ANew York Times, New York, New York, Monday, June 04, 1962 - Page 26
Chess: Pin That Fischer Unstuck May Cost Korchnoi a Title
In the twelfth round of the current Candidates' Tournament at Curaçao, Victor Korchnoi of the Soviet Union was the victim of an aberration while designing a delayed capture, a finesse, against Bobby Fischer of the United States.
The finesse had a flaw that was quite obvious. Korchnoi technically pinned Fischer's knight, often a telling tactic; but in case it did not work because Fischer could sidestep the pin and escape with an extra piece.
This mistake may cost the Soviet player dearly. At the time of the error, Korchnoi had the better of the position, was a pawn ahead, and, to boot, was tied with Ewfim Geller and Tigran Petrosian for the lead in the tournament. His subsequent loss dropped him a full point behind the leaders.
It is pertinent to say that a grand master seldom makes such a mistake, raising the question whether there is such a thing as “bad luck.” But such things are all in the game; they happen to everybody.
Psychological Blunder?
Was it not possible that Korchnoi's blunder was to some extent psychologically generated by the pressure of Fischer's resistance, even by Fischer's very presence on the other side of the board?
If the miscalculation does, in the end, deprive Korchnoi of the point needed to outscore the other contestants and challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the world championship, it will be a most expensive error. For, at best it cannot be wiped out for three years and only then by going through the complete cycle of challenging for the championship again by playing in qualifying, interzonal and candidates tournaments. Chess can be a cruel, punishing pursuit.
Aside from the outright error, there were, of course, other aspects to the game. White's 9 P-B5 unbalanced the pawn position and saddled Black with a vulnerable queen pawn. To complete his development, moreover, Black had to transfer a knight to a most awkward post. Before long, Black's queen knight pawn became an easy target and fell to a concentration of forces. After the gain of the vital pawn, White indulged in the unnecessary finesse. And the rest is history.
