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Chess Mon, Nov 22, 1971 – 19 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Chess: Opening of the Champions by Leonard Barden
While Dr. Euwe, president of the International Chess Federation conducts a dignified auction venues among Rio de Janeiro, Zurich and Bogota for next spring's world title match, Spassky and Fischer are backed by miniature armies of helpers. Already the respective trainers, seconds, and opening assistants will be delving into dusty and yellowing tournament bulletins for complete details of the opposing contender's style and repertory. The bulging dossiers in both New York and Moscow will surely include thick wads of variations on an opening which has already figured in two of the six previous encounters between Spassky and Fischer.
The pawn exchange in the Grunfeld Defence (1. P-Q4, N-KB3; 2. P-QB4 P-KN3; 3. N-QB3 P-Q4; 4. PxP). Fischer's favourite reply to the queen's pawn, is one of the obvious battlefields in the match. Fischer got an equal opening in Santa Monica, 1966, and even the better position in last year's world team championship; but Spassky squeezed out a win from a tiny endgame advantage in California, while in the team event game he notched the full point in spite of a dubious speculative pawn sacrifice.
Grandmaster opinion has it that Spassky will hardly dare push his luck a third time. The spice of this situation has already stimulated other players to try to anticipate any possible discovery. Novelty and innovation in chess is, in particular, a challenge to youth. It is no accident that two recent games quoted this week in the 'Spassky v. Fischer Grunfeld' both come from junior internationals—one a tournament in Hungary, the other the world under-20 championship in Athens.
