Fischer-Spassky 1972 Fritz 11 analysis
09 Jan '09 10:06Since I’ve been analysing games I have heard the same questions asked time & time again:
How would the best GM’s fare against Fritz when using the 30 second top 3 matchup system?
How do you know what is humanly possible and what is cheating?
Well the short answer is that I’ve had to previously go on the word of much stronger and more experienced players who I’ve had communications with.
I decided that this was not sufficient.
A recurring “truism” is that no human player can consistently match Fritz or any other engine in many games over time and once out of database to a greater extent than averages of
Top 1 Match: 60%
Top 2 Match: 75%
Top 3 Match: 85%
and anyone who exceeds these stats is without doubt using an engine.
A minimum of 20 games against tough opposition, chosen objectively - i.e. 1 or 2 complete tournament performance(s) - all with 20+ non-book moves is often sufficient to prove or disprove a case.
So I decided to go straight to the source.
20 games with plenty of out of book moves played by 2 of the all time greats at the peak of their powers, in possibly the most famous chess match.
Fischer in particular is often praised with being one of the most tactically accurate and least blunder-prone GM’s in the history of the game. Here he is playing at the absolute height of his powers.
So, how does he do? How well does Spassky fare in comparison?
Let’s see…
The same setup was used for all 20 games:
Fritz 11 @ 30 seconds per move
Pentium 4 2.93GHz 1GB RAM
Hash Table 192MB
Database used www.chesslive.de
For obvious reasons a game is classed as “out of book” once I cannot find the position in the chesslive database prior to the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship.
[Event "World Championship 28th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "1972.07.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E56"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "1972.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3
Ba5 9. Ne2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bb6 11. dxc5 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Bxc5 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 Bd7
{Takes game out of book; 2nd choice} 15. Rac1 {3rd choice} Rfd8 {1st choice}
16. Ned4 {Not in top 3} Nxd4 {1st choice} 17. Nxd4 {3rd choice} Ba4 {1st choice
} 18. Bb3 {1st choice} Bxb3 {1st choice} 19. Nxb3 {1st choice} Rxd1+ {
1st choice} 20. Rxd1 {Only move} Rc8 {1st choice} 21. Kf1 {2nd choice} Kf8 {
Not in top 3} 22. Ke2 {1st choice} Ne4 {1st choice} 23. Rc1 {1st choice} Rxc1 {
1st choice} 24. Bxc1 {1st choice} f6 {Not in top 3} 25. Na5 {2nd choice} Nd6 {
1st choice} 26. Kd3 {1st choice} Bd8 {1st choice} 27. Nc4 {Not in top 3} Bc7 {
Not in top 3} 28. Nxd6 {2nd choice} Bxd6 {1st choice} 29. b5 {Not in top 3}
Bxh2 {1st choice} 30. g3 {1st choice} h5 {2nd choice} 31. Ke2 {2nd choice} h4 {
2nd choice} 32. Kf3 {1st choice} Ke7 {1st choice} 33. Kg2 {3rd choice} hxg3 {
2nd choice} 34. fxg3 {1st choice} Bxg3 {1st choice} 35. Kxg3 {1st choice} Kd6 {
1st choice} 36. a4 {3rd choice} Kd5 {1st choice} 37. Ba3 {1st choice} Ke4 {
2nd choice} 38. Bc5 {2nd choice} a6 {1st choice} 39. b6 {2nd choice} f5 {
1st choice} 40. Kh4 {1st choice} f4 {2nd choice} 41. exf4 {1st choice} Kxf4 {
1st choice} 42. Kh5 {2nd choice} Kf5 {2nd choice} 43. Be3 {3rd choice} Ke4 {
1st choice} 44. Bf2 {Not in top 3} Kf5 {2nd choice} 45. Bh4 {1st choice} e5 {
1st choice} 46. Bg5 {2nd choice} e4 {2nd choice} 47. Be3 {2nd choice} Kf6 {
1st choice} 48. Kg4 {1st choice} Ke5 {2nd choice} 49. Kg5 {Not in top 3} Kd5 {
1st choice} 50. Kf5 {3rd choice} a5 {1st choice} 51. Bf2 {1st choice} g5 {
1st choice} 52. Kxg5 {1st choice} Kc4 {1st choice} 53. Kf5 {2nd choice} Kb4 {
2nd choice} 54. Kxe4 {1st choice} Kxa4 {1st choice} 55. Kd5 {1st choice} Kb5 {
1st choice} 56. Kd6 {2nd choice} 1-0
Result:
White: Spassky
Top 1 Match: 19/42 (45,2% )
Top 2 Match: 30/42 (71,4% )
Top 3 Match: 36/42 (85,7% )
Black: Fischer
Top 1 Match: 28/42 (66,7% )
Top 2 Match: 39/42 (92,9% )
Top 3 Match: 39/42 (92,9% )
How would the best GM’s fare against Fritz when using the 30 second top 3 matchup system?
