AThe Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Saturday, May 29, 1971 - Page 31
World Chess Match - Queen Checks King and Crowns Russian by Paul Raugust
U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeated Mark Taimanov of the USSR for the fifth consecutive game Friday to pull within half a point of winning the world chess championship quarter-final match with the Soviet grandmaster.
The victory, on a surprisingly bad move by Taimanov, came with only eight minutes showing on the clock after it was resumed from Taimanov.
Fischer, laughing with joy, jumped off stage and accepted the congratulations of U.S. Chess Federation vice-president Ed Edmondson while the small audience of about 60 persons looked about in bewilderment. Some didn't realize what had happened until Fischer had left the University of B.C. auditorium.
Most of the fans had come to the game prepared for another drawn-out end game. It had adjourned Thursday on a similar note to an earlier game that had lasted 88 moves and that took over 9½ hours of playing time over three days.
Speed is not one of the characteristics of the Taimanov-Fischer games.
When play started Friday, Taimanov evened the strength of the two sides at two pawns, a bishop, rook, queen and king each. That was on his 42nd move; five moves later it was all over.
After trading bishops, Taimanov left his king vulnerable by taking a pawn with his rook. Fischer, as if in disbelief, stood up and looked at the audience, shrugged his shoulders and resumed play with a check from his queen, a move Taimanov had obviously miscalculated.
The Soviet grandmaster resigned without further play. He could have delayed the inevitable checkmate by sacrificing his rook, but the outcome was in no doubt.
Taimanov has lost three times while playing white and twice with black. The match is to be resumed Tuesday with Fischer enjoying the advantages of white.
A member of the Soviet Chess Federation, Aleksandr Kotov, said Taimanov, 46, will not concede the match. He blamed Taimanov's poor record on his physical condition. One game had to be postponed on doctor's orders because of Taimanov's high blood pressure.
The match is one of four being held at various locations around the world to decide a challenger for world champion Boris Spassky of Moscow.
