AReno Gazette-Journal, Reno, Nevada, Saturday, November 17, 1990 - Page 47
An Untold Battle Tale
A few months before he was 15, Bobby Fischer became in 1958 the youngest person ever to win the USA Championship — the first in a perfect string of eight out of eight until he stopped competing for our highest title in 1967. Alas, he never played another tournament game after gaining the world crown in 1972.
But he had a close call capturing the 1962-63 championship. After an initial loss to Edmar Mednis (his first defeat in America in five years) Bobby only had an even score going into our fourth round clash, an exciting draw that broke new ground in the opening.
A chapter is devoted to this tale in my book, “Chess Catechism.” I consumed two hours threading through the first 15 moves, while Bobby reeled them off in 10 minutes flat (a half hour counting the 20 minutes he was late for the game).
Afterward Fischer confided his “secret” to me: good preparation. Unlike other, he sought to win with the Black pieces from the start. The revelation that Black has dynamic chances and need not be satisfied with mere equality was the turning point in his career, he said.
After 14 Ke2 I wrote: “Since I was unfamiliar with position, I gave this move a good deal of thought. The alternative 14 Kf1 loses after 14 … Nfe5 15 Bxd7 Nxd7 16 Qb5 c6 17 Qxb7 Qh4! 18 Rxd7 Bxc3 19 bxc3 Rab8 20 Qc7 Rb1 21 Kg2 Qxe4 22 f3 Qc2 23 Bf2 Rxh1 24 Kxh1 Qxf2, etc. Fischer confessed after the game he was hoping I would fall into this trap. Naturally!”
Even today this old line is still quoted in most opening manuals. But in “Raider of the Lost Archives” for The Chess Connection, Bill Richards spotted a flaw in the analysis that nobody had notice.
“I think I've sat on this story of a big what if for nearly 20 years. It's time to share it,” he writes. “Had Evans taken the bait, and had Fischer followed the above variation in blind trust, Evans might have discovered instead of 23 Bf2? the move 23 Rd2! winning for White! This could have been a shocker of the century! It also would have placed Fischer at a miserable 1½-2½ trailing five players and tied with Reshevsky, his next opponent. Would Fischer still have won the title? We will never know, but it would have been a wide open race. Just suppose he had a half point less…”
Maybe so. But undoubtedly Bobby wouldn't have relied on blind faith. In the above line it's easy to find that 20…Qxe4! (instead of Rb1) turns the tables and wins for Black!
