A pawn exchange left Petrosian with a doubled pawn that would be difficult to hold. Giving up defensive tactics, Petrosian embarked on a seemingly desperate sally against the white king.
Fischer's king marched to R4, some distance from the menacing black rooks. While Petrosian was preparing, Fischer picked up two more pawns. He seemed safe enough, especially with the queens off the board.
With his back to the wall, Petrosian made his last game effort. Using his king and pawns, he set up a surprising mating threat that might have saved the game against a lesser opponent.
Fischer was forced to give up his knight for two pawns, but he had been prepared for this. In the resulting position, all the pieces were off with the exception of Petrosian's knight. The mating danger was gone.
Petrosian would have had to contend with five passed pawns, which could not be stopped. He might have adjourned the hopeless game, but decided to resign.
