ACourier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Thursday, August 28, 1958
With the interzonal tournament at Portoroz, Yugoslavia, approximately at the halfway mark, Bobby Fischer remains in a contending position and is playing extremely well.
The 15-year-old U.S. champion scored perhaps his finest victory yet in the tournament when he defeated {editorial correction! the match was a tie} Mikhail Tal, the Soviet champion, in the 12th round.
This match was adjourned after 41 moves, with Tal offering a draw at that stage although seeming to have a slight advantage. But Bobby refused the offer, took the initiative when play was resumed, and turned apparent defeat into triumph.
Unfortunately, Bobby suffered his second defeat of the tournament in the preceding round, when he went astray under time pressure against Fridrik Olafsson, of Iceland, and lost in 44 moves. Of course it is no disgrace to lose to Olafsson, one of the strongest players in the game today.
Fischer drew in the 10th round against Oscar Panno of Argentina. With 11 games under his belt, he stands 6½-4½ to rank among the top seven or eight players in the tournament. A more exact ranking is impossible because of the number of adjourned games various players have to complete.
Russia's Tigran Petrosian, however, is definitely leading the field with a 9-3 score. Averbakh, Matanovic, Gligoric, Olafsson, Benko, Bronstein and Panno are in the upper brackets. James T. Sherwin of New York, Fischer's teammate, after getting off to a poor start early in the tournament, is making a greatly improved showing and stood at 5-6 after 11 games.
