AThe Courier-Journal Louisville, Kentucky Sunday, November 07, 1971 - Page 59
The King's Men: Fischer's Opening Game With Taimanov Analyzed by Merrill Dowden
When American grandmaster Bobby Fischer qualified for the quarter-finals of the world challenge series, he was favored by most observers to defeat his Soviet antagonist, Mark Taimanov. But even his most optimistic supporters were hardly prepared for his amazing 6-0 sweep against the Russian grandmaster.
Fischer went on, of course, to another sweep against Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, and in the finals defeated former world champion Tigran Petrosian of the USSR. His convincing win (6½-2½) gives Fischer a shot at the world championship now held by Boris Spassky of Moscow.
Today's game was Fischer's first against Taimanov in the challenge match played at Vancouver, Canada. Taimanov drew White and opened with his beloved 1. P-Q4, and Fischer's answer to that was 1. … N-KB3, setting the stage for the King's Indian Defense.
Fischer Offers a Sacrifice
The game proceeded along book lines until Taimanov played 9. B-Q2, rather than N-K1 or N-Q2, the idea being, presumably, to exploit a weakness at K6 with N-KN5 later on.
With 24. … N-N3, Fischer offered the sacrifice of the exchange, which Taimanov declined. The Russian's 25. N-Q4 (see diagram) has been questioned by no less an authority than American grandmaster Robert Byrne, who points out that this move allows Black to diminish pressure on his game. Byrne suggests 25. Q-KN3 would have developed far harder problems for Fischer to solve.
