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Chess by Isaac Kashdan Sun, Nov 14, 1971 – 114 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
Changes Made In World Title Series
Now that Bobby Fischer of the U.S. has soundly defeated Tigran Petrosian of the Soviet Union, there is only one step left in the long cycle of events leading to a match for the world chess championship.
It will be Fischer and titleholder Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a 24-game encounter sometime next spring. Most experts expect Fischer to win. If so he will be the first American to rule the chess world in over 100 years, and the first non-Russian since 1948.
With this cycle on the way to completion, plans are already set for the next three-year series. Zonal tournaments will be held in 1972 in various areas throughout the world, as the first qualifying events. This is now a traditional procedure, with no changes contemplated.
A number of amendments were made in the following events, however, at the annual meeting of the International Chess Federation held recently in Vancouver.
These were the result of criticisms by Fischer and other grandmasters as to the length of the Interzonal Tournament and the arrangements of the following elimination matches.
There will now be two Interzonal Tournaments of 16 players each, instead of the previous 24 players in a single event. Thus each tournament will have 15 rounds instead of the former 23.
The 32 participants will be selected as follows: 17 from the zonal tournaments; six non-finalists from the previous Candidates Matches; the world junior champion, and eight additional players to be seeded by a special committee appointed for that purpose.
The six non-finalists are the ones eliminated in the series this year, including Eufim Geller, Victor Korchnoi and Mark Taimanov of the Soviet Union, Robert Huebner of West Germany, Bent Larsen of Denmark and Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany.
The junior champion position will go to either Werner Hug of Switzerland, winner this year, or Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union, the 1970 champion. They are to play a six game match.
The committee to select the other eight players will be headed by Dr. Max Euwe, president of the world body. The other members are Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union, Miguel Najdorf of Argentina, Petar Trifunovic of Yugoslavia and this editor.
Our task will be difficult because of the number of qualified grandmasters to be considered. Recent tournament and match records must be weighed, as well as their standings in the latest Elo rating list.
Once the 32 qualifiers are known, the committee must assign them to the two sections of the Interzonal, which should be as equal in strength as possible. This could be another weighty problem.
The top three in each Interzonal will advance to the Candidates' Matches. They will be joined by Petrosian and the loser of the Fischer-Spassky match. Thus there will again be eight finalists for the match series.
The number of games in the matches will now be very indefinite, as Fischer's request that draws not be counted was adopted. The victor will be the one who first wins a specific number of games.
For the quarter-final matches, three wins will suffice; for the semi-finals, four wins, and for the finals, five wins, with draws not to be counted.
For the championship match, six wins will be required to gain or to keep the title. The present protection for the champion, that he can tie the match and retain the title, will no longer be possible.
Chess by Isaac Kashdan Sunday, November 14, 1971 The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Times Problem 4099 by A....
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Times Problem 4099 by A. Grim. White mates in three. The keymove is obvious in today's problem, but there are good variations, with two self-blocks and four model mates.
FEN n7/r1p5/r4PNp/1np2k2/p2p1N2/2p2Q2/8/K7 w - - 0 1
Key: P-B7, Threat, 2. P-B8-Qch; If R-KB3, 2. Q-R3ch; If N-Q3, 2. N-K6ch; If P-B3, 2. P-B8-N
