The World Chess Championship 1963: M.M. Botvinnik c. Tigran Petrosian (Signed by Bobby Fischer)
New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc., 1964.
First edition. Signed by chess legend Bobby Fischer on the front free endpaper in blue ink, " R. Fischer 10 May 64 at 2 pm Harvard Club." 218 pp, with four pages of b/w photos. Bound in publisher's brown cloth with spine lettered in white. Very Good+ with lean to binding, light wear at spine ends and corners, light foxing and offsetting at endsheets. In a Very Good price-clipped dust jacket, slightly chipped and a worn. This copy was signed by a young Robert James Fischer after he decided not to participate during the 1964 upcoming World Championship cycle during a four month tour in North America. Fischer would play matches and lecture in over 40 cities, this inscription marking his first appearance in Boston, organized by Frank Ferdinand of the Boylston Chess Club. Bobby won 50 games, drew 2 and lost one to F. Gregg Bemis of Brookline, Massachusetts. Bobby placed in fourth during the Candidates' tournament in Curacao that led up to the '63 World Championship. He accused the Soviet players of drawing a pact, an allegation that is widely accepted as being valid, as top Soviet finishers drew all twelve matches against each other. The World Chess Federation would change the format of future Candidates' Tournaments from a round-robin format to a series of elimination matches. Fischer himself drew against both Petrosian and Keres in the final matches, with Petrosian winning first by a 1/2 point. Later that year, Fischer played Botvinnik, the then-reigning World Champion, at the 15th Chess Olympiad in Varna, Bulgaira. Bobby would later list the game, an intense match, as number 39 in his book My 60 Memorable Games. An important signature given Fischer's matches against the two subjects and their disappointing outcomes, one must imagine how he felt signing this particular title.
Price: $6,500