In my previous thread about Argentinian tragedy Thread 160281, Gligoric mentioned that Fischer had found his improvement - 13. ...Rh7 in Najdorf Sicilian - from bulletin of some Siberian tournament. Only small minds could say after this that Fischer "had stolen this idea" (sic!) but it was in fact the proof how hard he had been studying (oh, problems with tenses!) chess.
This pattern - that Fischer finds an idea in a variation in some obscure Soviet tournament that wasn't familiar even to their top Grand Masters is simply amazing even today when we have internet and data bases.
Here's two cases.
First, the same principle in praxis.
Fischer vs. Reshevsky, US Championship 1958
Fischer found this trap in the bulletin of a Mocsow torunament of "I category players" (!; it is range bellow H /for Anglo/Saxon players/), probably thanks to some Russian girl he'd met during his visit to SSSR in CSKA /Central Chess Club/ in 1958) and the victim was Samuel Reshevsky.
One headline in the news after the game was A lion caught in a mousetrap...
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Be3 Nf6 6. Nc3
Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 Na5 {This is losing move. Beter is 8...d6} 9. e5 {White usually played 9. O-O and then Black is laughing: 9. ...Nxb3 10. axb3 d5} Ne8 {Black could have given more troubles to White with 9. ...Nxb3 10. exf6 Nxa1 11. fxg7 Nxc2 12. Nxc2 Kxg7 It is still possible that Reshevsky at this point didn't get it!} 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 {10. ...Rxf7 is the same} 11. Ne6 {!!} dxe6 {11. ...Kxe6 12. Qd5 Kf5 13. g4 Kxg4 14. Rg1 Kh4 15. Bg5 Kh5 16. Qd1} 12. Qxd8 Nc6 13. Qd2 Bxe5 {Now Reshevsky must have realized it was over, but he was too vain to resign now...!} 14. O-O Nd6 15. Bf4 Nc4 16. Qe2
Bxf4 17. Qxc4 Kg7 18. Ne4 Bc7 19. Nc5 Rf6 20. c3 e5 21. Rad1
Nd8 22. Nd7 Rc6 23. Qh4 Re6 24. Nc5 Rf6 25. Ne4 Rf4 26. Qxe7+
Rf7 27. Qa3 Nc6 28. Nd6 Bxd6 29. Rxd6 Bf5 30. b4 Rff8 31. b5
Nd8 32. Rd5 Nf7 33. Rc5 a6 34. b6 Be4 35. Re1 Bc6 36. Rxc6
bxc6 37. b7 Rab8 38. Qxa6 Nd8 39. Rb1 Rf7 40. h3 Rfxb7
41. Rxb7+ Rxb7 42. Qa8 1-0
The other old mouse was Ratmir Kholmov, in Skopje 1967.
Kholmov vs. Fischer, Skopje 1967
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 {This is a "strange" move. Drazen Marovic in his book on Fischer is sarscatic: "This move can only be explained by the position on the table: Geller and Fischer were tied at the time and Kholmov felt him obliged to help Geller by playing with Fischer for... a draw!"} Nbd7 {Marovic says that 9. ...d5 is the best}
7. b3 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. e4 Re8 10. Ba3 {? 10. Bb2 is good move.} c6 {! A trap that is tempting Kholmov to put his Bishop on "weak field" d6.} 11. Bd6 {Mistake.} Qa5 12. Qd3
Re6 {Bishop is in the trouble.} 13. b4 {Marovic says that 13. Ng5 is bad due 13. ...Rxd6 and following 14. ...h6} Qa3 14. Bc7 Qxb4 15. Rab1 Qe7 {It is good because if White again tries with Ng5 Black can play Nc5} 16. Rfd1 Ne8 17. Ba5
Rd6 18. Qe2 Rxd1+ 19. Qxd1 Bf8 20. Nd2 {Marovic recommends 20. Bb4 as slightly better move.} Qa3 21. Nc4 Qc5 22. Bf1
b5 23. Nd2 Qa3 24. Nb3 Nc5 25. Bxb5 cxb5 26. Nxb5 Qa4 27. Nxc5
Qxa5 28. Qd5 Rb8 29. a4 Bh3 30. Qxe5 Rc8 31. Nd3 Qxa4 32. Ne1
a6 0-1