The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, October 22, 1971 - Page 45
Fischer Overcomes Stubborn Defense
Although former world champion Tigran Petrosian's defensive prowess was generally recognized before the start of his current battle against U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer, few chess followers expected him to trip up the adventuresome Fischer.
Fischer entered the world championship elimination final with an historic 20-0 record, having dumped grandmaster after grandmaster in elimination play. Petrosian, on the other hand, had barely made it into the Buenos Aires, Argentina, final by defeating fellow Soviet grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi 5½ to ?½. The two had drawn their first nine games in a row and it was only the last game that Petrosian won.
This unaggressive showing coupled with Petrosian's age disadvantage (42 to 28) against the American, had convinced many that Fischer would handily win the Argentina match and thus advance against world champion Boris Spassky next year.
Fischer won the opening game playing white, but Petrosian came right back to even the score in the second game. The victory seemed to have given Petrosian added confidence as he successfully stumped Fischer's foraging attacks in the next three games, forcing the American master to accept draws in all three. The draws undoubtedly affected Fischer unfavorably as he has often expressed his dislike of the system that counts draws as points in world competition.
It wasn't until the sixth game of the 12-game match that Fischer got back on the winning trail. He picked up his third victory Tuesday night and the 4½ to 2½ score seemed to have given him an insurmountable lead. He needed only two more points to win it all.
Games four and five, both of which were drawn, had both players playing along familiar lines with Petrosian drawing into a defensive shell which Fischer was unable to crack.
The turning point came in game six in which Petrosian, playing white, played defense from the opening pawn allowing Fischer to gain control of the center of the board and hoping to capitalize on some distant move. However, the opportunity never presented itself as Fischer gained ground steadily, never allowing his opponent an offensive opportunity.
Fischer used the same P-K4 opening in the seventh game that he had in the three previous times of playing the white pieces. After two pawns were exchanged Petrosian had isolated pawns which caused problems for him throughout the game. Fischer's continuing threats against pawns were the dominant feature of the game from the midway point to the end.
The match will likely end next week.
