The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, Sunday, September 21, 1958
Fischer Places, Made Grandmaster
In a tense last-round battle at the Interzonal Chess Tournament at Portoroz, Yugoslavia, 15-year-old Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn drew with Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia. The youthful U.S. chess champion finished in a tie for fifth place, sufficient to qualify for the Challengers Tournament next year, according to a report from the New York Times.
Fischer, with the black pieces, elected to play a variation of the Sicilian Defense which is considered inferior. Gligoric sacrificed a piece for strong attacking chances. Bobby held firmly, however, and after 32 moves a draw was agreed.
Brilliantly successful in his first international tournament, Fischer scored 12-8, winning six games, drawing 12 and losing only to Fridrick Olafsson of Iceland, with whom he tied in the standings, and to Paul Benko, former Hungarian champion, now a U.S. resident.
As a result of his score in this top-flight competition, Fischer became an international grandmaster. The announcement was made at the Stockholm headquarters of the International Chess Federation. Fischer is the youngest player ever to receive this rank.
First place in the tournament was taken, as expected, by Russian Champion Mikhail Tal, who drew in the last round with James T. Sherwin of New York to finish with a score of 13½-6½. Tal lost only one game, to Alexander Matanovic of Yugoslavia, won eight and drew 11.
Gligoric took second place, half a point behind the leader. He also scored eight wins, but drew 10 and lost twice, to Olafsson and Sherwin.
Benko tied for third and fourth with Tigran Petrosian of Russia, at 12½-7½. Benko also became an international grandmaster by virtue of his sterling performance in this event.
The major upset of the final round was the defeat of David Bronstein of Russia by Rodolfo Cardoso of the Philippine Islands. Bronstein had played superior chess and seemed to have victory in sight when he blundered under time pressure. This was Bronstein's first loss of the tournament, leaving him tied for seventh with his fellow-Russian Yuri Averbakh.
The top six will compete next year with Vassily Smyslov and Paul Keres of Russia, to determine the next challenger for the world title held by Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia. A match for the championship will be arranged in 1960.
Following are the details of the final round, and games from Portoroz. The complete cross-table is at the bottom of the column.
