The Guardian London, Greater London, England Tuesday, February 13, 1962 - Page 11
Fischer's duel with "Soviet Block" still to come 13 Feb 1962, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Fischer's duel with “Soviet Block” still to come
Stockholm, February 12
The expected duel between the young American Bobby Fischer, and the fourfold Soviet chess might, in the persons of Petroshan, Korchnoj, Geller, and Stein, has not yet materialised in the interzonal tournament being played at the Kungshallen here. This is in no way the fault of Fischer, who, after his slow start in the first two rounds, has added five straight wins and has two adjourned games against Gligoric and Pomar.
One of Fischer's games, the ending against Barcza, was a real masterpiece of positional play; and the Hungarian, himself one of the greatest contemporary end-game experts, still does not know where he went wrong.
The Russians, however, are making heavy weather of the tournament and, after the tenth round, only one of them, Petroshan, has secured a place among the first eight, the leading scores now reading: Uhlmann 7 (1 adj.), Filip 6½, Fischer 6 (2 adj.), Portisch 6 (1 adj.) Gligoric and Benko 5½ (1 adj.), Olafsson 5½, Petroshan 5 (1 adj.).
Most remarkable is the sustained run of Uhlmann (East Germany), who, after his loss to Yanofsky in the fourth round, has not looked back, scoring 4½ points out of five games. Both he and Filip are now in an exceedingly strong position: Filip has finished with the “Soviet block” and Uhlmann has played with three of the four. Thus, at the present stage of the tournament, both have excellent chances of finishing among the qualifiers.
In spite of his moderate score, so far the most impressive player on view during the past week was the former Russian champion Victor Korchnoj. The combinations which he conceives and executes with lightning rapidity, usually when only a couple of minutes at most remain on his clock, envelop the whole board: the way he freed himself in such circumstances against Geller in a seemingly inferior position, or the fantastic combination he unleashed against Filip, who still had 45 minutes to spare against Korchnoj's two, for the better part of ten moves roused the numerous spectators to admiration.
