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Chess Mon, Jan 3, 1972 – 13 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Chess: Challenge for 1980 by Leonard Barden
The Alekhine Memorial Tournament in Moscow last month was the first major international event in Russia since 1967. Though the Soviet grandmasters took the top seven places, it was a limited success in view of the absence of Fischer, Larsen, Portisch, or Gligoric among the entrants from other countries. There is concern in the Soviet Union about Spassky's modest results during 1971 with the world title match against Fischer approaching Spassky lost to both Petrosian (see this feature, December 20) and to Korchnoi; only a finishing sport gave him a reasonable score of 9½ from the 13 games. A Soviet commentator wrote that “it seems that in most games of the Memorial the world champion's principal aim was training.”
Moscow confirmed Fischer as the favorite for the world title match, but also indicated his most likely challenger around 1980. Anatoly Karpov, aged 20, shared first prize with Stein, ahead of four world champions, in a style reminiscent of the young Botvinnik. Karpov is the most promising Soviet player since Spassky and Tal in the middle fifties, and if he does well this week and next at Hastings it will provide a needed boost to the sagging middle-aged image of Russian chess. This week's games are a selection from Alekhine Memorial.
