The Guardian London, Greater London, England Monday, October 08, 1962 - Page 4
Botvinnik's drawing chances against Bobby Fischer 08 Oct 1962, Mon The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.comBotvinnik's drawing chances against Bobby Fischer
Varna, Bulgaria, October 7
The world chess champion, Mikhail Botvinnik, played his first game against the American, Bobby Fischer, tonight. After five hours play, Fischer adjourned with four pawns against three in a rook ending, and experts are divided on whether Botvinnik can hold a draw.
Fischer surprised Botvinnik by defending the Queen's pawn with the Grunfeld Defense which he has hardly played previously. The opening followed the standard play of Botvinnik's championship matches with Smyslov, and in the middle game Botvinnik sacrificed a pawn to obtain aggressive squares for his pieces. Fischer defended very well and simplified to a clearly winning ending, but then misplayed it to give Botvinnik drawing chances.
Other results in the Soviet-United States match were a draw between Petrosian and Benko, and a win by the Russian champion Spassky against the American champion Evans. The game between Donald Byrne and Tal is adjourned in an equal position.
In the final B section, England maintained a lead of 1½ points by defeating Sweden 2½-1½.