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Chess Sat, Nov 13, 1971 – 26 · The Lompoc Record (Lompoc, California) · Newspapers.com
While the chess world waits impatiently for details of the upcoming title match between world champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and Bobby Fischer, America's greatest chess talent, it might be profitable to review some of the recent match games.
Although White always has the first move and is supposed to gain a certain initial advantage from that fact, it is Black who usually sets the character of the opening. The Sicilian becomes that when Black plays 1. … P-QB4 in answer to P-K4 and then follows through to take advantage of the open file that occurs after the exchange of Pawns.
It was stated last week that the Sicilian continues to dominate grandmaster play, and there appears to be a growing interest in the opening. Six of the 15 games played in the matches between Fischer on the one hand and Bent Larsen of Denmark and Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union on the other were Sicilian openings. Fischer had the Black pieces in two of the six games, one against each of his opponents. Against Petrosian he drew and against Larsen, he won. Both wins had one thing in common besides the outcome: Fischer, with Black, fianchettied his King Bishop. In both games, also, White — first Larsen and some weeks later, Petrosian — opened with 1) P-QB4 and came in on the other words a transposition. The games were identical through the sixth move . . .
In the win against Larsen Fischer captured the Knight after White's 7) B-K2; and in the draw with Petrosian, Fischer captured the Knight after White's 7) P-B3.
Isaac Kashdan of the Los Angeles Times provided the details that make this analysis possible.
It is interesting to note that Fischer played 1) P-K4 each of the eight times he had White in the two matches. The practice duplicated his performance in the Second Piatigorsky Cup which was held in Santa Monica in 1966.
To sum up, Fischer plays P-K4 on the opening move when he has White; and when he has Black in the Sicilian he fianchettis his KB usually several moves after he has moved P-KN3. (For the uninitiated, a fianchetti occurs when either White or Black plays P-QN3 or P-KN3 and then follows thereafter with the appropriate Bishop to N2.)
In the Tenth Edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO) Larry Evans (Page 186) calls the early fianchetto “A recent development…)”
Naturally, the Black's fianchettied Bishop sets up a thrust of potential power diagonally across the board bisecting White's Q4 on the way.
I don't know if I pointed out the fact at the time, but Thomas Stuermer was experimenting hard with early fianchettis when he was transferred from the area. (That was the White pieces, however).
THe main thing is to roll with the punch so to speak. No pat series of moves will work invariably against varying moves by the opponent.
