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Training for Fischer Mon, Nov 1, 1971 – 19 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Chess: Training for Fischer
The 1972 world championship match is still six months away, but Spassky has already begun to train for the difficult job of keeping the Russian monopoly of the title against the American challenge from Fischer. Any published games by Spassky from now on will be dissected under the microscope of Fischer and his analytical team, while the Russians will be looking for weaknesses in the challenger's play against Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian.
This week's game, won by Spassky in the recent Russian team championship, is particularly interesting in the ccontext of the 1972 match. Spassky plays White in a variation known to be a favourite of Fischer with Black, and Spassky's opponent Stein (deliberately?) chooses an inferior move. The commentators, and Fischer himself, are left to speculate whether Spassky will adopt the same system with White next spring, or whether the game, and Spassky's rather easy win, is just a card in a sophisticated exercise in long range chess poker.
