Robert Byrne of Indianapolis, Indiana (then an IM). the winner of previous year's event. and Dr. Stephen Popel of Fargo, North Dakota, shared second and third with scores of 7.0-1.0.
Playing with great speed, Fischer had no trouble and some of his games were finished while those of the lesser lights were still in the opening.
Fischer yielded a draw to USCF Master Dr. Paul Poschel of Ann Arbor, Michigan in the fourth round and defeated James Fuller, Allen Reinhard, Norbert Leopoldi, Ronald Finegold, Donald Byrne and Arthur Bisguier. Going into the last round Fischer and Hans Berliner were tied for first and Fischer also defeated Berliner.
During the entire event Fischer was in a gregarious mood and signed autographs, played five-minute games and offered advice to players conducting post-mortems. At the awards banquet he even expressed approval of the playing conditions.
The top women’s prize went to Adele Goddard. Top Junior was won by Thomas Alice.
Fischer wrote that he had some second thoughts about the two rounds per day schedule, but knew he wouldn't mind it because, “A tournament is not a test of strength, only a match demonstrates
this, but its more like a horse race where the order of finish is not always according to form.”
He also admitted that he was expecting to crush his opponents in twenty moveers, but it didn't happen. His opponents were strong enough that he considered 5 or 6 of his games to be superior to any of the games that were played in recently completed super-GM Piatigorsky Cup in Los Angeles (Keres, Petrosian, Najdorf, Olafsson, Reshevsky, Gligoric, Benko and Panno)!!
In the following game, Fischer defeats Chicago Expert Allen Reinhard in a game in which Fischer’s better theoretical opening knowledge determined the outcome.
Reinhard finished in 58th place with +4 -3 =1. I remember meeting Reinhard once in the late 1960s. I had lost a game to a well-known Expert and was sitting at the table playing through it when Reinhart, who I noticed had been watching the game, came over and very graciously point out where I had blown a promising position!
[Event "Western Open, Bay City, MI"]
[Site "Bay City, MI USA"]
[Date "1963.07.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Allen Reinhard"]
[Black "Robert Fischer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A07"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "1963.??.??"]
{King's Indian Attack} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. d3 d6 {
Here Fischer made the outlandish claim that black is better. His reasoning was
that whatever white does, black will vary and get an asymmetrical position.
This will result in black having the superior position due to his better
P-structure. To prove his point he quoted a similar game he had played against
Filip the previous year, but I suspect Fischer got the better position more
because he was by far the stronger player rather than owing to any theoretical
superiority.} 6. e4 c5 7. Nc3 {Highly unusual, but by no means bad. 7.Nbd2 is
more usual.} Nc6 8. h3 Rb8 9. Be3 (9. d4 {Fischer pointed out that playing
this with the idea of gaining a tempo by attacking black's a-Pawn is
unsatisfactory because after} cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nxe4 (10... Nxd4 {Not this
expected move which resukts in equality after} 11. Qxd4 b6 12. a4) 11. Nxc6
Nxc3 12. Nxd8 Nxd1 13. Nxf7 Bxb2 14. Bxb2 Nxb2 15. Ng5 {Black is better.}) 9...
b5 {[%mdl 32]} 10. e5 {Fischer wrote that 9 out of 10 GMs (including such
luminaries as Petrosian, Botvinnik, but it loses by force. He was apparently
making a dig at the Russians and his claim that the move loses by force seems
a bit over the top. It is. however, not the best move, but black can claim to
be only slightly better. Curiously, he did not suggest a better move.} (10. a3
{leads to a very slight advantage for black according to Stockfish and Komodo}
a5 11. Qd2 e5 12. a4 b4 13. Nb5 Ne8 14. c3 Nc7 15. Nxc7 Qxc7 16. Rac1) 10...
dxe5 {With a weak and doubled e-Panes and a weakened Q-side, it may appear
that the position favors white, but black is actually slightly better, not
winning as Fischer claimed. The position is very similar to the Mednis-Fischer
game in the 1958-59 U.S. Championship. Fischer won that game, foo, but, again,
it probably had more to do with the strength of the players than the positiom.}
11. Bxc5 b4 {In a very insightful comment Fischer explained his plan: force
white's N off of c3 thereby allowing himself to gain control control of d5 for
his own N after which white's B on c5 will be left stranded.} 12. Ne4 {Less
effective is 12.Na4 as played in the Mednis game.} Nxe4 13. dxe4 Qa5 14. Be3 (
14. Qd5 {loses outright...} Rb5 15. Bxb4 (15. Qxc6 Rxc5 16. Qa8 Be6 17. Qb7 Rc7
{and the Q is trapped.}) 15... Qb6 16. Qd2 Rxb4 {Black is winning.}) 14... Ba6
15. Re1 Rfd8 {[%mdl 2048]} 16. Qc1 {It's natural to move the Q away from the R,
but after this black's is ti\otally in charge.} (16. Nd2 {It's unnatural to
walk into a pin, but this move, not mentioned by Fischer, keeps the chances
equal. It's not surprising that this move went unnoticed because the
complications are enormous!} Qc7 17. a3 Rd6 18. axb4 Nxb4 19. c4 Bxc4 {Black
is forced to relese the pin and play...} 20. Rc1 Rc6 21. Rxc4 Rxc4 22. Nxc4
Qxc4 23. Qa4 {with full equality.}) 16... Nd4 17. Kh2 {Here was white's last
chance to stay in the game. After this the game is over.} (17. Nxd4 {Fischer's
suggestion, but is is less good than Stockfish's.} exd4 18. Bd2 {With the
intention of playing 19.a3. Fischer's suggested 18...Qb6 would win, but 18...
d3 is even stronger.} Qb6 (18... d3 19. a3 dxc2 20. e5 Qa4 21. axb4 Qxa1 22.
Qxa1 Rxd2 {is winning for black, but this line is more complicated, so
Fischer's 18...Qb6 is a much more practical solution.}) 19. e5 (19. a3 b3 {
Black has a decisive advantage.}) 19... Rbc8 20. Qd1 d3 21. c3 bxc3 22. bxc3
Qc5 {Black is better.}) 17... Rdc8 {Some databases have black playing 17...
Rbc8, but that is incorrect. Fischer actually played 17...Rdc8. In any case,
there is no way white can defend his c-Pawn he has to eliminate the N which
not only undoubles black's e-Pawns.} 18. Nxd4 {After this black unleashes a
ferocious attack.} (18. Bxd4 {While insufficient, this was considerably better.
} exd4 19. Qd2 Qc5 20. e5 Bb7 21. Qe2 Bxf3 22. Bxf3 e6 23. Rac1 Rb5 {The
e-Pawn is doomed and black is clearly better.}) 18... exd4 19. Bg5 d3 20. a3
Rxc2 21. axb4 {Black has a number of ways to win.} Qb6 (21... Rxc1 {would also
win.} 22. bxa5 Rxe1 23. Rxe1 Rxb2) (21... Qxb4 22. Qf4 h6 23. Bxe7 Qxb2 24. Ba3
Qe5 25. Bd6 Qxf4 26. gxf4 Bxa1) 22. Qe3 Bd4 23. Qf3 Rxf2 24. Qg4 d2 {White
resigned} (24... d2 25. Red1 Be2 26. Qd7 Be3 27. Bxe3 Qxe3 {is hopeless for
white.} 28. Rxd2 Rxg2+ 29. Kxg2 Qf3+ 30. Kg1 Qxg3+ 31. Kh1 Bf3+ 32. Rg2 Qxg2#)
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