New York Times, New York, New York, Friday, July 23, 1971 - Page 35
Fischer Now a Chess Hero in the Soviet by Bernard Gwertzman
Moscow, July 22 — Bobby Fischer of Los Angeles, who is now only one step from challenging the Soviet grandmaster Boris Spassky for the world chess title, has suddenly become a celebrity in the chess-crazy Soviet Union.
The 28-year-old American's crisp, aggressive play in shutting out Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union and Denmark's Bent Larsen by 6-0 scores has startled experts here and aroused considerable popular interest in the American. Long-time foreign residents say he is on the way to becoming the most popular non-Russian since the American pianist Van Cliburn.
Fischer's string of 12 consecutive victories in championship matches has no equal in chess history, and this was underscored by Soviet commentators.
“A miracle has occurred,” the chess expert in Sovetsky Sport said today, discussing Fischer's victory over Larsen in Denver on Tuesday night.
In a Moscow park several old men playing chess talked about Fischer. They bestowed on him the popular Russian description “molodyets,” which means roughly “quite a guy.” Some felt he was not certain to meet Spassky in the challenger round, but others believed he would, and would win.
Part of the reason for the enthusiasm expressed for the American has been the disappointing pace of the match between Tigran Petrosian and Viktor Korchnoi, the Soviet players. The winner of that match will play Fischer in September for the right to meet Spassky here next spring.
Petrosian Advances -- Until tonight Petrosian and Korchnoi had drawn all of their eight games. But Petrosian moved ahead tonight by winning.
Under the challenge rules, 10 games are played, with one point awarded for a victory and a half-point for a draw.
Petrosian now leads 5-4 and needs only a draw in the last game to win. If Korchnoi wins, thus tying the match, six more games can be played, and the first to win a game wins the match. If all the extra games are drawn, a toss of the coin decides.
One commentator had said the fact that eight draws had been played was “a record of its own.”
Izvestia, the Government newspaper, said last night that members of its sports department were automatically saying “6-0, 6-0” when they picked up the phone, not bothering to wait for the question, “What was the result of the Fischer-Larsen match?”
The paper's chess expert said Soviet fans were “startled and disconcerted” by the ease with which the American had advanced to the elimination finals.
Much of the praise for Fischer has come after years of abuse directed toward him by many chess writers here who chided him for his personal idiosyncrasies. In fact, one magazine ran a long article several months ago saying it would be a setback for chess if Fischer ever won the title, because of his rudeness and lack of interest in anything but chess.
V. Khenkin, the chess expert for Komomolskaya Pravda, organ of the Young Communist League, said:
“For many of our chess players Fischer still remained Little Bobby whom they often tore apart.
“Yes, from a little boy who cried after every loss, Fischer has turned into a real fighter, possessing in perfection an entire arsenal of modern means of chess combat, and this must be taken into consideration.”
Mr. Khenkin was harsh on Petrosian, who is a former world champion, and on Korchnoi.
“There has never been such a bloodless competition in the history of chess,” he said, referring to the eight drawn games. “We must confess that chess fans are experiencing some impatience. A game which is won or lost is more dramatic and thus, more interesting.”
It is one thing to have a hard fought draw, but the two Soviet players were avoiding confrontations and were like tennis players who just were rallying back and forth, Mr. Khenkin said.
“Sports is sports,” he declared. “The law of sports is an uncompromising fight.”
Yuri Zarubin, in Trud, the newspaper of the trade unions, said recently that Fischer was quite different now from what he was several years ago. He praises him for his courtesy and said he got along very well with Taimanov when the two played several months ago in Vancouver, British Columbia.
