| Mar-08-15 | | Howard: Korchnoi's only loss in the tournament and also one of Larsen's best endgames of 1980. |
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| Mar-08-15 | | Everett: It really is inconvenient, Larsen playing such good chess after 1971. It ruins the accepted narrative. |
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Mar-08-15
 | | Retireborn: <Everett> Is there a really a "narrative"? Larsen didn't suddenly become weaker after 1971, he just had a lot more competition from younger players, thanks in part to Fischer's popularization (is that a word!) of chess. |
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Mar-08-15
 | | keypusher: <Retireborn: <Everett> Is there a really a "narrative"? Larsen didn't suddenly become weaker after 1971, he just had a lot more competition from younger players, thanks in part to Fischer's popularization (is that a word!) of chess.> Yes, there is most definitely a silly narrative to the effect that anyone who lost a match to Fischer was never the same again. No one who came along in the 70s was as good as Larsen except Karpov. And who are these powerhouses supposedly inspired by Fischer? |
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| Mar-08-15 | | Caissanist: Like almost every player, Larsen became much more inconsistent once he passed 40 or so. His best results were still as good as anybody's, but he also had some disasters like Montreal 1979 and Amsterdam (IBM) 1980. |
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| Mar-08-15 | | Everett: Larsen was always inconsistent, especially in matches (when he encountered the elite). Fact is he won the 1976 Interzonal after Sousse 1967. He remained a beast of a player. And by 1980 he is 45, so cut him some slack. Nothing wrong with a drop-off then. Just normal aging, as you indicated (Caissanist) |
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| Mar-09-15 | | Granny O Doul: Spassky also had a resurgence after losing to Fischer; it was just too bad that Karpov was already on his way. Taimanov was only a one-time candidate, and perhaps illegitimately at that. Petrosian started to lose matches to Korchnoi, but only Fischer himself ever crushed him. |
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Mar-09-15
 | | perfidious: <Granny O Doul....Taimanov was only a one-time candidate, and perhaps illegitimately at that.> Not true; Taimanov's qualification from Palma was his second bite of the cherry. Zurich Candidates (1953)
As to 'perhaps illegitimately' qualifying, it was well known even then that Taimanov had bribed his opponent in Taimanov vs Matulovic, 1970. |
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| Mar-09-15 | | Howard: Don't like pointing this out since I've always been a fan of Larsen, but Tilburg 1982 was another disaster for him---he came in dead last. |
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| Mar-09-15 | | Petrosianic: Well, Tilburg was one of the first all-GM tournaments. Tougher opposition, no bunnies to smash. Larsen's results were much more variable in those kind of competitions. |
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| Mar-09-15 | | Everett: <Mar-09-15 Howard: Don't like pointing this out since I've always been a fan of Larsen, but Tilburg 1982 was another disaster for him---he came in dead last.> Nearing 50. He was no Korchnoi or Smyslov. No shame in that. Kasparov would have been retired for years by Larsen's age at that tournament. |
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| Mar-10-15 | | Howard: Speaking of Kasparov......he retired ten years ago TODAY (March 10, 2005) if I'm not mistaken ! It was definitely in March, 2005, regardless of the exact date. |
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Kibitzing
