Courier-Post, Camden, New Jersey, Sunday, October 15, 1995 - Page 86
Fischer's Remarkable 1972 Outburst
It's impossible to watch Garry Kasparov play Viswanathan Anand and not be filled with nostalgia for the wonderful summer of 1972. That was when Bobby Fischer dazzled us all as he wrested the world championship from Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Fischer towered above his contemporaries. It wasn't just his dramatic and decisive victory over the Russian Spassky, a truly gifted player and a great fighter. A part of it was Fischer's astonishing success, unique in chess history, leading up to the championship match.
It all began during the 1970 Palma de Mallorca Tournament when Fischer caught fire and capped a winning performance by defeating each of his last eight opponents — an amazing achievement considering the usual frequency of draws among grandmasters.
What happened next stunned all observers. Defying all reasonable statistical expectations, Fischer won successive candidates matches from Bent Larsen and Mark Taimanov — two of the world's best players — by 6-0 scores. His momentum carried over into his final candidates match with ex-world champion Tigran Petrosian, whom he defeated 6½-1½.
During the skein starting in Las Palmas and ending with a second-round loss to Petrosian, Fischer won 20 straight games against the cream of the world's best players.
Fischer's 1972 odyssey radically changed chess history. It gave an incredible boost to the development and professionalization of a world chess culture. It is hard to imagine the richness and excitement of the current chess scene without Fischer's now mythical achievement.
Here is Fischer's crushing fifth-round win from his 1972 match with Spassky. After tying the score with this game, the kid from Brooklyn dominated the match.