Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Thursday, September 11, 1958
Fischer's Qualification Hinges on Final Round
Whether Bobby Fischer qualifies for the challengers' chess tournament next year hinges on the 20th and final round results in the interzonal tournament at Portoroz, Yugoslavia, which should be completed today.
With one game to finish, the 15-year-old United States champion was tied with David Bronstein, of Russia, for fifth place in the standings. Each of them had a score of 11½-7½. It seemed likely that Bobby will be one of the six qualifiers, but not certain, since four other players were close behind at 11-8 each.
Soviet champion Mikhail Tal was still leading the field at 13-6 with one game to go, followed closely by Svetozar Gligoric, of Yugoslavia, at 12½-6½, and Tigran Petrosian, of Russia, the only player who has completed all 20 games, at 12½-7½. These three are assured of places in the challengers' tourney. Pal Benko, Hungarian refugee, was fourth at 12-7.
The top six players in the final standings qualify for the 1959 challengers' tournament, which will produce the next player to compete against Mikhail Botvinnik, present champion, for the world's title. Only three players from any one country can qualify, however. This means that Tal, Petrosian, and probably Bronstein will qualify for Russia, with Fischer fighting it out with the entries from several other countries for one of the remaining three places.
A reader has inquired why Larsen, of Denmark, resigned at the 31st move in a game against Fischer in the interzonal, printed in this column last week. He thought the resignation seemed premature. However, experts at the Camden City Chess Club, to whom the question was submitted, pointed out that the almost certain continuation would have been: After white's 31. Q-Q6ch K-N2 (forced); 32. R-Nch K-R2 (against forced); and 33. QxB with mate in three.
It is true that in grandmaster play we frequently see resignations for reasons that are not easily apparent to the average player, though to the actual competitors they may seem obvious enough.
In this game, however, Fischer appeared to have a clear-cut advantage when Larsen resigned.
