Fischer - Taimanov 50 years soon

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

The Quality Chess face Jacob Aagaard wrote on the facebook:

"Hi guys, we are about to typeset Mark Taimanov's book "I was a Victim of Bobby Fischer" focusing on their 1971 match. If anyone have any Magazine articles or similar from the time of the match, it would make an excellent addition to have them scanned and inserted in the book as reference. So, I am really asking if anyone can help."

A tiny math revealed that it would be 50 years ago when the match games had started on May 16, 1971 in Vancouver, BC. (hint hint to BC - a great occasion to have a tournament :)

One person mentioned a very nice internet recourse about the Bobby Fischer like day by day of his life in various publications - https://bobby-fischer-1971.blogspot.com

Probably many chesstalk writers and readers have something special to share as well.

[Hugh Brodie]

Today - how many of the top 10 in the world could beat another member of the top 10 in the world in a match 6-0 - not just one, but two? Fischer-Taimanov and Fischer-Larsen.

[Aris Marghetis]

Today - how many of the top 10 in the world could beat another member of the top 10 in the world in a match 6-0 - not just one, but two? Fischer-Taimanov and Fischer-Larsen.

You're right Hugh, Fischer truly boggled the mind.

[Stephen Wright]

A tiny math revealed that it would be 50 years ago when the match games had started on May 16, 1971 in Vancouver, BC. (hint hint to BC - a great occasion to have a tournament :)

There has been an annual thematic event to commemorate the occasion for the past five years - see http://chess.bc.ca/Bulletins/BCCFBulletin320.pdf (page 3), also https://sites.google.com/site/chigor...45-years-later

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

There has been an annual thematic event to commemorate the occasion for the past five years - see http://chess.bc.ca/Bulletins/BCCFBulletin320.pdf (page 3), also https://sites.google.com/site/chigor...45-years-later

Thnx.

In the recent book "Fischer and His World", the "chess boy" is unrecognized in the famous picture. Is it right indeed?
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/...c_qocvq0TMxSmd

[Hans Jung]

I had not previously read that interview with GM Taimanov. Mark Taimanov had many words of wisdom. I found his analogy of computer analysis of great chess games with computer analysis of Beethoven's symphonies very interesting.

[Frank Dixon]

The book 'Russians versus Fischer' spends significant space on Soviet Candidates' players' preparations for the 1971-72 cycle. It's absolutely fascinating material, covered nowhere else.
From that book, for the Taimanov vs Fischer match, the Soviet strategy was to aim for tactical complications, since the Soviets recognized that GM Fischer was an exceptional technician. His very rare losses were caused mainly by tactical inaccuracies or misjudgments. This backfired, since GM Taimanov was 18 years older than Fischer, and the resulting complex positions caused the older Taimanov to use more clock time, get into time trouble, and make errors which decided many of the games.
Taimanov did have chances; in game one, he used an opening innovation in the Sicilian from his coach, GM Alexei Suetin, to obtain an excellent position. In the early middlegame, he pondered for an hour before retreating an attacked knight; at that juncture, he had an alternative continuation, which would have given him the significantly better position. He went on to lose.
Looking back 50 years later, absolutely no one was going to stop Fischer at that time. His overpowering run to the world title, from 1970 to 1972, was at least as dominant as any player's stretch, before or since.
Following GM Taimanov's shutout, he returned home and was stripped of all of his national honours by the Soviet government, to penalize his 'shameful' performance. After Fischer also crushed GMs Bent Larsen and Tigran Petrosian, within the next few months, the government restored all of Taimanov's awards.