[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Fischer's 65th birthday

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Sun Mar 9 00:18:23 EST 2008


Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Fischer's 65th birthday
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205039895.shtml


   ...would have been today.
   With several tips of the hat to [1]Chess Today, here are some more
   articles on Fischer you might want to check out:
   GM [2]Jonathan Speelman (Guardian)
   [3]GM Matanovic for the Chess Informant
   Also, there's a Fischer Memorial. Needless to say, it's not in the
   United States. Lest you think this has to do with (understandable)
   scruples about Fischer's vile anti-American and anti-Jewish rants, let
   me remind you that we haven't had any memorial events for Morphy or
   Fine, either, on the national level. (There have been a couple of
   fairly big events commemorating Reshevsky, though I don't know the
   degree to which the USCF was involved.) No, [4]the event will take
   place in Villa Martelli, Argentina from March 11-19. I suspect that
   most of the players in the tournament were born after Fischer won the
   world championship in 1972, but there is one participant who not only
   lived in Fischer's era, he played in it, too. In fact, he played
   Fischer himself three times.
   That player is GM Oscar Panno, who was for a time in the 1950s (and
   during a nice run in 1978) one of the best players in the world. Born
   in 1935, he won the World Junior championship in 1953, became a GM in
   1955 and a Candidate a year later. He played three games, as noted
   above, with Fischer, and each is noteworthy in its own way.
   The first, a draw in the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal, is noteworthy in
   part because of the event, and in part because he drew!
   The second game, from Buenos Aires 1970, is noteworthy - and famous -
   because of Fischer's beautiful concluding combination in a King's
   Indian Attack.
   Finally, the third game is noteworthy for its startling brevity.
   Played in the last round of the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca,
   Panno became Fischer's 7th consecutive victim (Fischer went on to win
   thirteen more games in a row!) in a game that went 1.c4 Resigns. Black
   did not forfeit; he resigned. (Panno refused to play in protest for
   Fischer's various reschedulings, but rather than let his flag fall he
   actually resigned the game 52 minutes in.)
   You can replay all three games [5]here.

References

   1. http://www.chesstoday.net/
   2. http://sport.guardian.co.uk/chess/story/0,,2247798,00.html
   3. http://www.sahovski.co.yu/other/index.php?other=24
   4. http://ajedrezmartelli.org.ar/magistrales/2008/fischer08/fischer2008.htm
   5. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/fischer_panno_x3.htm



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