The Vancouver Sun Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, May 26, 1971 - Page 38
Plays Well In Chess Match -- Two-Day Rest Perks Up Taimanov by Bill Rayner
A doctor's prescription for 48 hours' rest seemed to be just what Soviet Grand Master Mark Taimanov needed in his chess match with U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer.
Taimanov, grounded for high blood pressure, was in his best form of the 10-game match Tuesday, achieving good drawing chances at adjournment in the fourth game.
When the two players went home for the evening with Taimanov sealing his 41st move, he held a solid position as black. With pawn strength equal on both wings, Fischer was trying to break through in the center with a rook and bishop against Taimanov's rook and knight.
However, there seemed little chance he would breech black's meticulously constructed defenses.
The game was played quickly, with adjournment coming after just four hours of play.
Taimanov, in a variation of the Sicilian defense, swapped material early, leading to an equal position. Never venturing far afield, he allowed Fischer some spatial advantage while he shored up some weak pawns.
Fischer exerted pressure on the center but adroit reaction by Taimanov denied him the breakthrough he sought to black's seventh and eighth ranks.
Fischer, with a 3-0 lead in the 10-game match, did not play as crisply as in the first three games. He needs but 2½ points in the remaining seven games to advance to the semi-finals of the elimination series to pick a challenger to world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union.
The game, postponed from Sunday because of Taimanov's illness, was played before an audience of close to 100 in the Student Union Building theater at the University of B.C.
It was to be continued today.
If any adjournment help was needed, Fischer had available the services of U.S. grand master Larry Evans of Reno. Evans, here officially to cover the match for a U.S. sports magazine, has acted as Fischer's second in the past.
Meanwhile, the seventh game of the match between grand masters Bent Larsen of Denmark and Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany was adjourned on the 42nd move Tuesday. Larsen leads the series, 4-2.
