The Indianapolis News Indianapolis, Indiana Thursday, January 11, 1968 - Page 44
Chess Master: The Ghost of Bobby Fischer
In many a great chess player's career there is a specific event which may be said to have determined his future. So it was with David Bronstein when he lost to Luis Cardoso of the Philippines in the 1958 Interzonal in Portoroz. So it was with Paul Keres when he was beaten by Pal Benko in the candidates' tournament at Curacao in 1962. In the case of Grandmaster Leonid Stein of the USSR, it may well prove to be the recent Tunisian Inter-zonal-and the man who did it, Bobby Fischer.
The evening before the 11th round, Fischer declared that he was leaving the tournament. He had just beaten Stein. He left Sousse next morning for Tunis, taking his luggage.
Unexpectedly, Stein's loss against Fischer seemed eradicated. (When a player leaves a tournament before he has played half of his games, all results are canceled. If he has played more than 50 percent of the games, scores stand, and all who have to play the dropout get a full point.) Next day he fully expected to win his adjourned game against the Czech grandmaster, Andre Hort, and then to beat the inexperienced Tunisian, Bouariz. This could earn him a place in the finals.
When the next day dawned, Fate struck Stein two wicked blows.
First, in a won position against Hort, Stein blundered twice, blew the game and left the room in self-disgust.
Second, he met Bouariz. Among the spectators was Sammy Reshevsky of the U.S. who was supposed to play Fischer-who had quit. But six minutes before Fischer's game would have been officially lost-Bobby appeared and sat down to play.
This killed two players at one time, Reshevsky (whom Fischer promptly beat) and Stein. Stein, upon seeing Fischer appear, turned pale and offered his opponent, the weakest player in the whole event, a draw. It was accepted.
Stein almost staggered away, his chance of ever becoming world champion perhaps was over, despite wonderful successes of the last few years. Instead of three points out of two games (his loss against Fischer would be a gift) he now had only a half point out of two.
Eventually, of course, Fischer's erratic behavior forced Fischer himself out of the tournament.