AThe Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, March 18, 1962 - Page 98
Chess by Isaac Kashdan 18 Mar 1962, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Fischer Tops Field; Benko May Qualify
An announced last week, Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn won going away against a powerful field in the interzonal tournament in Stockholm. He drew his last round game with Wolfgang Uhlmann of East Germany to bring his final score to 17½-4½.
Fischer retained his remarkable margin of 2½ points, with second prize shared at 15-7 by two Soviet grandmasters, Ewfim Geller and Tigran Petrosian. Each of them drew in the last round, while Petrosian took a previously adjourned game with Eugenio German of Brazil.
Tied for fourth, with totals of 14-8, were Miroslav Filip of Czechoslovakia and Victor Korchnoi of Russia. The top five were all assured of entertaining the candidates' tournament, which will be played May and June in Curacao, Netherlands West Indies.
The sixth place for the candidates' event rests between Pal Benko of New York and Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia. They tied at 13½-8½ with Leonid Stein of the Soviet Union, but the latter was eliminated by a special ruling of the International Chess Federation to prevent too many entrants from the same nation.
Former world champion Mikhail Tal of Latvia and Paul Keres of Estonia were seeded into the candidates' tournament, and will presumably be major obstacles to Fischer's further progress to the world championship title.
Following is the final standing of the players, and games from the tournament.
Stockholm Statistics
For our statistically minded readers, here are some facts and figures that may be of interest. Outstanding is Fischer's score, which is virtually 80% an amazing record for a tournament of this strength, especially considering that he reached his 19th birthday on March 12 [sic: 9th].
Fischer did not lose a game, winning 13 and drawing nine. He was a consistent scorer, winning six points of his first seven, another six of his next seven, and 5½ of his final eight, which included his four Russian opponents.
Geller, on the other hand, was a most erratic performer. He took three points in his first six games, then nine of his next 10, including a winning streak of six games, then eased off with three points of his last six.
Petrosian did not lose a game, but drew 14 while winning eight. He drew right down the line with everyone in the first 10 in the standing.
If only the games among the players in the first column were considered, the results would have been quite different. Fischer would then have tied with Geller at 7-4. The difference in the total standing is that Fischer gained 10½ points against the bottom 11 players where Geller picked up only eight points.
In fact, the only draw Fischer allowed against that group was against Rudolph Teschner of West Germany in the very first round. This is reminiscent of Tal, who is deadly against all but the very top echelon.
Considering only the first 12 players, Petrosian would have been third with 6½-4½, followed by Korchnoi and Uhlmann with 6-5, and Gligoric with 5½-5½. Others in the group would have been Benko, Filip and Portisch, 5-6 Pomar and Stein, 4½-6½, and Olafsson, 4-7.
Of the second division players the oddest score is that of Cuellar, who gained 2½ points against the five leaders, and three points of his remaining 17. The dubious honor of the least number of wins was earned by Bertok, just one, against Cuellar.
Bisguier was in poor form, perhaps as a result of several tournaments in succession. He did not win a game from anyone above him in the standing, and scored but 1½ points from the first 10.
