Spassky Defeats a Vacillating Fischer in Game 5

NEW YORK TIMES

By ROBERT BYRNE

Published: September 10, 1992

A fired-up Boris Spassky convincingly defeated an indecisive Bobby Fischer yesterday in Game 5 of their exhibition match in Sveti Stevan, Yugoslavia. Spassky’s victory, his second in a row, gives him a 2-to-1 lead; the first player to achieve 10 victories wins the match.

Fischer, playing with the initiative of the white pieces, varied the attack in his favorite opening, which had gone sour in Game 3, but he failed to back it up with the moves that might have made it count for something. His general strategy might have been good, but he inconsistently wasted time with extraneous maneuvers that gave Spassky the opportunity for the powerful counterpunches that won the game.

Fischer was soon reduced to trying harrassment tactics, but Spassky won heavy material and defended beautifully against all attempts to trick him.

Spassky used the same Breyer Defense to Fischer’s Ruy Lopez that he had in Games 1 and 3. Its characteristic feature is the transfer of the black queen knight with 9 . . . Nb8 and 10 . . . Nbd7, which gives Black increased flexibility in the timing of possible thrusts against the white center with . . . c5 or . . . d5. This also allows the black queen bishop, after 11 . . . Bb7, to bear directly down on the e4 pawn in cooperation with the f6 knight and, indirectly, with the e8 rook.

Through 17 . . . c5, this game followed Game 3, but now a chastened Fischer substituted 18 d5 for his earlier 18 Bf4, which had let Spassky counterattack powerfully with 18 . . . cd! 19 Nd4 Ne5 20 b3 d5. No Long-Range Plan

Soon, however, Fischer revealed that he had no integrated long-term strategy. What was his 19 Ba5?! supposed to be aiming for? Any time he might play Bb6 Nb6, Spassky would have the bishop-pair and a beautiful position……

(SPASSKY leads 2-1) 

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Black to Move.  White has just played 15. O-O-O and laid a subtle trap for Black. 

Do you see the trap?  How would you play this out? 

1. Due to the extensive length of the 1992 Fischer-Spassky rematch (30 games), we are only going to post games that were outright victories from here on out.  Please contact us at admin@rookhouse.com if you desire any information (articles, PGN, etc.) on any of the other games.

2. We are going to begin a weekly preview of the 2008 World Chess Championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand that is to take place in Bonn, Germany in October.  The articles will be posted every Monday starting on January 7th, 2008.  They will include some history between the two contestants and some prior match statistics, openings, games, etc.

3. Have a safe and happy holiday ………… MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Rusty-Looking Fischer Is Outwitted by Spassky

NEW YORK TIMES

By ROBERT BYRNE

Published: September 7, 1992

The rust of 20 years without formal competition showed yesterday as Bobby Fischer lost Game 4 of his exhibition match with Boris Spassky in Sveti Stevan, Yugoslavia.

Mr. Fischer, in the course of building toward his own attack, underestimated a powerful sacrifice by Mr. Spassky and was flung back on the defensive. Once in that uncomfortable situation, he still had reasonable chances to get a draw, but the insight required to reintegrate his formation eluded him. Toward the end, he was moving aimlessly, whereas Mr. Spassky slowly and relentlessly extended his control of the board.

In the game’s final phase, Mr. Fischer lost one pawn after another before making his crowning error: falling into a Spassky trap that won a bishop.  Now the two are back on even terms with one victory apiece. The draws in Games 2 and 3 don’t count in the scoring; the victor will be the one who wins 10 games.

After 1 d4 d5 2 c4, Mr. Fischer played 2 . . . dc, accepting the queen’s gambit, something he had never done before. Mr. Spassky’s 7 dc has been considered quite harmless; after the queens came off with 7 . . . Qd1 8 Rd1 and Mr. Fischer retook the pawn with 8 . . . Bc5, the symmetrical pawn position made the ending drawish. Mr. Spassky has used this conservative variation from time to time, for what reason it is impossible to guess; he has had very little success with it.

Mr. Fischer tried to get some action going with 17 . . . g5 and 18 . . . g4 to open the g file, and Mr. Spassky, probably worried that Black would have a nice initiative with . . . gf followed by . . . Nh5 and . . . Nf4, offered the exchange of bishops with 19 Ba3. Mr. Fischer, out for more than the even position that 19 . . . Ba3 20 Na3 would produce, strove for a more complex situation with 19 . . . b4.

(MATCH TIED 1-1) 

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White to Move.  This is a position from a 1959 game between two up and coming grandmasters.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bc4 Bd7 7.Bb3 g6 8.f3 Na5 9.Bg5 Bg7 10.Qd2 h6 11.Be3 Rc8 12.O-O-O Nc4 13.Qe2 Nxe3 14.Qxe3 O-O 15. ??

