Chess 10 Jan 1960, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
Chess Notebook
By Lyman Burgess
Bobby Fischer won his third successive United States championship tournament last week. Fischer's victory was clinched before his last round game with Samuel Reshevsky when the latter lost his adjourned eighth round game to Arnold Denker. Reshevsky had previously lost to Herbert Seidman in an early round, and so had trailed Fischer by half a point throughout the tournament.
At least two famous masters are reported to have withdrawn from the title event in support of Fischer's protest against non-public drawings. Whatever placating of the Fischer wrath was done by the promoters to lure him back to the fold was, it seems, not used on his supporters, who were either left in the lurch or are made of sterner stuff.
The Argentine chess federation plans another tournament at Mar del Plata in March. Fischer will be invited again. Last year he tied for third place in this traditionally strong international event. The sponsors hope to lure Miguel Najdorf back from Venezuela and to have at least one Russian competitor. The 1960 Mar del Plata should be a fine showcase for the newly crowned Argentine champion, Bernardo Wexler.
The terror of “Western” chessmasters, Mikhail Tal, ran into trouble in home territory when he finished fourth in a Baltic tournament held in his home town, Riga. Boris Spassky, Leningrad, was the winner with a score of 11½ to 1½. But the real news was the comeback of V. Mikenas, famous Lithuanian master of the '30s, who finished second, half a point behind the winner. Third spot went to Alexander Tolush, another Leningrader.
One more oddity from the cross-table of play at Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade: Take the scores of the Russians versus the Russians and the finish was 1, Keres 6½; 2-3. Petrosian and Smyslov 6; 4, Tal 5½. Passing strange when one notes that Tal actually won the tournament 1½ points ahead of Keres, 4½ points ahead of Petrosian and 5 points ahead of Smyslov.
Fischer wins from Mednis in the ninth round:
Edmar Mednis vs Robert James Fischer
United States Championship (1959/60), New York, NY USA, rd 9, Dec-29
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Main Line (B99) 0-1
Boylston and Lithuanian played their Met League “A” match, original scheduled Jan. 16, two weeks early. It was a draw, 2½-2½.
