Asbury Park Press Asbury Park, New Jersey Sunday, August 08, 1971 - Page 55
The Chessboard - Fischer Feat Unparalleled
Bobby Fischer's shutout victories over two grandmasters in match play are unprecedented in the annals of chess. His defeat of Grandmaster Bent Larsen of Denmark in six straight games followed on the heels of his sensational 6-0 victory over Grandmaster Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union.
Thus Fischer has qualified for the finals of the candidates matches to select a challenger for the world title now held by Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. It appears that his opponent will be Tigran Petrosian, the Russian grandmaster and former world champion, who as this is written leads in the match with his fellow country man, Viktor Korchnoi by a score of 5-4.
In the sixth game of the Fischer-Larsen match, the Dane shunned a draw which would have given Fischer the match, but in trying to win ceded a full point to the American. Here is the score:
Bent Larsen vs Robert James Fischer
Fischer - Larsen Candidates Semifinal (1971), Denver, CO USA, rd 6, Jul-20
Bird Opening: Sicilian Bird (A02) 0-1
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044712
1. f4 (Rather an unusual start, even for Larsen, but we soon are back on familiar ground.)
6. d3 e6 (A sort of Sicilian Defense has evolved with the important difference that What has not so far played the familiar P-Q4. Now came 7. Na3 (an awkward way to develop the knight).
9. Be3 a6 (Black prepares for a general advance of the queen-side pawns)
13. Qd2 (White readies an assault on the most obvious target — the black queen's pawn)
15. Nc2 (White has lost considerable time developing this knight) Rb8; and White played 16. a3 Na5 (Black has detected a weakness in the white squares on White's queen-side.)
17. e5 Bf8 (On 17. … P-Q4, the Black bishop at N2 would have very little scope.)
22. Qf4 (Now that White has given up a pawn, he must try for a compensating attack.)
25. Qxf6 Qxc3 (Larsen on the attack is quite unmindful of material loss).
27. Kh1 (parrying 28. … Q-K6ch, winning the knight, which was not possible on the previous move because of P-R6), Ng4 (merely threatening to win the exchange).
30. Rf4 (A hard decision! Larsen could have cinched the draw but lost the match equally with 30. NxKP, BxN; 31. RxR BxR with perpetual check), f5 (How often in this match has a hardening of the defenses around Fischer's king heralded the beginning of the end for his opponent!)
34. Nxe6 Qf6 (two pawns ahead, Black seeks exchanges; Whites next move was forced).
35. Qe3 (At this point Black applies cruel pressure upon the errant White knight.) Re7 (From this juncture White's moves are largely forced).
40. Re8+ Kg7 0-1 (White resigns. The knight is neatly trapped.)
