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• Robert J. Fischer, 1955 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1956 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1957 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1958 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1959 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1960 ➦
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• Robert J. Fischer, 1965 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1966 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1967 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1968 ➦
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• Robert J. Fischer, 1970 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1971 ➦
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• Robert J. Fischer, 1980 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1981 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1982 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1983 ➦
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• Robert J. Fischer, 1985 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1986 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1987 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1988 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1989 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1990 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1991 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1992 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1993 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1994 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1995 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1996 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1997 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1998 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 1999 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2000 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2001 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2002 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2003 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2004 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2005 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2006 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2007 ➦
• Robert J. Fischer, 2008 ➦
Chess; Stars to Shine as Fischer-Spassky Rematch Takes Shape by Larry Bevand
There it was in black and white.
Last Sunday, while vacationing in Cape Cod, I picked up the Boston Globe and a headline read: Spassky-Fischer Rematch Set.
The article went on to say that the $5-million, nine-game rematch will be played in Yugoslavia, beginning Sept. 2. The winner would pocket two-thirds of the purse while the remaining third would go to the loser.
It has been exactly 20 years since Bobby Fischer, an American, defeated Boris Spassky, a Soviet, to become world champion and put chess on the map. To give you an idea of the impact this match had on chess in this city, the 1972 Quebec Open, held in October, drew 750 participants compared to about 50 in previous years. Fischer has not played since, although he has been offered sums larger than this in the past.
While this is great news, before we get too excited, let's look at this thing a little more closely.
The money has been put up by Jesdimir Vasiljevic, owner of a Serbian bank. He has stated that the match has been organized to defy UN sanctions. (The Security Council has imposed a trade embargo on Yugoslavia.)
The report indicates that Spassky has confirmed he will participate, although there is no mention of Fischer. Spassky has always been a willing participant. This event will make him a millionaire and he could retire from the tournament scene which he no longer enjoys. Fischer, on the other hand, has always been the wild card.
Rumors like this have cropped up on a regular basis since 1972. The encouraging news is that the date mentioned is only a month away. While objectively, I can't see what makes this event more likely to happen than previous proposals, I've still got my fingers crossed.
Of course, a rematch would make everyone a winner as chess might experience another boom. Paramount Pictures, which is presently filming Searching for Bobby Fischer, in Toronto, would have a new ending and an instant success. Who knows, maybe the idea of making a comeback, exactly 20 years later, appeals to Fischer.
From the 1992 Chess Olympiad
Gata Kamsky vs Lajos Portisch
Manila Olympiad (1992), Manila PHI, rd 10, Jun-18
Queen's Indian Defense: Kasparov Variation (E12) 1-0
If you had the task of upstaging the Olympic Games, how would you do it? Start World War III? Convert the Pope to Buddhism? Find a cure for the common cold? Reunite the Beatles? Some of those feats might go close, but with the whole world gripped by Olympics fever, even such monumental achievements would be unlikely to push Barcelona off the front page.
Back in 1972, however, one event did upstage the Olympics, and that was the Fischer-Spassky match for the world chess championship. A quick poll of Melbourne taxi drivers confirmed that while only 53 per cent could recall where the 1972 Olympics were held, 100 per cent claimed to have followed the match in Reykjavik, Iceland, move by move.
(Incidentally, 74 per cent of all Melbourne taxi drivers know somebody who could have given Fischer a rook start and whipped him comfortably. All my attempts to locate a person who knows 74 per cent of Melbourne tax drivers have proved fruitless; if he/she is out there somewhere, please drop me a line.)
There have been numerous Fischer comeback rumors before, but this one has more substance than a weight-lifter, has moved more quickly than Ben Johnson, and holds more water than an Olympic swimming pool. The match is scheduled to begin on 2 September in the Montenegrin resort of Sveti Stefan, and will conclude in Belgrade, according to the sponsor of the match, Serbian banker Jezdimir Vasiljevic.
The 16-page contract includes a clause that allows Fischer to choose a new venue if gunfire can be heard from the venue. Given the proximity to Dubrovnik, and assuming Vasiljevic has as much political clout as money, this could be the break that the UN needs to achieve a lasting ceasefire in the region. Such a contract has the distinct overtones of Bobby Fischer, and it is no secret that Yugoslavia was his preferred site for the 1972 match.
The purse for the match is $US5 million, just half that offered by American film-maker Darney Hoffman for a Fischer-Spassky rematch. Hoffman, however, annoyed the reclusive Fischer by tracking him down while making his film, ‘The Bobby Fischer Story’. That film, when completed, is sure to focus on the 1972 match, in which the following game was crucial.
Trailing by one game, Fischer appears to break every rule of positional chess, ceding the two bishops allowing his king-side pawns to be weakened, giving his opponent a protected passed pawn, and giving himself a backward b-pawn, but still sweeps the then world champion aside.
Gata Kamsky, 17, also proved that ([Fischer was not without supporting evidence]). After winning the USA Championship, he groused: “Even in America, Kasparov tries to stop my talent. He is the Caligula of professional chess. Fischer was poisoned just like me. I was sick almost a whole month when I got home from a tournament in Europe.”
