Sunday Gazette-Mail Charleston, West Virginia Sunday, June 21, 1959
Young U.S. Chess Star Did Well
By Edward M. Foy
The United States' 16-year-old chess champion, Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn, made a fine showing in the recently completed international tournament at Zurich, Switzerland, by finishing in a third-place tie.
One of the two Soviet Union representatives, Mikhail Tal, a Latvian, captured first prize in the 16-player field, scoring 11½ to 3½; one half point ahead of second-place Svetozar Gligoric, of Yugoslavia.
Young Fischer tied for third prize with the other member of the two-man Soviet contingent, the Estonian, Paul Keres. Both Fischer and Keres scored 10½ to 4½ but the American had the satisfaction of winning their individual game, in 31 moves in round twelve. And a tournament victory over Grandmaster Keres is quite an achievement — even for another grandmaster.
Larsen of Denmark, Unzicker of West Germany, and Barcza of Hungary tied for fifth position with 9½ to 5½ scores. Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland scored 8 to 7. The other eight contestants scored less than even in wing and losses.
Fischer's performance at Zurich was an improvement over his other two international appearances during the past couple of months. He scored 10 to 4 to tie for third place at Mar Del Plata in Argentina; and, slipping somewhat, dropped to a fifth-place tie with 7½ to 4½ at Santiago, Chile. Incidentally, Bobby is so popular in Yugoslavia, where he played in the inter-zonal tourney last year, that the Yugoslavs have named a chess club after him.
