AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Friday, January 01, 1971 - Page 7
The Fischer Center
Many other players also prefer this direct and energetic style, which contrasts with the slow buildup and finessing for small advantages favored by the flank opening specialists. The question is why Fischer is so much more successful with it than anyone else, and the answer is his fund of novelties and fresh strategy to his major weapons the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian. Fischer produces little nuances in established systems rather than entirely new plans, but at master level backed by his skill in the middle game these marginal innovations often make the difference between a draw and a win.
Fischer has always said that he will beat Spassky in a world title match because of his superior opening knowledge, and this week's game (taken from the interzonal with notes based on Wade's in the tournament bulletin) illustrates Fischer's capacity to find something new
14 P-QR3 Fischer's improvement. which prepares the space-gaining P-QN4. Spassky chose 14 P-QR4, which is less logical since it opens the QN file for the black queen.
14 NQ1 15 B-B2 P-B3 16 P-QN4 Q-B2 17 B-Q3 N-K2 18 Q-B2 Q-RB1 19 P-QR4 N-Q2 20 Q-N3 N-B5 21 BxN PxB 22 P-B4! Enter the Fischer pawn centre. Black's queen's side is now very cramped. 22… PxBP 23 BxP P-Q4 24 B-Q3 R-N1 25 Q-B3 Q-N3 26 KR-N1 B-R1 27 P-R5 Q-R2 28 P-K5 R-N2 Under pressure, Black sacrifices a pawn, but 28…N-K2 followed by N-B1-K3 was a better chance.
29 QxP BxP 30 QxRP Q-N1 31 B-B2 R-K3 32 Q-Q3 N-B1 33 Q-B5 R-R3 34 N-N3 P-N3 35 QxP(B4) B-B6 36 N-B5 RxP A desperate attempt to stir up complications. If 36…BxR 37 RxB regains the exchange and keeps White two pawns up.
37 NxR RxR 38 RxR N-K3 39 Q-B6! 39 RxB would also win, but the game continuation leads to a forced mate.
39&hellipBxR 40 N-Q6 Q-B2 41 B-xP Q-B8 ch 42 N-K1! QxN ch 43 K-R2 N-N4 44 BxP ch Resigns if 44 … NxB 45 Q-N6 ch and mate follows in a system which Spassky himself introduced into tournament chess.
The pairings for the quarter-final matches in the challengers' series (to tie held in May) are Petrosian v. Hubner, Korchnoi v. Geller. Fischer v. Taimanov. and Larsen v. Uhlmann. If Fischer beats Taimanov he will play Larsen or Uhlmann next. On form 1 look for a Fischer v. Larsen semifinal and a Fischer v. Korchnoi final, and these should prove an interesting hors d'oeuvre for the 1972 world title match.
