Fischer finds the recipe for success

SLIMMING and silence are two of the new ingredients in Bobby Fischer's recipe to recapture the chess form of his youth.

Playing a comeback match against Boris Spassky on the island of Sveti Stefan in Montenegro, Fischer changed his regime and brought immediate rewards with an equalising win on Saturday and a further win to take the lead on Sunday.

'I played pretty well,' Fischer said on Saturday, though Spassky's imaginative but over- optimistic play also appear to have contributed to the result. After the sixth game, in which Fischer narrowly avoided a third consecutive defeat, sources close to Fischer's doctors were reported to have diagnosed over-eating. After Fischer's 20 years of living on one meal a day, the rich and unlimited cuisine of Sveti Stefan was diverting his energies from brain to digestive system.

They prescribed a halving of his calorific intake, and 90 minutes' brisk walking and 45 minutes' swimming every day. Fischer demanded some changes of his own, including a glass panel between players and audience and a new rule that Spassky be allowed to sit down at the board only after Fischer was seated. Fischer now leads by three wins to two with three draws. The dollars 3.35m ( pounds 1.76m) prize will go to the first to score 10 wins. Here are the moves of the seventh game.

White: Fischer

Black: Spassky

1 e4 e5

2 Nf3 Nc6

3 Bb5 a6

4 Ba4 Nf6

5 0-0 Be7

6 Re1 b5

7 Bb3 d6

8 c3 0-0

9 d3 Na5

10 Bc2 c5

11 Nbd2 Re8

12 h3 Bf8

13 Nf1 Bb7

14 Ng3 g6

15 Bg5 h6

16 Bd2 d5

17 exd5 c4

18 b4 cxd3

19 Bxd3 Qxd5

20 Be4 Nxe4

21 Nxe4 Bg7

22 bxa5 f5

23 Ng3 e4

24 Nh4 Bf6

25 Nxg6 e3

26 Nf4 Qxd2

27 Rxe3 Qxd1+

28 Rxd1 Rxe3

29 fxe3 Rd8

30 Rxd8+ Bxd8

31 Nxf5 Bxa5

32 Nd5 Kf8

33 e4 Bxd5

34 exd5 h5

35 Kf2 Bxc3

36 Ke3 Kf7

37 Kd3 Bb2

38 g4 hxg4

39 hxg4 Kf6

40 d6 Ke6

41 g5 a5

42 g6 Bf6

43 g7 Kf7

44 d7 1-0