Fischer and Reshevsky were divided on another issue. Both came from Jewish backgrounds, but while Fischer became rabidly anti-Semitic, Reshevsky remained devoted to his family's faith. Indeed, it was said that the only thing one could confidently predict about Reshevsky was that he would never play a chess game, or even study it, for the 24 hours following Friday sunset.

In that 80th birthday interview — also the year of his death — Reshevsky was asked if he had ever discussed such matters with his bitter rival. Once, in a world championship tournament in Palma de Mallorca in 1970, the two had arrived before all the other competitors and so, said Reshevsky: "We walked together, talked together...he has his views, I have my views. It didn't bother me. I tried to make him see the light. I didn't succeed, but I tried."

In the circumstances, it seems more than appropriate to mark Reshevsky's centenary with his most crushing victory from that abandoned yet ferociously hard-fought match against the 18-year-old Bobby Fischer back in 1961. This was the seventh game of the match, with Reshevsky playing White.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Na5 9.Nd2 c5 10.0-0 b6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.f3 Re8 13.Re1 Be6 14.Ra2 Rac8 15.Nf1 cxd4 16.cxd4 h5 17.h3 h4 18.Rf2 Qd7 19.e4! (The central push that Reshevsky's 12th move was designed to enforce.) fxe4 20.fxe4 Bb3 (Reshevsky's idea was 20...Qxd4 21.e5 and if Fischer moves his Knight then 22.Bh7+ wins Black's Queen. However, on 20...Qxd4 21.e5 Fischer could have continued 21...Rxc1! 22.Qxc1 Ng4! 23.hxg4 Qxd3 after which he has big compensation for the lost exchange. The game continuation is not a mistake, however.) 21.Qd2 Bc4 22.Bc2 Nb3 23.Bxb3 Bxb3 24.e5 Nd5 25.Qg5 Qe7 26.Qg4 Rc6 27.Bg5 Qxa3?? (Here is Fischer's big blunder. If he had any weakness, it was for grabbing pawns too hot to handle.) 28.Qd7! (Fischer must have expected Reshevsky to play 28.Qxh4 and completely missed this devastating plunge into the innards of his position. He now resigned on the spot, since the threats to both rooks and the critical f7 square are too much to handle: after 28...Rec8 29.Qxf7+ Kh8 30.Re4 mate is coming up fast.)