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Chess by Leonard Barden 17 Jul 1972, Mon The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Chess by Leonard Barden
Prodigy Puzzle
Along with music and mathematics, chess is one of the few fields of achievement where the most highly gifted children can take part on equal terms with experienced adults. International chess is, however, more than an abstract skill where genius can shine without a grounding in practical life: it is (and was so even before Fischer came along) a tough rat-race dominated by professionals, which is probably now too tough for prodigies.
I am personally skeptical whether the successful pre-adolescent prodigies of the past would make anything like the same impression if they were reincarnated in present-day tournaments. Morphy, who defeated the master Lowenthal when 12, Capablanca, Cuban champion at 12, and Reshevsky who made a successful European tour when 8, would find their talents blunted not by the arsenal of opening theory (prodigies can swot up the Ruy Lopez faster than most) but by the sheer physical demands of a five-hour playing session with an opponent pushing hard throughout. Spassky's comment that the younger player in a match should “keep the fight going all the way until lonely kings” is widely accepted and practiced by the 20 to 25-year-old masters who provide the backbone of the international circuit.
Fischer's career supports the argument in spite of his winning the United States championship at 14. Bobby was a rapid adolescent develop rather than a prodigy; at 12, he was an also-ran in the US junior and his great improvement in the next two years coincided with fast physical growth and a hungry appetite for rye bread, hamburgers, and cokes (the last now changed to orange and apple juice). Spassky also only began to beat masters when he was growing up and wondering whether to opt for chess or high jumping, while the newest prodigy, Mecking of Brazil, used to wilt in the fifth hour of play when he came to Hastings at 14. A year later, however, he was toughened sufficiently to beat a couple of Russian grandmasters in the world title interzonal.
Arturo Pomar of Spain is a player who never fulfilled his early promise as a prodigy. He drew with Alekhine, then world champion, when only 12 or 13 and Alekhine forecast a great future for him; but Pomar, though a grandmaster, lacks the physical resilience of Fischer and Spassky and has never got near the world title. Maybe the trend is for international chess to become a game for six-foot athletes; this week's game, from the recent Canary Islands tournament, shows Pomar's king chased round the board by an ex-world champion's pieces.
Arturo Pomar Salamanca vs Vasily Smyslov
Las Palmas (1972), Las Palmas ESP, rd 10, Jun-09
Gruenfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack (D82) 0-1
Chess by Leonard Barden 17 Jul 1972, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Chess Solution 17 Jul 1972, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
