Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, Monday, August 25, 1958
New Yorker, 15, Defeats—Draws! with Soviet Chess Champion
Portoroz, Yugoslavia (AP) — Bobby Fischer, 15-year-old New York chess wizard, marked up another victory in the interzonal tournament Sunday when he defeated (no, the pair drew 1/2-1/2) Soviet Champion Mikhail Talj in an adjourned 15th round match.
Fischer, who declined yesterday to play for a draw, was not in a good position at the start of today's play. But he forced the play and came through with a victory.
The youthful New Yorker, however, had to give up in his 11th round adjourned match with Iceland's Fridrik Olafsson after 44 moves.
James Sherwin, U.S. international master who got off to a bad start in the tournament, chalked up his third straight victory. He defeated Argentine Hestor Rossetto after 45 moves in their 12th round adjourned game.
After the 12th round, Russian players continued to dominate play. Tigran Petrosyan held first place with nine points. Fischer trailed far down with six, a half-point back of Paul Benkoe, Hungarian refugee playing for the U.S. Chess Federation. Sherwin had five points.