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Chess 10 Oct 1959, Sat The Montreal Star (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.comLet's Play Chess
U.S. Prodigy Defeats Estonian Grand Master for Third Time
By William Oaker
Paul Keres, of Estonia, who led the Challengers Tourney, in Yugoslavia, for 14 rounds, has finally give way to Mikhail Tal, of the USSR.
The 22-year-old Tal, who has twice won the championship of Russia, the first time at the age of 19, jumped into the lead in the 15th and 16th rounds, taking advantage of Keres' loss to 16-year-old Bobby Fischer of the U.S.A.
Standings after 16 rounds are as follows.
These last two rounds have both contained upsets, proving that there are no weak players in this event. The difference in strength between the first and last is barely perceptible, and only a long, drawn-out event such as this, would tend to reveal it.
Boy prodigy Bobby Fischer once again dumped the mighty Keres, this marks the third time that Bobby has caused the experienced Grandmaster to turn down his king, as against only one loss.
Fridrik Olafsson's defeat of Petrosian, in the 16th round is even more remarkable, since experts have agreed that this game is one of the finest contests played during the past decade. No, there are definitely no players who can be taken for granted in this tournament. Incidentally, this game lasted over 10 hours, before Petrosian surrendered.
There are still 12 rounds to go.