user3456: I remember reading somewhere that Leonid Stein (one of the top players at that time) has ridiculed Bobby Fischer for grabbing the poisoned pawn in the Najdorf Sicilian during the Spassky-Fischer match in 1972. I wonder if that is really true. Perhaps it was a journalist's way of attracting readers' attention. Can anyone point me to a source of the citation?

user-1: Although it is hard to prove a negative, I don't believe that Stein ridiculed Fischer for taking the poisoned pawn. My evidence is:

An analysis on Chess.com of game 11 claims to source commentary of Stein's and others from Fischer-Spassky 1972 From a Soviet Point of View. Although I cannot find the original source, the commentary quoted on Chess.com is fair and balanced. In fact, 8...Qxb2 doesn't even receive a dubious mark
Googling leonid stein ridicule picks up no relevant articles on the first page
According to the Chessmaster database, Stein's co-comentators Bronstein and Korchnoi had grabbed the poisoned pawn before. I don't think that Stein would have been critical of a move that other top players had played before in a well analysed opening


3456: <p>I remember reading somewhere that Leonid Stein (one of the top players at that time) has ridiculed Bobby Fischer for grabbing the poisoned pawn in the Najdorf Sicilian during the Spassky-Fischer match in 1972. I wonder if that is really true. Perhaps it was a journalist's way of attracting readers' attention. Can anyone point me to a source of the citation?</p>
 -1: <p>Although it is hard to prove a negative, I don't believe that Stein ridiculed Fischer for taking the poisoned pawn. My evidence is:</p>

<ol>
<li>An analysis on <a href="https://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/spassky---fischer-1972-wch-game-11-b97" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Chess.com</a> of game 11 claims to source commentary of Stein's and others from <em>Fischer-Spassky 1972 From a Soviet Point of View</em>. Although I cannot find the original source, the commentary quoted on Chess.com is fair and balanced. In fact, 8...Qxb2 doesn't even receive a dubious mark</li>
<li>Googling <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&amp;ion=1&amp;espv=2&amp;ie=UTF-8#q=leonid%20stein%20ridicule" rel="nofollow noreferrer">leonid stein ridicule</a> picks up no relevant articles on the first page</li>
<li>According to the <em>Chessmaster</em> database, Stein's co-comentators Bronstein and Korchnoi had grabbed the poisoned pawn before. I don't think that Stein would have been critical of a move that other top players had played before in a well analysed opening</li>
</ol>
