Author: Siegel, Morton
Year: 1969
Publisher: United States Chess Federation
Place: Newburgh, NY
Description:
71 pages with illustrations, photographs and tables. Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") issued in wrappers. (Lusis: 1537) First edition.
Includes notes on the players and an opening survey. 66 games with annotations and commentary. This was a Zonal tournament, in which the top three finishers, Sammy Reshevsky, William Addison and Pal Benko qualified for the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca. By failing to play in this US Championship, Bobby Fischer apparently gave up all hope of playing in the 1972 World Championship, to which the Interzonal was the first stepping stone. Why Fischer refused to play and how he got in anyway is therefore, a tale worth recounting. Bobby Fischer had both played for, and won the US Championship 8 times, usually by hefty margins, and along the way had racked up an eye-popping record of +61-3=26 (by an amazing coincidence, Sammy Reshevsky had an identical +61-3=26 record after 90 US Championship tournament games, not counting his match with Horowitz or his playoff vs. Kashdan. The tournament itself though, was something of a classic, with many good games, and a reemergence of the great Sammy Reshevsky, winning the championship for the 7th time, and the first time since 1946. As it turns out, though, Bobby was not out in the cold, as far as the 1972 Championship was concerned. 3rd Place finisher Pal Benko, gave up his spot in the 1970 Interzonal to Fischer, who accepted it, played, and went all the way to the championship, at last.
Condition:
Light edge wear, some age darkening to edges, pencil check marks. A very good copy.
Year: 1969
Publisher: United States Chess Federation
Place: Newburgh, NY
Description:
71 pages with illustrations, photographs and tables. Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") issued in wrappers. (Lusis: 1537) First edition.
Includes notes on the players and an opening survey. 66 games with annotations and commentary. This was a Zonal tournament, in which the top three finishers, Sammy Reshevsky, William Addison and Pal Benko qualified for the 1970 Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca. By failing to play in this US Championship, Bobby Fischer apparently gave up all hope of playing in the 1972 World Championship, to which the Interzonal was the first stepping stone. Why Fischer refused to play and how he got in anyway is therefore, a tale worth recounting. Bobby Fischer had both played for, and won the US Championship 8 times, usually by hefty margins, and along the way had racked up an eye-popping record of +61-3=26 (by an amazing coincidence, Sammy Reshevsky had an identical +61-3=26 record after 90 US Championship tournament games, not counting his match with Horowitz or his playoff vs. Kashdan. The tournament itself though, was something of a classic, with many good games, and a reemergence of the great Sammy Reshevsky, winning the championship for the 7th time, and the first time since 1946. As it turns out, though, Bobby was not out in the cold, as far as the 1972 Championship was concerned. 3rd Place finisher Pal Benko, gave up his spot in the 1970 Interzonal to Fischer, who accepted it, played, and went all the way to the championship, at last.
Condition:
Light edge wear, some age darkening to edges, pencil check marks. A very good copy.