AThe Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, September 02, 1962 - Page 17
Fischer Vs. The Russians
In the Aug. 20 issue of Sports Illustrated appears an article by American grandmaster Bobby Fischer entitled “The Russians Have Fixed World Chess.”
Fischer asserts that the system set up to determine a challenger for the world championship ensures that a Russian will win the preliminary tournament. Thus the match for the title will be between Russians, and they can keep the title forever.
Fischer states his basic conclusion in the very first paragraph of the article: “The Russians arranged it that way. As far as I am concerned, they can keep it that way. I will never again play in one of these tournaments.”
As evidence Fischer reviews some of the proceedings in the recent Candidates Tournament in Curacao. The three leaders, Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres and Ewfim Geller drew all the games they played among themselves, a total of 12. In no case was there a real attempt to play for a win, most of these games lasting but a few minutes.
When Fischer was playing against a Russian, the others would frequently gather about the game and comment on the moves. Fischer protested several times to the referee but was disregarded. These games were all hard fought.
Instead of going through this again, Fischer states that he would be willing to play a match with world champion Mikhail Botvinnik at any time, and would spot him the advantage of two points in a match of 24 games. He continues, “I could come out the victor with ease in such a competition.”
Since we regard Bobby Fischer as far and away our best hope for the world championship, this is a vital issue for American chess. We shall comment on the article in an open letter to Fischer which will appear in this space next week.
