Courier-Post Camden, New Jersey Wednesday, January 09, 1963 - Page 34
Boy Genius Champion 5th Time in 6 Years
At the age of 19, Bobby Fischer has become U.S. chess champion for the fifth time in six years.
The young genius was top-seeded player when the national tournament began in New York Dec. 16 but suffered an unexpected setback in the first round when he lost to Edgar Mednis in trying to convert a drawn game into a victory. From there on he went through the tourney without a loss, defeating Berliner, Reshevsky, Addison, Steinmeyer, Sherwin and Bisguier. He drew with Rossolimo, Evans, Benko and Byrne.
Going into the final round Bisguier, a former champion, was tied with Fischer. He wound up in second place with a score of 7-4 compared with Bobby's 8-3. Bisguier won from Mednis, Addison, Rossolimo, and Sherwin while drawing with Benko, Steinmeyer, Berliner, Evans, Byrne and Reshevsky. He lost only to Fischer.
The surprise of the tournament was William G. Addison, a Californian who has been making a fine showing on the West Coast and wound up giving former champion Larry Evans a battle for third place.
This must have been Samuel Reshevsky's worst tournament ever, and showed that he is either definitely over the hill or was suffering badly from lack of tournament competition recently. He finished in the middle of the pack, which is not where he has been accustomed to finish. His game against Fischer, their first encounter since the abrupt ending of their acrimonious match, was a bitter, hard-fought game on both sides with Bobby gaining an advantage after 30 moves or so, missing a quick win at the 41st move, but finally forcing his opponent to resign after 54 moves. The outcome of this game was less surprising, say, that Reshevsky's loss to Addison in the first round. The score of the Fischer-Reshevsky game is appended hereto.
World champion Mikhail Botvinnik will defend his title against Tigran Petrosian in a 24 game match at Moscow starting March 23. The schedule calls for three games a week.
