AThe Province Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Friday, May 07, 1971 - Page 31
World Chess Championships — Qualifying Round To Be Fought Here by Paul Raugust
On the eve of the Candidates Matches of the world chess championships, many experts are predicting that the current round will end the Soviet Union's long domination of the game.
U.S. grandmaster Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, N.Y., who meets Russia's Mark Taimanov in one of the quarter-final matches at the University of B.C. starting Thursday, is being touted as the strongest threat to the Soviets since the competitions started after the Second World War.
Three other Russians are in the quarter-finals, to be played at various locations this year. The winner of the Candidates Matches wins the right to meet world champion Boris Spassky of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow in 1972.
Bozidar Kazic of Yugoslavia has been named chief arbiter for the Vancouver match, to be held at UBC's Graduate Centre. The match is expected to continue for at least three weeks.
Kazic, writing in Chess Life and Review, said after the Majorca tournament which determined the quarter-finalists last year:
“Fischer is a unique figure in the history of chess, the most talented player American has produced since Paul Morphy. He is described as the genius the like of which appear but once in a century. But at the same time he is the most controversial figure of contemporary chess.”
The remarks about controversy surrounding Fischer are based on the strict restrictions the 27-year-old American insists on for his matches. Among these are that competitions end at sundown Fridays and not resume until sundown Saturdays, based on religious reasons, and that the public be excluded from the room in which the competition is played.
The Canadian Chess Federation, will, however, transmit the action to an adjacent room in the Graduate Centre to which the public is invited.
Fischer regards this the most crucial period in his career. Kazic quotes him as saying:
“I believe it will now be for the first time that both finalists in the Candidates Matches are not from the Soviet Union. I don't think that Taimanov in our group can defeat both me and Larsen (Bent Larsen of Denmark who Fischer expects to advance to the semi-finals and meet the winner of the Fischer-Taimanov match.)
Kazic says that in the event Fischer becomes the new world champion there may be complications because of the various conditions Fischer would make.
Fischer conceded that he “would ask that the system of Candidates Matches be changed so that they would really show the relative strength of the two players. I would suggest that the matches should be won by the player who first wins six games, drawn games not counting.
“At present the matches are short, and if a player should win a game by luck, this would be a big handicap for the other player in a short match. Also I would suggest that the match for the world title should consist of a fixed number of victories, with draws not counting.”
In the past Fischer has accused the Soviet grandmasters of playing as a team in individual tournaments.
Mark Taimanov is reportedly pleased at having been matched against Fischer.
Kazic said “Taimanov is going into battle with Fischer with complete self-confidence. He feels that after so much praise and glorification of Fischer's successes, the match with the American grandmaster will be an extraordinary chance to become famous by defeating the hitherto unsurpassed Fischer. At any rate, he is an opponent against whom one has everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
“Larsen has no chance in the forthcoming competition,” Taimanov is quoted as saying. “Fischer certainly is a great danger and it is he who has the best chances. But a struggle lies ahead …”
One Soviet grandmaster said of Fischer: “He is a great fighter, a genius of the chess struggle. He knows no mild draws, his opponent must win the draw because he concedes none. Fischer does not agree to a draw even when the outcome is quite clear. … He is a great fighter and a good psychologist. Only his repertoire of openings is limited.”
Tournament Schedule
Following is a list of dates of rounds to be played at UBC:
Rounds are scheduled for May 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30, and June 2, with the final round scheduled for June 4.
The match will be over when one player reached 5½ points. If at the end of 10 rounds the score is tied 5-5 the first win in extension rounds decides the match.
Sessions will be played at the Graduate Centre starting at 4:30 p.m. except on Fridays when they will be held at the Penthouse of the Angus Building and start at 2:30 p.m. That time also holds true for the May 31 round. Tickets are $1 per session or $5 for a match pass.
