Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Saturday, August 09, 1958
15-Year-Old Brooklyn Boy Interzonal Chess Play Star
It has been decades since a chess tournament has stimulated interest as much as the interzonal matches, leading to the challenge round for the world's championship.
All the credit goes to the 15-year-old lad from Brooklyn, International Master Robert Fischer. In tourney after tourney he has confounded the experts by winning with brilliant play.
In mid-June, he left for Europe for a tour of exhibition chess and an inspection of continental amusement parks and hobby-shop windows. Now he is playing in the interzonal tournament at Portoroz, Yugoslavia.
Critics, burned many times in deriding the young master as a meteor sure to be extinguished, are more wary this time. But he does face powerful opposition.
James Sherwin of New York is the only other American in the tourney.
Yugoslavia entered Svetozar Gligoric and Dr. Alexander Matanovic. Among the three Argentinians, Oscar Panno represents great strength.
Czechoslovakia has Dr. Miroslav Filip and Ludek Pachmann.
Hungary enrolled Pal Benko and Laszlo Szabo. Denmark sent the young genius, Bent Larsen, Iceland has Fredrik Olafsson.
Russia means to name the next challenger and has qualified four top men: Michael Tal, Russian champion, Tigran Petrosian, David Bronstein, a former challenger, and Yuri Auerbach.
Former World Champion Vassily Smyslov and Grandmaster Paul Keres are already qualified. Yet, of all these famed grandmasters, Robert Fischer has captured stage-center.
Word from Moscow confirms that Mme. Bikova regained the world's championship for women by defeated Mme. Rubtsova.
