The Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, California Sunday, January 08, 1967 - Page 70 (★)
Fischer, Evans Top U.S. Title Tourney
With all results in, U.S. Chess Champion Bobby Fischer demonstrated once again his vast superiority over anyone else on the American chess scene.
Fischer won his final round game with Arthur Bisguier of New York in the current title tournament, to finish two full points, ahead of runner-up Larry Evans of Las Vegas.
This was the last game to finish, after an adjournment, an indication of Fischer's eagerness to win and to pile up the points. He had already clinched the championship trophy and the $2500 first prize the round before.
Fischer was the only undefeated player. This was a considerable improvement over his result last year, when he lost twice, to Robert Byrne of Indianapolis and Samuel Reshevsky of Spring Valley, N.Y.
On the other hand it was not up to Fischer's fantastic performance three years ago, when he scored 11-0 against the best opposition that could be mustered. Fischer, who will be 24 in March, has now won the championship eight times.
Evans was a strong second, his performance paling only in comparison with Fischer. He lost only once, to tailender Donald Byrne of State Park, Pa. It is to be noted that Evans won the championship in 1961, when Fischer did not compete.
Since 10 of the 12 contestants were in last year's tournament, some comparisons and changes in form might be of interest.
Last year Evans did poorly, finishing in a tie at 5-6 with Pal Benko of New York and Dr. Anthony Saidy of San Francisco. Benko improved sufficiently to tie for third, whereas Saidy wound up with the identical score.
Robert Byrne and Reshevsky tied for second last year with final tallies of 7½-3½. Both slumped badly this time, to end up in another tie at 4½-6½, along with Nicholas Rossolimo of New York.
This is a particularly depressing result for Reshevsky, who first won the championship in 1936, and was the American ace for over 20 years.
Last year's event was the more important from an international standpoint, as it was a zonal tournament in the sequence leading to the selection of a world championship challenger.
Fischer, Byrne and Reshevsky qualified for the interzonal tournament, which will be held later this year in Tunis.
Following are the final results and games from the championship: