Breaking the rules

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13 Jan '13 01:47

Paul Leggett
Chess Librarian
The Stacks
Joined
21 Aug '09
Moves
113572
13 Jan '13 01:473 edits
Hi all,

(Please note that my comments after move 17 aren't showing, because I have somehow messed up the pgn. I'm still working on it).

When I was a new player, I played through the Spassky-Fischer match with an unannotated score, and the 5th game of the match was amazing for me.

As I played through, I thought Fischer was making horrible mistakes, and then was stunned when I got to the end!

I had to play through the whole thing again, and then I went on a mission to find out all I could about the game to learn how and why it happened.

I learned a host of valuable lessons from the game, and I think playing through it can help anyone who has not seen it.

My notes are entirely tongue-in-cheek; I have tried for a little Greenpawn34-esque humor, but no warranty if offered or implied!

If the games spawns questions for those who are mystified by certain aspects (as I was back then), I hope the back-and-forth exchange of ideas will enlighten us all.

EVENT World Championship 28th
SITE Reykjavik
DATE 1972.07.20
ROUND 5
WHITE Spassky, Boris V
BLACK Fischer, Robert James
RESULT 0-1
WHITEELO 2660
BLACKELO 2785
ECO E41
EVENTDATE 1972.07.11
Invert Board PGN Headers Comments
[Event "World Championship 28th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "1972.07.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E41"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "1972.07.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 d6
8. e4 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. Nh4 h6 11. f4 Ng6 {What insanity is this? Fischer obviously does not know the rules of positional chess. His opponent has knight on the rim, and he wastes a tempo with an offer to exchange it, and in the process doubles a pair of his kingside pawns.} 12. Nxg6 fxg6 13. fxe5 dxe5 {In
addition, Fischer allows Spassky to have a protected passed pawn righ in the
center of the board. Is Fischer nuts?} 14. Be3 b6 15. O-O O-O 16. a4 a5 {Did the KGB poison Fischer? He violates principle and intentionally gives himself a backward pawn on an open file. Nuts, I tell you, nuts.} 17. Rb1 Bd7 18. Rb2 Rb8 19. Rbf2 Qe7 {All the kibitzers in the club tell me that doubled rooks on an
open file must be good. White has accumulated several positional benefits, including a protected passed pawn, the two bishops, doubled rooks on an open file, and weak pawns on e5 and b6 for black. Surely Spassky will carry the point home now!}20. Bc2 g5 21. Bd2 Qe8 22. Be1 Qg6 23. Qd3 Nh5 24. Rxf8+ Rxf8 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Bd1 Nf4 27. Qc2 Bxa4{Whoa, if white captures the bishop, then his e-pawn falls and his position falls with it. What happened? The answer is obvious. It's a Communist plot.} 0-1
SwissGambit
Caninus Interruptus
2014.05.01
Joined
11 Apr '07
Moves
92274
13 Jan '13 02:01

I think the locked pawns really favor the N here, especially compared to wBd3, which is miserable. The locking of pawns a4/a5 only incarcerated it further.

I liked how Fischer took some risks (like allowing the passed Pd5) in order to win this game.

I read CHO'D Alexander's book on this match, and he pointed out that white gets in trouble because he is playing with three pawn weaknesses (a4, c4, e4) vs. two (e5, b6).
SwissGambit
Caninus Interruptus
2014.05.01
Joined
11 Apr '07
Moves
92274
13 Jan '13 02:04
None of your comments after the first one showed up in the viewer. Here's my attempt at fixing it.

EVENT World Championship 28th
SITE Reykjavik
DATE 1972.07.20
ROUND 5
WHITE Spassky, Boris V
BLACK Fischer, Robert James
RESULT 0-1
WHITEELO 2660
BLACKELO 2785
ECO E41
EVENTDATE 1972.07.11
Invert Board PGN Headers Comments

[Event "World Championship 28th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "1972.07.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E41"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "1972.07.11"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "ISL"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 d6 8. e4 e5 9. d5 Ne7 10. Nh4 h6 11. f4 Ng6 {What insanity is this? Fischer obviously does not know the rules of positional chess. His opponent has knight on the rim, and he wastes a tempo with an offer to exchange it, and in the process doubles a pair of his kingside pawns.} 12. Nxg6 fxg6 13. fxe5 dxe5 {In addition, Fischer allows Spassky to have a protected passed pawn righ in the center of the board. Is Fischer nuts?} 14. Be3 b6 15. O-O O-O 16. a4 a5 {Did the KGB poison Fischer? He violates principle and intentionally gives himself a backward pawn on an open file. Nuts, I tell you, nuts.} 17. Rb1 Bd7 18. Rb2 Rb8 19. Rbf2 {All the kibitzers in the club tell me that doubled rooks on an open file must be good. White has accumulated several positional benefits- a protected passed pawn, the two bishops, doubled rooks on an open file, and weak pawns on e5 and b6 for black. Surely Spassky will carry the point home now!} Qe7 20. Bc2 g5 21. Bd2 Qe8 22. Be1 Qg6 23. Qd3 Nh5 24. Rxf8+ Rxf8 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Bd1 Nf4 27. Qc2 Bxa4 {Whoa, if white captures the bishop, then his e-pawn falls and his position falls with it. What happened? The answer is obvious- it's a Communist plot.} 0-1
Paul Leggett
Chess Librarian
The Stacks
Joined
21 Aug '09
Moves
113572
13 Jan '13 02:06
Originally posted by SwissGambit
None of your comments after the first one showed up in the viewer. Here's my attempt at fixing it.

[pgn]
[Event "World Championship 28th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "1972.07.20"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E41"]
[WhiteElo "2660"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "1 ...[text shortened]... ? The answer is obvious- it's a Communist plot.} 0-1
[/pgn]
You da man!
vivify
rain
Joined
08 Mar '11
Moves
12351
13 Jan '13 02:31
I don't get why the game was resigned. Even if the E pawn goes, is mate really unavoidable? Plus, white's D pawn doesn't seem able to be stopped from advancing to the back rank, especially ifwhite takes the black bishop.

So...could someone explain why, to this complete moron named vivify?
Paul Leggett
Chess Librarian
The Stacks
Joined
21 Aug '09
Moves
113572
13 Jan '13 02:503 edits
Originally posted by vivify
I don't get why the game was resigned. Even if the E pawn goes, is mate really unavoidable? Plus, white's D pawn doesn't seem able to be stopped from advancing to the back rank, especially ifwhite takes the black bishop.

So...could someone explain why, to this complete moron named vivify?
A good question. There are two mate threats- one is ...Qxe1 mate, and the other is Qxg2 mate if black is allowed to capture the white e-pawn.

Effectively, black gets the a-pawn for free, and when white moves the queen, black will capture the bishop on d1, and when white recaptures with the queen, his e-pawn will fall. White will be two pawns down and facing the mate threat on g2 and an attack on the c4 pawn at that point, so he is busted.
vivify
rain
Joined
08 Mar '11
Moves
12351
13 Jan '13 03:262 edits
Originally posted by Paul Leggett
A good question. There are two mate threats- one is ...Qxe1 mate, and the other is Qxg2 mate if black is allowed to capture the white e-pawn.

Effectively, black gets the a-pawn for free, and when white moves the queen, black will capture the bishop on d1, and when white recaptures with the queen, his e-pawn will fall. White will be two pawns down and facing the mate threat on g2 and an attack on the c4 pawn at that point, so he is busted.
But what if white pins the knight with his queen?

DATE ????.??.??
RESULT *
FEN 5k2/3p2p1/1p4qp/p1pPp1p1/b1P1Pn2/2P5/2Q3PP/3BB1K1 w - - 0 1
Invert Board PGN Headers Comments
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Result "*"]
[FEN "5k2/3p2p1/1p4qp/p1pPp1p1/b1P1Pn2/2P5/2Q3PP/3BB1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1.Qf2 { If black takes the white bishop, then black's knight is lost on after g3. If black unpins the knight and moves his king, then white takes the black bishop. If Qxe4, then white has the option of taking either the bishop or the knight. Is there still something I'm missing? }
*
Paul Leggett
Chess Librarian
The Stacks
Joined
21 Aug '09
Moves
113572
13 Jan '13 04:042 edits
Originally posted by vivify
But what if white pins the knight with his queen?

[pgn][Date "????.??.??"]
[Result "*"]
[FEN "5k2/3p2p1/1p4qp/p1pPp1p1/b1P1Pn2/2P5/2Q3PP/3BB1K1 w - - 0 1"]

1.Qf2 { If black takes the white bishop, then black's knight is lost on after g3. If black unpins the knight and moves his king, then white takes the black bishop. If Qxe4, then white has the ...[text shortened]... king either the bishop or the knight. Is there still something I'm missing? }
*[/pgn]
If 28. Qf2 then 28. ... Bxd1 29. g3 Qxe4 30 gxf4 gxf4 and black is two pawns up with a mobile passed pawn duo, not to mention that the black a-pawn is a runner. Black's bishop is not under attack, so pieces are merely exchanged while black collects the pawns.

Black's king is also in an excellent position to stop the white d-pawn, so white is multiple pawns down and has to avoid exchanges in spite of his exposed king.

EVENT	World Championship 28th
SITE	Reykjavik
DATE	1972.07.20
ROUND	5
WHITE	Spassky, Boris V
BLACK	Fischer, Robert James
RESULT	0-1
WHITEELO	2660
BLACKELO	2785
ECO	E41
EVENTDATE	1972.07.11

DATE	????.??.??
RESULT	*
FEN	5k2/3p2p1/1p4qp/p1pPp1p1/b1P1Pn2/2P5/2Q3PP/3BB1K1 w - - 0 1

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Breaking the rules