Fischer Battles to a Draw in the 2nd Match Game

New York Times

By ROGER COHEN,

Published: September 4, 1992

Bobby Fischer and his old rival Boris Spassky today battled to a draw in the second game of their exhibition chess series.

Fortune swung both ways during the grueling, seven-hour game before Mr. Fischer offered a draw on the 59th move. As in the first game on Wednesday, which he won, the American former champion played forcefully, and several chess experts said they believed he had obtained a winning position through masterly positional play in the middle game.

But Mr. Spassky, who was playing with the white pieces, hung on, maneuvering successfully with his two bishops to frustrate Mr. Fischer’s attempts to capitalize on his advantage. In the end, it seemed, the two players simply wore each other down.

“Boris had a good game, but he made a few slips,” Mr. Fischer who is 49 years old, said immediately afterward. “I had a winning chance.”

Mr. Spassky, who is 55 and who lost the world championship to Mr. Fischer in a thrilling series in Iceland in 1972, concurred. “I started well, but I missed something,” he said. “Then I played badly and Bobby got some good chances to win.” Implacable Intensity of Purpose

Although he was unable to clinch a victory, Mr. Fischer continued to impress the grandmasters here with the quality of his play. On the basis of two games, they feel he has lost little, if anything, of the implacable intensity of purpose and strong strategic vision that marked him 20 years ago as one of the greatest players ever.

“It’s the same old Bobby,” said Margeir Petursson, a grandmaster from Iceland. “Or rather, it’s the same young Bobby.”

(FISCHER leads 1-0) 

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Position after 25. … Qa7+.  White to Move.  How would you play this out?

Fischer Wins First Game of Match With Spassky

NEW YORK TIMES

By ROGER COHEN,

Published: September 3, 1992

With verve and vigor, Bobby Fischer returned to competitive chess today after a 20-year absence as a recluse and crushed his old rival Boris Spassky in the opening game of an exhibition series.

Playing with the initiative of the white pieces, Mr. Fischer dominated Mr. Spassky through six hours of play, reminding several grandmasters of the champion of old. Mr. Spassky resigned on the 49th move, having played rather colorlessly, in the view of experts here, without the esprit he showed two decades ago when the two men played for the world championship.

After today’s game, Mr. Fischer, who is known as a suspicious loner, took the extraordinary step of agreeing to speak to the press for the second time in two days.

“I had a good opening, and that was basically it,” he declared. Mr. Spassky said, “Bobby had a nice line, more space and eventually I was killed.”

Pressed to say what Mr. Spassky’s biggest mistake had been, Mr. Fischer turned coy. “I don’t like to say that,” he said. “We’re going to be playing a lot of chess and I don’t like to talk about that kind of thing.” At the Table, All Is Serene

Wearing a blue suit and red-and-white polka-dot tie, Mr. Fischer, who is not renowned for his elegance, looked as if he had in mind the television cameras recording the match from concealed positions behind screens. From the moment he arrived at precisely the appointed time of 3:30 P.M. and settled quickly into a black leather chair in front of a table that had been built and rebuilt seven times to suit his desires, he seemed serene.

Having won the right to play the white pieces in the draw last night, Mr. Fischer made his customary opening, advancing the king’s pawn two squares………..

(FISCHER leads 1-0) 

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White to Move.  Which color is better?  How would you play it out?

NEW YORK TIMES
By ROBERT BYRNE
Published: September 1, 1992

When the exhibition match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky begins tomorrow in Sveti Stevan, Yugoslavia, the overwhelming object of interest will be the quality of Fischer’s play.

Can he shake off the rust of a long layoff from formal competition? Can he regain the incredible power he displayed 20 years ago in Reykjavik, Iceland, when he ended 24 years of Soviet dominance by defeating Spassky and taking his title? It would be a miracle, yet who can say? He may just be able to muster enough strength to earn a rank among the leading title challengers of today.

As for Spassky, the question will be whether he can recover his appetite for winning and reverse the ebbing of ambition that has characterized his play in recent years. At his best, Fischer was just a little better at each facet of the game than Spassky or anyone else of that era. He had a superior grasp of the simple, classical positional devices, like the great champion of the 20’s, Jose Raul Capablanca, and he could spin off beautiful attacking combinations like Alexander Alekhine, Capablanca’s successor. Spassky was probably as strong as Fischer in the execution of a strategy, but Fischer was more inventive in developing original strategies.

As an example of Fischer’s flexibility in playing an opening new for him, of his mastery at increasing an advantage through exchanging off pieces and of his virtuosity in a direct mating attack, here is Game 6 of the 1972 championship, perhaps the best of that series. The opening came as a shock: Fischer had only used queenside openings a few times in his whole career. But it was a smart move because he had run into trouble with 1 e4 in Game 4 and needed a change………….

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