The Ottawa Journal Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Saturday, July 10, 1971 - Page 50
World Series Matches - Play starts this week in the second round between survivors of the Challengers K.O. Match Tourney to find an opponent for world champion Boris Spassky in a 1972 title match. Korchnoi, USSR, vs. Petrosian, USSR, at Moscow and Fischer, USA, vs. Larsen, Denmark. Nothing definite at press as to locale, but it is expected to be either Los Angeles or N.Y.
What Are the Odds? - After his overwhelming defeat of Taimanov in the 1st round of the K.O. Challengers Match, the majority expect Bobby Fischer not to have too much trouble defeating Bent Larsen in the second round. But this isn't the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik sees it, as reported in a Russian periodical.
“Fischer is certainly an outstanding player, but from the point of view of strategy not particularly original; he has few ideas of his own. After the return match with Euwe, Alekhine wrote, ‘Euwe had studied widely and deeply when preparing for the match but he created very little that was original.’ To some extent Alekhine's remark also applies to Fischer. In many ways Fischer reminds one of the young Smyslov. I myself came to this view when I was preparing for an encounter with Fischer and a little later I heard the same comment from Tal. Larsen is a great talent and in my view he has real prospects of winning the Challengers' matches. He is a very exact player, full of determination. His drawback is his excessive optimism. From the creative point of view, he is a more complex player than Fischer.”
