ANew York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, May 27, 1962 - Page 326
Chess: Foresight Across A Board
“The fifth-round game from the Curaçao Candidates' Tournament 1962 (below) between Bobby Fischer, United States, and Victor Korchnoi, Soviet Union, may throw some additional light on the original question—how far ahead does the chess master see?
Fischer, as usual, begins with 1 P-K4, indicating a desire for lively, wide-open play. Korchnoi attempts to contain him with the unexpected Yugoslav Defense 1 . . ., P-Q3, a hypermodern idea, presaging a delayed fight for the center. White's 4 P-B4 is a bid for the classic center build-up, preparing for a timely P-K5. Its drawback, however, is the loosening up of White's king position, particularly along the diagonal, White's KKt1-QR7. In fact, Black's 6 . . ., P-B4 begins the exploitation of this very diagonal, which becomes more apparent on Black's 8 . . ., QxP ch.
The play, up to and including Black's twelfth, is a clash of opening ideas. White's 13 P-Kt4, intending a king side assault, however, is an outright blunder. Two moves later, Black exposes its fault with 15 . . ., KtxP, threatening simultaneously the capture of a knight and rook, recovering his piece. It is likely that White saw all of this and expected to counter with the tactical finesse, 16 Q-Q1. For then, when 16 . . . QxKt 17 R-R3 seems to recover the piece. But actually it does not. 17 . . ., Q-B5, attacking White's loose rook decides. In this case, Black saw one move further ahead than his opponent. And it was enough.
—
After Fischer's disastrous start at Curaçao, with losses to Benko and Geller, the young American star did not lose courage. With tenacity, in a long third-round battle of attrition with Miroslav Filip of Czechoslovakia, he gained a point on the sixty-sixth move. At many stages of the game, both before and after adjournment, both players would have been justified in offering and accepting a draw. It was Fischer's superior alertness and will to win, rather than any theoretical maneuvering that gradually exhausted the opponent's resources.
This was the first game in which Fischer had White. He essayed the Ruy Lopez, one of the oldest and most thoroughly analyzed openings, and one which undoubtedly grants a lasting initiative. Filip, to his credit survived the obstacles of all phases of the game, particularly those that required thinking ahead. When the thinking was reduced to the move-to-move basis, Filip faltered.
