AThe Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, June 02, 1971 - Page 8
Only a Handshake Needed For Fischer Chess Victory by Bill Rayner
Only the formality of a handshake from Mark Taimanov will signify the resignation of the Soviet grandmaster in the sixth game of their world chess championship quarter-final match.
It will also signify a stunning 6-0 sweep by Fischer of the 10-game series and qualify him to meet Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen in the semi-finals of the challengers' round.
Fischer, two pawns ahead and in the process of breaking a pawn through to the queening rank, had Taimanov in a hopeless position on the 43rd move Tuesday night.
But Taimanov, following the Russian game plan of delaying every decision as long as possible, asked for adjournment — the sixth straight in the match.
Taimanov, playing the Sicilian defense with the black pieces, made some slight errors in the opening which allowed Fischer to slice open his kingside pawn formation.
However, he maintained a strong center and had room for a direct assault on white's king. The attack came, but was half-hearted and easily rebuffed by Fischer.
Taimanov then tried a foray on the queen-side but lacked the resources to carry it out successfully — a theme that ran through all six games.
Taimanov once again lost his way in the pawn infighting. Fischer always had a move that was just a little bit better and entered the endgame with marked superiority.
A draw Tuesday was all Fischer needed to win the match, but he was not about to offer it to Taimanov.
At adjournment, all the ingredients for a Fischer victory were present: pawn superiority, mobility and tempo.
He had a rook and knight against Taimanov's rook and bishop, and was in the process of demonstrating that a bishop does not always have superiority over a knight—especially when the knight belongs to Fischer.
If Fischer gets by Larsen in the semi-final match, the Russians (either Tigran Petrosian or Viktor Korchnoi) will get another chance to deny him his ultimate aim: a title match with world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
