AThe Boston Globe Boston, Massachusetts Sunday, September 21, 1958 (Referencing: New York Times, New York, New York, Sunday, June 29, 1958)
Robert Fischer, 15-year-old Brooklyn chess wunderkind, has added two more honors to his fast-growing list. Winner of the 1957 Junior Championship, the 1957 U.S. Open and the 1957-'58 U.S. National champion, Fischer has qualified for the next challengers' tournament and has been named an international grandmaster in the process.
For over a month young Bobby toiled through the interzonal tournament at Portoroz, Yugoslavia, and finally ended in a tie for fifth place with Fridrick Olafsson, Iceland. The top scorers: 1. Tal, USSR, 13½-6½, 2. Gligoric, Yugoslavia, 13-7, 3-4, Benko, Hungary and Petrosian, USSR, 12½-7½, 5-6. Fischer and Olafsson, 12-8.
Fischer was not given a chance to qualify for the challengers', the “experts” were oddly unanimous on this score. Hindsight shows us that Fischer has not been given an outside chance to win in any of the important events he has won save the 1957 Junior U.S. titles. When one examines the names and ponders the chess talent (even genius) of some of the players who failed to qualify, the experts then look merely conservative and cautious— not purblind. Szabo, winner of a previous interzonal and veteran of many international events; Bronstein, qualified for the 1951 match and played 12-12 draw with Botvinnik; Larsen, the brilliant Dane who did so well at Dallas and who won the 1958 Mar del Plata tourney; these and others (Auerbach, Pachman, Filip, Matanovic, Panno, Sherwin, Rossetto, etc) failed to make it but Brooklyn's Bobby did.
According to the New York Times (Sept. 14) young Fischer is now stranded in Europe without funds. While he was in Moscow his expenses were paid by the Soviet sport center and the tournament committee in Portoroz picked up the tab for the duration of the tournament. Comes the end of play and Robert is on his own. Meantime his traveler's checks disappeared and he can't get a plane till Oct. 4. James Sherwin, the other U.S. representative at Portoroz, is reported to have left for New York and Lombardy who acted as Bobby's second has gone to Munich for the chess Olympiad.
The U.S. chess team for the international team tourney at Munich has been set: Reshevsky, Evans, Bisguier and Lombardy are the regulars, Rossolimo and Kashdan the alternates. Bobby Fischer, a junior at Erasmus High, can't spare the time.
Addendum to Fischer: While in Russia Bobby confined his play to blitz and skittles. Fischer wanted to compete against only the best (i.e., Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, etc.) and the Russians were offering only “smaller fry.” Bobby said nay, stood his ground, and later proved his point (at Portoroz) but nevertheless came away disappointed.