([How selectively forgetful of Larry Evans to omit the reported threats on the life of Robert Fischer by staunchly Pro-Soviet, Anti-American Icelanders.])
Times Problem 3956 by J. Albarda. White mates in three.
FEN 8/8/8/6Q1/3K4/5R2/5NP1/5bk1 w - - 0 1
Key: R-KR3/Rh3
Threat, 2. K-K3; if KxN, 2. Q-K3ch; if B-K7, 2. Q-N3; if BxP, 2. R-R1ch.
Wade Writes Book on Soviet Chess
Many books have been written about chess in Russia. The game has been played there by millions, in Czarist days as well as under the Communists.
The latest and one of the best is SOVIET CHESS by R. G. Wade (David McKay; $7.50). It is a remarkable compilation including many of the finest games, as well as endgame and problem compositions.
Wade starts with the early history of chess in Russia and short biographies of the first masters, of whom Alexander Petroff and Karl Jaenisch were the best known.
Mikhail Tchigorin was by far the greatest of the Russians in the late 19th century. He might have been world champion if it had not been for the Austrian Wilhelm Steinitz.
Alexander Alekhine did become champion, though after leaving Russia in 1922, when the Soviets were in control. He had an enormous influence on Russian chess, despite his exile.
The bulk of the book is devoted to the modern era, in which the Soviets have held the leadership in practically every area of chess since 1948.
The styles and personalities of the super-stars are discussed, with many examples from their games very thoroughly annotated.
There are separate chapters on former world champions Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal, current titleholder Tigran Petrosian, and contenders Paul Keres, David Bronstein and Boris Spassky.
There is a short report on women players, with the Russians predominant here as well. The first women's world champion was Vera Menchik, who was born in Moscow of Czech parents.
Miss Menchik was the only woman of her time who could compete with the men with reasonable success. She had no competition to speak of in her own gender from the time she won the title in 1927 to her death in a bombing attack on London in 1944.
Another woman who may build up a similar record in current champion Nona Gaprindashvilli, now 27, who has held the title since 1963.
The chapters on study composers and problemists have many fascinating examples of the creative artists, as well as reports on the individuals. The solutions are given in full detail.
The book has 288 pages, well printed with many clear diagrams. There is much of interest to the casual reader as well as to the chess student.
The following games are from the book. Though played more than 100 years apart, both are examples of slashing king side attacks after material sacrifices. Curiously, the old time King's Gambit is played in the modern game.
Boris Spassky vs David Bronstein
USSR Championship (1960), Leningrad URS, rd 16, Feb-20
King's Gambit: Accepted. Modern Defense (C36) 1-0
Hoffman (White) vs. Petroff (Black)
Warsaw, 1844
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Ghulam-Kassim Variation
World Title Match
The match for the world championship between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky will start in Moscow on April 14. It will be for the best of 24 games, with Petrosian retaining his title in the event of a tie.
Spassky earned the right to the match as the survivor in a grueling series of elimination matches. He defeated in turn Eufim Geller of the USSR, Bent Larsen of Denmark and Victor Korchnoi of the USSR.
In a previous match between the same antagonists in 1966, Petrosian won by the narrow margin of 12½-11½. Spassky's record in the interval has been considerably superior to Petrosian's, and the challenger will be favored in the return match.
The following game was played last year in a team match in Moscow. Prospects were equal until Petrosian's 34th turn, when he moved his bishop off the defensive diagonal. He evidently had overlooked the curious mating possibility that Spassky quickly forced.
Boris Spassky vs Tigran V Petrosian
10th Soviet Team-ch final A (1967), Moscow URS, rd 3, Jul-30
French Defense: Classical. Burn Variation (C11) 1-0
Armed Forces Chess
The Army team won the Armed Forces Chess Championship for the third year in succession in the tournament played in the American Legion Hall of Flags in Washington, D.C.
The Army totalled 53 points to the Air Force's 45½ and Sea Services 9½. The three winners were all army men, Pfc. Charles W. Powell, 11-1; SP4 Michael J. Senkiewicz, 10½-1½, and SP5 Walter P. Cunningham, 10-2.
Powell's only loss, to Roy H. Hoppe of the Air Force, was one of the most interesting games of the tournament. White's control of the king file was the major factor. His knight penetrated, and when this was captured, the passed pawn advanced decisively.
Roy H. Hoppe, Air Force vs. Pfc. Charles W. Powell, Army
English Opening: Great Snake Variation
Chess Club Notes
The Tornado Tournament at the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club had 80 entrants, probably a national record for this type of one day event.
The players were divided into two groups, based on ratings. A four way tie resulted in the higher rated group. Mike Leidner, Steven Spencer, Ross Stoutenborough and Ken Hense all had scores of 3½-½. Ron Singerman won the other group with 4-0, followed by Victor Lopez, 3½-½.
The tournament was co-sponsored by the Systems Development Corp., which has a number of interested chess players, and the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club.
