Garry Kasparov never played Bobby Fischer and never will. "Wait a minute," says Bohumir Stedron, author of an article titled "Forecasts of Artificial Intelligence,"don't be so sure." In the March-April 2004 issue of the Futurist, Stedron predicted that by 2050 we will be able to mimic human thought processes. Does this mean we could create as many Fischers and Kasparovs as we wanted? "In theory we could," he says, "but we should only create one of each and protect them by copyright."
Still, meeting them in person at the chessboard was an unforgettable experience. Fischer's presence often had a dominating effect on the mind of his opponents before they even moved their pieces. In one way it was a feast to play him; in another it was scary. Kasparov radiated similar energy. He was not afraid of anybody. I often wondered what would have happened if Kasparov had to play against himself? Would he have enjoyed it or hated it?
Kasparov on Sousse
In his latest book, "On My Great Predecessors, Part IV," devoted mainly to Fischer, Kasparov creates an impression that the American grandmaster withdrew from the 1967 Interzonal in Sousse, Tunisia, because he realized he could not defeat Boris Spassky in a candidates' match. In Fischer's absence, Spassky was the world's dominating player from 1967 through 1969. But was he better than Fischer?
In 1967 Fischer won the U.S. championship, as well as tournaments in Monte Carlo and Skopje, Yugoslavia. He played excellently in Sousse: In 10 games, he scored seven victories and drew only against Lajos Portisch, Viktor Korchnoi and me. At one point Fischer asked for a free day to ease his tough schedule due to postponements. After his demand was not met, the American grandmaster did not show up for his game against the Soviet grandmaster Aivars Gipslis and a forfeit was declared. Kasparov does not mention that after Fischer asked to replay the game later, Gipslis was ready to accommodate him. But Soviet officials quickly stepped in, and there was zero chance the game would ever take place. The pro-Soviet chief referee, Jaroslav Sajtar, a Czech diplomat, intended "to show Fischer how to behave." Two more forfeits and Fischer was gone. The Soviets were clearly happy to see Fischer out of the world championship cycle. The winner in Sousse was Bent Larsen. In one of his memorable performances, the Danish grandmaster outscored his nearest rivals by 1 1/2 points.
Chess Matinee
The year 1967 did not start smoothly for Larsen. He lost five games at the Hoogovens tournament, named after a Dutch steel company that had sponsored the event since 1938. Although the Dane won seven games, as many as eventual winner Spassky, he could not make up the lost ground. It was the last year before the event moved from Beverwijk to Wijk aan Zee, where it later became known as the Corus tournament. We played in a movie theater and the games began early in the afternoon. If a game was adjourned, you did not have much time to write down a sealed move. The building was soon flooded by moviegoers anxious to see the evening show. Spassky scored an instructive victory against Larsen in the Grunfeld Indian.
Spassky-Larsen
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Ne2 Qd7 (Larsen's idea to meet 9.h4 with 9...Qg4 is slow in attacking white's powerful center and is rarely played today.) 9.0-0 b6 10.Be3 Bb7 11.f3 Nc6 12.Rc1 Rad8 13.Qd2 Na5 14.Bd3 c5 15.Rfd1 Qa4 16.Bh6 Nc4?! (Not a fortunate move, but accepting the pawn sacrifice 16...Bxh6 17.Qxh6 cxd4 18.cxd4 Qxa2?! is dangerous. White can either cut off the black queen with 19.d5 or he can begin an attacking fury with 19.Nf4!? with the idea 19...Rxd4 20.e5!, threatening to win with 21.Nh5. Black is now forced to give up the exchange, because 20...f5? loses to 21.exf6, for example 21...Rxf6 22.Bxg6! Or 21...Qf7 22.Nxg6 and white should win.) 17.Bxc4 Qxc4 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 (White can now easily protect his center. The following knight maneuver impressed me when I watched the game. It supports the pawn center and creates threats against the black king.)
19.Ng3 f6 20.Nf1 Qf7 21.Ne3 cxd4 22.cxd4 Rd7 23.d5 Rfd8 (After 23...e6 24.Ng4 exd5 25.e5! white has a powerful attack .) 24.Ng4 h5 25.Qh6+ Kg8 26.Ne3 Qg7 27.Qf4 Kh7 28.Kf2 Qf7?! (Spassky thought that black's best chance in this difficult position was to exchange queens with 28...Qh6 and he wanted to meet it with 29.g3 with a clear edge to white.)
29.g4! (Beginning of the attack on the black king.) 29...hxg4 30.Qxg4 Qg7 31.Rg1! (Threatening to win at once with 32.Nf5! Black does not have a good defense.) 31...e6 (Dropping a pawn does not save black, but after 31...Qh6 32.Rg3! Qxh2+ 33.Rg2 Qh6 34.Rh1! white also wins.) 32.Qxe6 Qh6 33.Qxf6 (Larsen could have resigned here.) 33...Rf8 34.Qg5 Qg7 35.Rc2 Rdf7 36.Rg3 Rf4 37.Ng4 Black resigned.
Solution to today's problem by S. Loyd (White:Kf2,Re1,Nd4; Black: Kh1,Ng1,P:h2): 1.Re2! Nxe2 2.Nf5 Nf4 3.Ng3 mate; or 1...Nh3+ 2.Kg3 Ng1 [ 2...Nf2 3.Re1 mate] 3.Rxh2 mate; 1...Nf3 2.Kxf3 Kg1 3.Re1 mate.
