AThe Guardian London, Greater London, England Thursday, September 25, 1958
Fischer-Larsen
The game below is the first that the American champion, Bobby Fischer, aged 15, has won against a foreign grandmaster. Fischer's achievement in qualifying for the world championship candidates' tournament was only the most outstanding of several unexpected results in the interzonal event in Portoroz. Tal's victory was expected by the many who see in him the greatest combinative genius since Alekhine, and he will be the favorite to challenge Botvinnik in 1960. Benko had for many years accepted his role of the No. 3 Hungarian player to Szabo and Barcza, and his leaving Hungary seems to have given him a new sense of confidence. Certainly to reach grandmaster status at 30 is unusual in these days in which most players reached the top in their early twenties.
Gligoric, Olafsson, and Petrosian all deserved their successes. Several of the non-qualifiers paid the penalty for trying to beat only the bottom players and draw against the leaders. As for Bronstein, who failed so unexpectedly in the last round. It seems that his nerves and self-confidence have deteriorated as a result of his efforts constantly to create new chess ideas.
