ANew York Times, New York, New York, Monday, September 14, 1959
Petrosian Play Halted Fischer: Process of Attrition Led to First Setback for U.S. Chess Star at Bled
What Paul Keres of the Soviet Union failed to do with a seemingly overwhelming attack against Bobby Fischer, the United States chess champion, Tigran Petrosian of Moscow achieved through a process of slow attrition. A result was the only defeat sustained so far by the 16-year-old Brooklyn schoolboy in the challengers' tournament at Bled, Yugoslavia.
Full details of the first session between these two rivals up to the time of adjournment have reached here by air mail. The modus operandi employed by the Russian to bring about a winning position by the time play ceased and Petrosian sealed his forty-first move is clearly shown.
Petrosian early exchanged one of his bishops for a knight. He strove for an ending in which his remaining knight, strongly posted, had greater potency than the cramped king's bishop of Fischer's forces.
During the mid-game tactics, Petrosian, who castled on the queen's side of the board, succeeded in capturing a pawn. Moreover, he had advanced his queen's pawn as far as the seventh rank, where it had strong support.
In a subsequent session, Petrosian fulfilled expectations and scored in sixty-eight moves.
Another victory placed to the credit of Petrosian was at the expense of Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland, who lost in the first round after thirty-eight moves.
Yesterday was a free day for the eight contestants at Bled, where the fifth round is scheduled for today. Petrosian leads with a score of 3½—½ and Paul Benko of New York is tied at 2½—1½ with Fischer for second place.
Following are the scores of two games played by Petrosian:
