The Chess Mind

"Naisortep", who correctly guessed (or rather knew) that the following quote was from Mikhail Botvinnik:

I took with me several hundred of Fischer's games and set off to the Black Sea for two weeks to prepare for the match. Fischer's games did not provide any surprises with their strategic ideas. These were known to any experienced player from old games (even before Fischer). But the American grandmaster's tactical resourcefulness, his energy in carrying out his plans, and his striving for activity at the very first opportunity were staggering.

The plan was for Botvinnik to close his illustrious career in 1970 with an 18-game match with Bobby Fischer in the Dutch city of Leiden. Unfortunately, Fischer changed his mind and decided that he wouldn't play unless it was a match of unlimited duration, with the winner being the first player to win six games. Alas!

The part of the comment that claims Fischer created no new strategic ideas sounds a bit harsh, but if Botvinnik is reporting on his late 1969/early 1970 perspective, that evaluation may not be unreasonable. Fischer had only played one game in 1969, hadn't faced too many top class opponents since 1967, and he possessed an exceptionally limited opening repertoire at the time. It's at least possible that Botvinnik might have revised his opinion somewhat when speaking of the 1970-1972 Fischer - though not guaranteed. At any rate, the rest of his comment about Fischer is quite positive, so it would be wrong to view the comment as dismissive or Soviet propaganda.