The Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, November 14, 1971 - Page 56
The King's Men: Fischer-Larsen Series Is Annotated by Byrne by Merrill Dowden
The chess world has not yet recovered from Bobby Fischer's incredible 6-0 sweep over Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen in the semifinals of the Candidates' Matches.
Since then, of course, Fischer has gone on to defeat former world champion Tigran Petrosian to qualify for a shot at the title now held by Petrosian's compatriot, Boris Spassky. The championship match will take place next spring.
Writing in Chess Life and Review, American grandmaster Robert Byrne says that in the Fischer-Larsen match, “the Fischer play is at once creative and virtually free from errors. Scarcely less impressive is the consistent success he has had with his openings repertoire. He seems to avoid any real trouble with Black and almost always has something going for him with White.”
Fischer opened the first game with the inevitable 1. P-K4 and Larsen replied with 1. … P-K3, setting up the French Defense. Byrne, who annotated the series, called the French “an excellent choice of defense against Fischer, since he does not handle the close game with quite the same peak of brilliance that he gives to wide open games.”
On the other hand, Byrne points out, Larsen had not employed the French for several years and could hardly acquire a perfect feel for it, even considering the intensive months of analysis he must have spent preparing for the match.
DIAGRAM CAPTION: Here's how the Fischer-Larsen Game No. 1 stood after Larsen's 16. … N-N3. How does the American grandmaster reply?
(a) Byrne points out that 17. B-R5 is much stronger than QxNP, which could be answered by O-O-O. But if now … O-O-O, then 18. QxRP, forcing the exchange of Queens, without which the king cannot stand.
(b) Larsen surrenders two places for a Rook in hopes of anchoring a Rook on the seventh rank. If 24. … QxP; 25. Q-Q6ch K-N4; 26. P-R4ch, KxP; 27. Q-B4 mate.
Robert James Fischer vs Bent Larsen
Fischer - Larsen Candidates Semifinal (1971), Denver, CO USA, rd 1, Jul-06
French Defense: Winawer. Advance Variation (C19) 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044346
