The Guardian London, Greater London, England Thursday, October 28, 1971 - Page 13
Prince Pawn: Leonard Barden on Bobby Fischer
Chess in Russia is more popular than any other game bar soccer; so for an American to win the world title will be for many Russians a moment of truth. Bobby Fischer's resounding win over Tigran Petrosian in their final eliminator in Buenos Aires has left Boris Spassky, the reigning champion who won the title from Petrosian in 1969, as the last line of defence of a Soviet monopoly which began with Botvinnik in 1948.
Fischer won his first U.S. Open title at 14 and was already a world championship contender at 15. His D grades in high school (Error, contemporary teachers remarked on Bobby as a average student with average grades -- and he was even awarded a gold medal before the infamous withdrawal from Erasmus), where he was a dropout at 16, reflected an obsession with chess rather than lack of ability; one class mate recalls Bobby's IQ as 184. (Fact Check: Bobby Fischer says they never gave him the IQ score and contemporary 1950 era teachers acknowledge Bobby had an IQ in the "generally superior intelligence" range. See https://fischer-notes.blogspot.com/2019/04/bobby-fischers-iq-of-123-tested-by.html) He could already be world champion but for a prima donna (Fact Check: The Soviets were cheating, and they admitted this long ago) history of quarrels with opponents and organizers which put him into virtual retirement for most of the 1960s. (Fact check, it's called Boycott, and was suggested more than once, that perhaps Samuel Reshevsky would sit out the tournaments as well as non-Russians didn't stand a chance at fairly winning the crown.) In private, Bobby is more restrained and cautious: he regards himself as the best chess player living or dead but reckons Spassky as a tough and worthy opponent.
Startled
Fischer's decisive match wins (6-0, 6-0 and now 6½-2½ against Petrosian) have started and confused chess experts who reckon that at this level of play at least half the games are usually drawn. Yuri Averbakh, one of Petrosian's analysts, described Fischer as having “Some strange magnetic influence.” When Mark Taimanov, Bobby's first 6-0 victim, returned to Moscow, he was blamed for lack of effort and there was serious discussion in the Soviet Chess Federation's Central Committee as to whether he should be deprived of his grandmaster title and the 300 rubles monthly salary that goes with it.
Personal charisma plays its part in chess tournaments and even more so in individual matches. Some opponents of Dr. Lasker, who held the world championship for a record period, spoke of his hypnotic gaze. Another rival more practical if equally disgruntled, ascribed his defeat to the pungent odor of Lasker's cigars.
For Fischer, too, magnetism has a physical quality. Over six feet tall, he marches rather than walks round the tournament room and at the board he literally exudes appetite. A major chore of the U.S. captain at the last world team championship was to keep Fischer supplied with bottles of apfelsaft.
Apart from Fischer's personality, other psychological factors help to explain Fischer's heavy defeats of Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian. Any player in the top half-dozen in the world needs high motivation to carry on the study of opening systems, training sessions both chessical and physical, and hours of analysis of unfinished games that are essential chores for any player on the international chess circuit. The greatest spur is to be world champion and in the past few months Fischer's rivals have seen their hopes and years of work evaporate. If Fischer beats Spassky next spring, he is young enough now at 28 to stay at the top till 1980 or 1985. It looks likely that more time will be spent arguing about the venue for the Spassky v. Fischer 24-game match than actually playing it. One solution is for the first half of the match to be played in the challenger's country and the second half in the champion's. The Russians are backpedaling on this idea, apparently because they fear that Fischer could build up a winning lead in America.
One cannot write off Spassky, who was himself twice a convincing winner in the Candidate's match series. Spassky and his trainers believe that the way to combat his tendency to laziness and slow starts is to get him in high gear at the beginning of a match.
Last year Spassky spent nine months without a serious game, but this summer he has started his warm-up for Fischer with tournaments in Sweden and Canada as well as with games for his club in the Russian team championship. Spassky's results and play have been unimpressive compared with Fischer's, but this is probably part of the long-term Soviet plan to bring the champion to peak form next spring.
Uneasy
Spassky's crown sits uneasy at the moment, but the title match will resemble a clash of two might armies and we are still at the preliminary skirmishes. Spassky has his own grandmaster psychologist, as well as opening expert and adjournment specialists. Fischer will have United States Chess Federation President Ed Edmondson to keep his prima donna acts in restraint and arrange for Fischer's hotel room.
In Britain, chess analysts Robert Wade and Les Blackstock will provide for Fischer a complete file of Spassky's games and opening preferences as they did for Fischer's other opponents. Millionaire I.S. Turover will offer Fischer an extra bonus if he wins, while Spassky may be defending not only his title but his private Central Moscow flat and his Volvo. “Match of the Century” is easy hyperbole for international events, but this one should be justified.
