Friday, March 5, 2010

The First (?) Mention of Fischer in the Israeli Chess Press


Robert "Bobby" Fischer in the 1957/8 US championship. La'Merhav, 1958.

The first mention of Robert "Bobby" Fischer is probably from La'Merhav, 2/5/1958, column no. 164, by Eliyahu Fascher. It mentions -- of course -- that Fischer is a 'young Jew', and that his 'sensational' victory in the 57/58 US championship gave him a right to join the candidates' tournament.

It also gives the conclusion of the famous game Fischer vs. Sherwin from the championship (Fischer's rook sacrifice, 30. Rxf7), and prints what is (again, probably) the first photograph of the then-unknown (in Israel) Fischer, given above.

1 comment:

  1. Fischer's success in the 1958 US championship gave him the right to play in the Portorozh Interzonal, not in the Candidates tournament.

    It was only after his further success at Portorozh that Fischer progressed to the Candidates.

    Philip Skalla

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