Kingsport Times Kingsport, Tennessee Friday, October 08, 1971 - Page 2
World's Chess Masters Tied At 1½ Games Each
Buenos Aires (UPI)—Former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union accepted a draw with America's Bobby Fischer Thursday to keep their candidates tournament series even after three matches.
Each now has one victory and the draw, giving them one and one-half points. Fischer won the first match last week and Petrosian the second three days ago. Their next match is Tuesday.
Winner of the tournament, scheduled for 12 games, will challenge world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union for the the title.
The 42-year-old Russian, world champion from 1963 to 1969, and Fischer drew after 33 moves because of a three-time repetition of moves. Petrosian was dangerously close to running out of time—he had only three minutes left to make seven moves—and made quick defensive moves in an effort to reach the 40 required in the two and one-half hours.
Both had the same number of pieces remaining, a queen, a rook and five pawns.
By that time, Fischer's offensive had practically vanished and Petrosian had achieved a slight positional advantage with a better pawn formation on queen side promising favorable possibilities for the ending.
Fischer, playing white, opened the game with the king's pawn and employed a Rubinstein attack. Petrosian countered with a French defense.
The first crucial decision came at the 13th move, when Petrosian retreated a bishop, preferring to control diagonally rather than trade for one of Fischer's rooks.
With the 14th move Fischer went on the offense, with Petrosian building a wall around his castled king.
The clearing point came on the 23rd move when Petrosian opted for a rook exchange, which Fischer accepted.
In the next four moves, Fischer captured the Russian's rook, a pawn, a knight and a bishop. Petrosian took Fischer's rook, a bishop and a knight.
After the 29th move, both began jockeying for position with only a rook, five pawns, and their queens left on the board.
At that point, Petrosian and Fischer reached a draw and a repetition of moves and they shook hands while a capacity crowd of 1,200 gave them a standing ovation.
Caption: Heavyweight Match—Bobby Fischer (right) of the United States, and former world chess champion Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union contemplate strategy in the second of their semifinal games for the world championship. The winner of the 12-game series will play the current world champion. (UPI Photo)
