New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 41
Fischer Draws With Petrosian; Score in Match Now 1½ Each
Buenos Aires, Oct. 7—Bobby Fischer of the United States and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union drew the third game of their match in 34 moves tonight at the Teatro San Martin here.
The draw came when the same position occurred three times after a repetition of moves, and was claimed by Fischer. The score now stands at 1½-1½.
Fischer started with his usual 1. P-K4, and Petrosian used the French Defense. The variation played by Fischer is not considered enterprising, as it generally leads to exchanges and a balanced formation.
With his 10th and 11th moves Fischer showed that he was ready for an exciting battle. He gave up a pawn and also offered to sacrifice a rook for a bishop.
Petrosian's Option — Had Petrosian accepted, Fischer's queen would have commanded the long diagonal and started threats against the black king. The white knights would also have come into play very quickly.
After long consideration, Petrosian decided that his kingside defense was most important. He castled on that side and brought his bishop back.
Petrosian had retained the extra pawn, though it was doubled and weak. With no better target, Fischer lined up his forces to regain the material.
Fischer recaptured the pawn on his 25th move, but with the wrong piece; 25. NxP would have led to approximate equality. Taking with the bishop allowed a pin, and Petrosian took immediate advantage.
In the resulting ending, each side had a queen, rook and five pawns. Fischer's pawns were separated and weak on both sides of the board. With the exchange of major pieces, the game would have been lost for Fischer.
Fischer's one advantage was time. After 30 moves, he had about a half hour left for the 10 remaining moves on the time control, while Petrosian had about three minutes.
Petrosian started to move rapidly, trying to reach the essential 40 moves without any basic change in the favorable formation. He could then adjourn , with ample time to analyze and find the best winning method.
