The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, January 03, 1971 - Page 121
Oscar To Fischer As Player of Year
The Chess Oscar for the outstanding player of 1970 was awarded to American chess ace Bobby Fischer by a practically unanimous vote of members of the International Association of Chess Journalists.
The announcement was made during the closing ceremonies of the Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Fischer won the tournament by the overwhelming margin of 3½ points over his nearest competitors.
Fischer started his 1970 series of triumphs by defeating former world champion Tigran Petrosian by 3½, as part of the match between the USSR and the rest of the world.
Easy victories followed in strong tournaments in Rovinj-Zagreb, Yugoslavia and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Playing first board for the U.S. in the Chess Olympics in Sieges, West Germany, Fischer scored 10-3. second only to world champion Boris Spassky of the USSR.
In all, Fischer played 73 tournament and match games, of which he won 49, drew 21 and lost only three. The losses were to Kovacevic of Yugoslavia in Rovinj, to Spassky in Siegen, and to Bent Larsen of Denmark in Palma.
With 59½ points out of 73, Fischer had a percentage of 81.5, a remarkable feat in grandmaster chess. It was particularly noteworthy because of the high quality of the opposition he faced throughout.
Spassky placed second in the vote for the Oscar. In a relatively inactive year he won tournaments in Leiden and Amsterdam, Holland, and won the gold medal for best score in the Chess Olympics. He scored 28 points of a possible 39 for 72%.
Larsen, who had won the Oscar two years ago, was third in the list of the top 10 of 1970. Following were three Russians. Mark Taimanov, Eufim Geller and Lev Polugaevsky.
The others were Lajos Portisch. Hungary: Paul Keres, USSR: Vlastimil Hort, Czechoslovakia and Victor Korchnoi, USSR.
