The Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Thursday, June 03, 1971 - Page 47
'I'm the best' by Paul Raugust
U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer has become one of the four men left in the running to unseat world chess champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
Mark Taimanov of the U.S.S.R. conceded the sixth consecutive game here Wednesday to give the 28-year-old native of Brooklyn, N.Y., the most one-sided victory in a grandmaster competition in modern times.
Fischer, who has been a grandmaster since age 15, said he is confident that he will go on to win the world title. “The Soviets have been putting up road blocks for me for years, but I know I'm the best. I should have been world champion 10 years ago.”
He said if he wins the title he stands to make “easily $100,000 a year as a professional.”
He received $1,250 in prize money for the victory here and Taimanov $750.
The world chess title is on the line only once every three years. It takes that long for a challenger to wend his way through all the various competitions. The quarter-finalists were selected at last year's interzonal competition at Palma de Majorca, Spain.
CAPTION: Grandmasters Mark Taimanov, left, and Bobby Fischer replay and discuss one of their games Wednesday at end of their match here. Fischer won 6-0.
Fischer now advances against Denmark's Bent Larsen in the semi-finals, scheduled to start July 4 at an as yet undecided site. The other semi-final series, between Soviet grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Tigran Petrosian, is to be played in Moscow, also starting July 4.
The two winners of the semi-finals are to meet in September with the overall winner going on to meet the world champion next year. Spassky is to play in Vancouver this August in the Canadian open championship.
Taimanov conceded the sixth game Wednesday before play could be resumed. It had been adjourned Tuesday with Fischer holding a two-pawn advantage and threatening checkmate.
The 46-year-old Soviet grandmaster said in an interview that Fischer undoubtedly is the best non-Soviet player he has met in his 19 years of international competition as a grandmaster.
He blamed his poor record in Vancouver on ill health. One game in the series had to be postponed on doctor's orders because of a high blood pressure condition Taimanov suffers from. he said he was also fighting violent headache attacks during several games.
“If it had not been for these circumstances I would have won games one and three and changed the complexion of the match.” Taimanov said through an interpreter. “But as it was I made mistakes that I never made before, even as a small boy.”
