AThe Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Wednesday, May 26, 1971 - Page 21
World Chess - Taimanov Marks Time-Again by Paul Raugust
Russia's Mark Taimanov, for the fourth straight game, asked for an adjournment of play Tuesday night in his world championship elimination match with Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Playing at the University of B.C. Student Union Building, the Soviet grandmaster halted play after 40 completed moves. It is to be resumed this afternoon.
Fischer, who leads the match three games to none, opened with P-K4 that set up a Sicilian Defense that had a striking resemblance to the second game in the match, the only other time Fischer played white prior to Tuesday.
At the adjournment the American held a slight edge in board strength by virtue of a bishop over a knight. The players were even in pawns, at six each, a rook each and of course the kings, with the only difference being Fischer's bishop over Taimanov's knight.
The earlier Sicilian Defense lasted more than 9½ hours in three days of play halting on the 88th move.
In Tuesday's game, Fischer pressed a strong attack from the outset, and took advantage of a serious Taimanov miscue on the 16th move that resulted in Fischer's holding the bishop over the knight.
From then on Fischer consolidated his position, trying down black's knight and king behind the queen-side pawns and leaving him little room to maneuver.
Taimanov received criticism from his play from one of his own countrymen. Alexander Kotov, of the Russian Chess Federation, said both players are making serious mistakes. In his opinion Taimanov should have won two games and drawn the third.
He said Taimanov “played terrible” in Tuesday's game, although he faulted Fischer for not taking a pawn in the early stages which would have given him a certain winning hand.
Kotov will have certainly put his ample analytical talents to use overnight to find the best course of attack for Taimanov today.
Fischer also will have had an expert available for analysis overnight. His second Larry Evans, a three-time U.S. champion and twice a Canadian open champion, arrived in Vancouver Tuesday afternoon.
In Las Palmas, grandmasters Bent Larsen of Denmark and Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany adjourned their seventh game on the 42nd move.
Larsen, playing white, started with a Reti opening. Uhlmann opposed with a variation of the New York defense. The game will be finished this afternoon.
Larsen leads the standings with four points to two. Winner of the match meets the winner of the Vancouver match. The competition is being held to decide who meets world champion Boris Spassky of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow next year.
