AThe Guardian, London, Greater London, England, Saturday, January 04, 1969 - Page 7
Chess: King of the Tournaments
PETROSIAN'S lack of impact as world champion and Spassky's superiority in challenge matches have increased the struggle among leading grandmasters for recognition as the best tournament player on the international circuit. In 1967 Larsen dominated his opponents with four successes in a row in strong events; but this year he has become more erratic and less confident since his defeat by Spassky.
Many would consider Bobby Fischer the world tournament champion, but his successes in the last four years have all been in tournaments below the highest class with the exception of his second to Spassky at Santa Monica 1966. On the evidence of the play in 1968, the king of the tournaments is Victor Korchnoi of Russia. In Beverwijk at the start of the year he finished easing up three points ahead of a field of grandmasters: in Majorca in December his score of 14 out of 17 was ahead of Larsen and Spassky (who both lost their individual games to Korchnoi) 13, Petrosian 11½, Gligoric 10½, and five other grandmasters.
Korchnoi is one of the few top players who genuinely prefers defence to attack. His defence is not passive but the flexible, psychological king which lures the opponent to over-extend himself and to be unprepared for Korchnoi's fast counters. Korchnoi's models are Lasker and Nimzovitch. The occasional criticism that, like Lasker, assesses his opponent's psyche; this week's game well illustrates his style.
Chess: King of the tournaments 04 Jan 1969, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