How do you know what is humanly possible and what is cheating?
Well the short answer is that I’ve had to previously go on the word of much stronger and more experienced players who I’ve had communications with.
I decided that this was not sufficient.
A recurring “truism” is that no human player can consistently match Fritz or any other engine in many games over time and once out of database to a greater extent than averages of
Top 1 Match: 60%
Top 2 Match: 75%
Top 3 Match: 85%
and anyone who exceeds these stats is without doubt using an engine.
A minimum of 20 games against tough opposition, chosen objectively - i.e. 1 or 2 complete tournament performance(s) - all with 20+ non-book moves is often sufficient to prove or disprove a case.
So I decided to go straight to the source.
20 games with plenty of out of book moves played by 2 of the all time greats at the peak of their powers, in possibly the most famous chess match.
Fischer in particular is often praised with being one of the most tactically accurate and least blunder-prone GM’s in the history of the game. Here he is playing at the absolute height of his powers.
So, how does he do? How well does Spassky fare in comparison?
Let’s see…
The same setup was used for all 20 games:
Fritz 11 @ 30 seconds per move
Pentium 4 2.93GHz 1GB RAM
Hash Table 192MB
Database used www.chesslive.de
For obvious reasons a game is classed as “out of book” once I cannot find the position in the chesslive database prior to the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship.
[Event "World Championship 28th"]
[Site "Reykjavik"]
[Date "1972.07.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert James"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E56"]
[PlyCount "111"]
[EventDate "1972.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd3 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3
Ba5 9. Ne2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Bb6 11. dxc5 Qxd1 12. Rxd1 Bxc5 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 Bd7
{Takes game out of book; 2nd choice} 15. Rac1 {3rd choice} Rfd8 {1st choice}
16. Ned4 {Not in top 3} Nxd4 {1st choice} 17. Nxd4 {3rd choice} Ba4 {1st choice
} 18. Bb3 {1st choice} Bxb3 {1st choice} 19. Nxb3 {1st choice} Rxd1+ {
1st choice} 20. Rxd1 {Only move} Rc8 {1st choice} 21. Kf1 {2nd choice} Kf8 {
Not in top 3} 22. Ke2 {1st choice} Ne4 {1st choice} 23. Rc1 {1st choice} Rxc1 {
1st choice} 24. Bxc1 {1st choice} f6 {Not in top 3} 25. Na5 {2nd choice} Nd6 {
1st choice} 26. Kd3 {1st choice} Bd8 {1st choice} 27. Nc4 {Not in top 3} Bc7 {
Not in top 3} 28. Nxd6 {2nd choice} Bxd6 {1st choice} 29. b5 {Not in top 3}
Bxh2 {1st choice} 30. g3 {1st choice} h5 {2nd choice} 31. Ke2 {2nd choice} h4 {
2nd choice} 32. Kf3 {1st choice} Ke7 {1st choice} 33. Kg2 {3rd choice} hxg3 {
2nd choice} 34. fxg3 {1st choice} Bxg3 {1st choice} 35. Kxg3 {1st choice} Kd6 {
1st choice} 36. a4 {3rd choice} Kd5 {1st choice} 37. Ba3 {1st choice} Ke4 {
2nd choice} 38. Bc5 {2nd choice} a6 {1st choice} 39. b6 {2nd choice} f5 {
1st choice} 40. Kh4 {1st choice} f4 {2nd choice} 41. exf4 {1st choice} Kxf4 {
1st choice} 42. Kh5 {2nd choice} Kf5 {2nd choice} 43. Be3 {3rd choice} Ke4 {
1st choice} 44. Bf2 {Not in top 3} Kf5 {2nd choice} 45. Bh4 {1st choice} e5 {
1st choice} 46. Bg5 {2nd choice} e4 {2nd choice} 47. Be3 {2nd choice} Kf6 {
1st choice} 48. Kg4 {1st choice} Ke5 {2nd choice} 49. Kg5 {Not in top 3} Kd5 {
1st choice} 50. Kf5 {3rd choice} a5 {1st choice} 51. Bf2 {1st choice} g5 {
1st choice} 52. Kxg5 {1st choice} Kc4 {1st choice} 53. Kf5 {2nd choice} Kb4 {
2nd choice} 54. Kxe4 {1st choice} Kxa4 {1st choice} 55. Kd5 {1st choice} Kb5 {
1st choice} 56. Kd6 {2nd choice} 1-0
Result:
White: Spassky
Top 1 Match: 19/42 (45,2% )
Top 2 Match: 30/42 (71,4% )
Top 3 Match: 36/42 (85,7% )
Black: Fischer
Top 1 Match: 28/42 (66,7% )
Top 2 Match: 39/42 (92,9% )
Top 3 Match: 39/42 (92,9% )
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