After the completion of the World vs. USSR match held in Belgrade in 1970, Fischer remained in Yugoslavia for a time. Organizers tried unsuccessfully to get him to play in the “Second Tournament of Peace” to be held in Rovinj and Zagreb, but he surprisingly agreed to play in a 5 minute, double round blitz tournament held in Herceg Novi in which some of the best blitz players in the world at the time participated: Tahl, Korchnoi, Bronstein, Petrosian and Matulovic. Fischer very rarely played blitz and the specialists were happy to see him participate because it was believed they would give him some ‘lessons’ in blitz play. Surprise! Fischer lost one game to Korchnoi and drew one game each against Hort, Uhlmann, Bronstien and Reshevsky and won all the rest, in most games taking only about half of the time used by his opponents.
1-Fischer 19
2-Tahl 14.5
3-Korchnoi 14
4-Petrosian 13.5
5-Bronstein 13
6-Hort 12
7-Matulovic 10.5
8-Smyslov 9.5
9-Reshevsky 8.5
10-Uhlmann 8
11-Ivkov 7.5
12-Ostojic 2
That's an amazing margin. I remember that at the time, the other GM's were stunned by how fast and accurate Fischer's play was. Tal and Petrosian were famous for their blitz prowess, and Bobby just dominated them. Boy! He was good.
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