The Guardian, London, Greater London, England, Thursday, January 30, 1958
Fischer-Mednis
Judging by the quality of his play in the United States championship, which he won without loss of a game, the 14-year-old Bobby Fischer is already of grandmaster strength. His improvement over the last year has been so rapid that it may not even be beyond him to finish among the leaders in the inter-zonal tournament in August and thus qualify for the final eliminating stage for the world title.
The amazing progress made by this boy emphasizes how the great number of tournaments nowadays enables gifted young players to reach the top much earlier in their careers than was the case 50 or even 30 years ago. Even now, however, it is rare for a young player to do well internationally in his teens, and Fischer's achievement quite overshadows the 13-year-old Pomar's draw with Alekhine or the 16-year-old Spassky's win from Smyslov. Here is one of his games from the United States championship.
Robert James Fischer vs Edmar Mednis
United States Championship (1957/58), New York, NY USA, rd 9, Dec-30
Pirc Defense: Byrne Variation (B07) 1-0
1. The international differences over the [illegible] of this opening throw an interesting sidelight on the waxing and waning of the cold war. The Yugoslav grandmaster Pirc played 1. … P-Q3 a great deal in 1948 and 1949, and the name “Pirc Defence” was accepted everywhere except in Russia, where it was named after a comparatively unknown player, Ufimtsev. When relations between Russia and Yugoslavia improved, some Russian writers began to call it simply “Indian Defence,” and so masters stood until Pirc himself visited Russia as a member of the Yugoslav team last year, and played the move in one of his games. Then it became, to the Russian commentators, the “Pirc-Ufimtsev Defence”--merely the perfect illustration of peaceful co-existence?
2. The root cause of Black's troubles, since he cannot afterwards castle KR without a further weakening of the king's side. Better is 5. … Castles; 6. Castles P-B3; followed by … P-QN4.
3. White already threatened 9. P-K5, while if 8. … P-K4; 9. PxP PxP; 10. B-K3 (better than 10. BxKP NxP) and Black's king is very [illegible].
4. Excellent judgment; the opening of the game must tell against Black in the long run.
5. A pawn must fall; if 16. … P-R4; 17. Q-N5.
6. The open Q-N file proves insufficient for attacking purposes after White's following four excellent defensive moves; but if 22. … QPxB; 23. N-B4, followed by N-K4, and Black's position is full of holes.
7. The threat was 28. NxB, KxN; 29. Q-B6ch.
8. White has perfectly combined attack and defence. If now 32. … KxR; 33. Q-N4ch. K-B2; 34. P-K6ch K-K1; 35. Q-N8ch B-B1; 36. Q-B7ch followed by mate.
9. A splendid finish by Fischer.