Leo Kupersmith scored a perfect 5-0 to win the 30-5 tournament at the Herman Steiner Chess Club, 8371 Beverly Blvd. Robert Jacobs was second with 4-1, and Joe Mego was third with 3½-1½.
The Tanglewood Chess Club, which meets at 8 p.m. Mondays at 4647 Larwin in Cypress, recently completed its open tournament, it was a round robin event run in two categories.
In the first category the winner was C. Gomez, followed by B. Kreul and L. Roberts. R. Seifert topped the second category, with B. McElroy second and R. Gillham third.
The recently organized Orange Chess Club meets twice a week, 7 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m. Saturdays, at the clubhouse in Orange City Park on S. Glassell. Visitors are welcome.
Fischer Tops List Of USCF Ratings
The annual rating list of the U.S. Chess Federation appeared in the January issue of Chess Life, the official publication of the federation.
Bobby Fischer, though no longer U.S. champion, still heads the list by a wide margin, as he has for some years. His current mark is 2745, down somewhat from the 2762 of a year ago, which was the highest rating ever established in the history of the U.S. rating system.
Fischer did not participate in any American tournaments last year, but showed his good form by convincing victories in three international master events, in Skopje and Vincovci, Yugoslavia, and in Netanya, Israel.
The loss of a few rating points evidently indicates that Fischer's strong performance was still not up to the extraordinary mark he had established in prior years.
Second on the current list is a foreigner, Bent Larsen of Denmark, who joined the USCF to enter and win the U.S. Open Championship in Aspen, Colorado last summer. His rating of 2668 was earned mainly in international tournaments, in which he has been highly successful in the last two years.
Current U.S. champion Larry Evans is in third place with a rating of 2628, a good advance over the 2593 he had the year before. Evans won the title by the fine score of 8½-2½ last July, but Fischer did not participate.
Former champion Samuel Reshevsky, one of the oldest of the active players, maintained his position near the top with a rating of 2593, up a few points from last year's 2585.
Reshevsky was the only American to qualify for the series of matches to determine a challenger for the world championship. He was eliminated by Victor Korchnoi of the USSR.
Other leaders, with little relative change in the standings, are: Pal Benko, 2588; Robert Byrne, 2550; William Lombardy, 2545; Donald Byrne, 2499; Arthur Bisguier, 2494, and Bernard Zuckerman, 2464.
Mikhail Tal vs Bukhuti Gurgenidze
USSR Championship (1968/69), Alma-Ata (Almaty) URS, rd 12, Jan-19
Caro-Kann Defense: Gurgenidze Counterattack (B15) 1-0
David Bronstein vs Mikhail Tal
6th Soviet Team Cup (1968), Riga URS, rd 2, Dec-12
King's Gambit: Falkbeer Countergambit. Charousek Gambit Main Line (C32) 1-0
Vasily Smyslov vs Vladimir M Liberzon
6th Soviet Team Cup (1968), Riga URS, rd 11, Dec-23
English Opening: King's English Variation. Hungarian Attack (A25) 1-0
Rafail Klovsky vs Iivo Nei
6th Soviet Team Cup (1968), Riga URS, rd 3, Dec-13
French Defense: Winawer. Advance Variation General (C16) 1-0
Paul Keres vs Vladas Mikenas
6th Soviet Team Cup (1968), Riga URS, rd 6, Dec-17
Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation (B02) 1-0
Panno Tops Najdorf In Argentine Tourney
The strongest tournament of the year in South America was held in Buenos Aires, Argentine, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Y.M.C.A. Chess Club in that city.
With four grandmasters in the 12-man round robin, competition was keen, especially for the top prize. Going down to the wire were Oscar Panno and Miguel Najdorf, with the former just beating out his older rival.
Panno won eight games, drew two and lost to Samuel Schweber for a total of 9-2.
Najdorf also lost only once, to Miguel Quinteros, while drawing three and winning seven, to win up with 8½-2½.
Schweber, who was the only undefeated player in the event, but won only two games while drawing nine, tied for third place with Hector Rossetto. Each finished with 6½-4½.
Other final standings were: Quinteros, 6-5; Vicente Palermo and Jorge Rubinetti, 5½-5½; Raimundo Garcia, 5-6; Carlos Guimard, 4½-6½; Raul Ocampo, 3½-7½; Alberto Foguelman, 3-8, and Oscar Cuasnicu, 2½-8½.
Najdorf outplayed Quinteros in the early part of their game, gaining a strong passed pawn. Then came a curious error.
With his 26th move Najdorf allowed Quinteros to give up a second pawn, which put Najdorf's bishop completely out of play. Quinteros took full advantage by opening lines in the center. Najdorf finally decided to give up the bishop, but this did not help.
Najdorf's best game was against Rossetto. He developed an attack against the black king, and carried it through in classical sacrificial style.
The games follow, with others from the tournament:
'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains:
“What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy.
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace.
Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws -- https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos
After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks.
This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.
March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008
The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.
Chess 01 Aug 1992, Sat The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
