AApril 03 1966
The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California, Sunday, April 03, 1966
World Championship: Russian Pair Will Reveal 'Secrets' In Hot Battle For World Chess Title
By Fred Coleman
MOSCOW (AP) — Some 1,400 miles south of the Kremlin two men have been plotting some of the best kept secrets in the Soviet Union.
Beginning April 11, millions of Russians will stay glued to radio and television sets for bulletin news as the secret strategy unfolds move by move.
The two will battle in the hottest sports event here in three years the finals for the chess championship of the world.
Chess is a national passion in Russia the country which has dominated the game for the past 30 years. Dr Max Euwe of Holland who held the title from 1935-1937 was the last non Russian chess champion.
This time the similar age but contrasting playing styles of champion Tigran Petrosyan and challenger Boris Spassky have added new elements to the match and triggered even greater interest.
It will be the eighth time the world title finals have been held in Moscow and the eighth time a Russian will reign as champion.
Petrosyan will be 37 in June as the match ends. This is considered the best period of the playing life of a chess grandmaster although no longer a time of upsurge in his abilities.
Spassky was 29 in January and is now in his period of greatest growth as a chess master.
Spassky defeated former world champion Mikhail Tal of the Soviet Union for the right to meet Petrosyan. The champion who watched the qualifying round considers Spassky a more dangerous opponent than Tal, chess officials say.
This is due to Spassky's daring imaginative style of play that contrasts sharply to Petrosian's deliberate approach. Experts believe the styles of play rather than the age of the opponents will be the big difference.
Another major difference will be the absence of Mikhail Botvinnik from a playing role for the first time in the long Soviet domination of chess. He held the world crown almost continuously from 1948 to 1963 when he lost it to Petrosyan, 20 years his junior.
Botvinnik was angered by new rules which deny the defeated world champion the automatic right to a rematch. He decided not to enter the competition this time the first since 1963.
The championship match, 24 games stretching through two months will be played in the comfortable air-conditioned variety theater across the Moscow River from the Kremlin.
May 04 1966
June 03 1966
July 1966
